by Southwest Premier on August 25, 2010
DEFECT: Smoke Detectors Removed
During our Phoenix Home Inspections we find allot of smoke detectors that have been removed. It amazes me how many times I see this in an occupied home! Smoke detectors are vital to the safety of the occupants in a home and therefore should be properly maintained and never disabled.
One of the main reasons that I hear for removing smoke detectors is that they go off randomly or have nuisance alarms. I have written a basic smoke detector troubleshooting guide on my blog InspectingPhoenix.com. If your smoke detectors are going off randomly or have other problems you should troubleshoot and fix the problem instead of removing the smoke detectors.
If the Home Inspector noted in your Home Inspection report that there are any problems with your homes smoke detector system, you should have these repaired immediately for the safety of everyone in the home.
This information was provided courtesy of Southwest Premier Home Inspection, LLC. Reproduction in any form is not permitted without consent. Copyright 2008-2010 Southwest Premier Home Inspection, LLC.
Southwest Premier Home Inspection is the Phoenix Arizona Home Inspection leader. To find out more visit our Phoenix Home Inspection website www.swpHomeInspect.com
by Southwest Premier on August 25, 2010
DEFECT: Improper Water Pressure
Improper water pressure takes two forms, high pressure or low pressure. Different problems arise depending on which condition your plumbing supply system suffers from. During our Home Inspection in Phoenix we find allot of high water pressure.
The normal water pressure range is 40 to 80 psi. Most utilities try to keep the water supply to your home around 80 psi but this pressure fluctuates with demand and due to their equipment. Below I will discuss some of the problems associated with pressure above or below this range. At the bottom of this post I breifly discuss water flow vs water pressure.
High Water Pressure
High water pressure (over 80 psi): I will start with high water pressure since it can cause the most damage to the homes plumbing system. In the Phoenix area, this is the most common water pressure condition our Home Inspectors find. Some of the problems associated with high water pressure are:
High Water Pressure
- Premature failure of water faucets and fixtures
- Failure of pipe joints
- Water hammer or banging
The fix for high water pressure is to have a plumber install a water pressure regulator at the supply line entry into the home. This pressure regulator can be adjusted to maintain a proper water pressure within the normal range. If the water pressure is extremely high, you may want to contact the utility company as one of their pressure regulators may have failed.
If your Home Inspector noted in your Home Inspection report that your water pressure is high, don’t ignore it thinking that you will be able to take more enjoyable showers.
Low Water Pressure
Low water pressure (under 40 psi): Low water pressure does not cause the physical damage to fixtures and pipe, this one is more of a nuisance and sometimes even dangerous. The problems most commonly associated with low water pressure are:
Low Water Pressure
- Low water flow to faucets. This one is the biggest annoyance with low water pressure, I’m sure everyone has experienced a shower with low water pressure at one point or another in their lives.
- Scalding can result due to the sudden loss of cold water to a faucet when another faucet is run in cold. When one person is showering and another person flushes the toilet, the person in the shower could get scalded.
The fix for low water pressure is much more difficult. The first step is to contact the utility to see if there is a problem with their equipment supplying your neighborhood.
Water flow vs. Water pressure
I am not going to go into this in detail in this post but one condition that often gets confused with low water pressure is low water flow. Water pressure is mostly dependent on the pressure entering the home from the utility. Water flow has allot to do with the diameter of the pipe that is carrying the water once it gets into the home.
Example: Two identical homes have the same water supply pressure and identical fixtures, the only difference is the size of the water supply pipe into the home. Home “A” has 3/4″ supply pipe and home “B” has 1 1/4″ supply pipe. Home “B” would have much better water flow with multiple faucets running due to the increased supply, more water is available to all of the faucets at the same time.
If your home has great water flow with only one faucet running and it diminishes greatly with a second running, you may have a water flow problem instead of a water pressure problem.
I should note, checking water flow at a shower can be tricky since most shower heads increase the force of the water by reducing the nozzle sizes, this can make you think you have higher flow than you really do, to judge accurately you may want to use an unrestricted faucet such as an exterior hose-bib.
This information was provided courtesy of Southwest Premier Home Inspection, LLC. Reproduction in any form is not permitted without consent. Copyright 2008-2010 Southwest Premier Home Inspection, LLC.
Southwest Premier Home Inspection is the Phoenix Arizona Home Inspection leader. To find out more visit our Phoenix Home Inspection website www.swpHomeInspect.com
