Nestor,
The mystery is solved. I tested the water pressure last night and the reading was off the scale. The pressure gauge only reads to 100 and the the pressure pegged past the 100 mark. With the info I got from you and a guy at Home Depot, I decided I would try to install a new pressure reducing valve above the shut off valve. When I cut away the wall board above the shut off valve - HARK! - I found the pressure reducing valve hidden behind the wall board. So, I first tried adjusting it in both directions and the pressure gauge did not change.
Before replacing that pressure reducing valve, try to find out who made it and contact the company for instructions on how to adjust it. It still may be perfectly functional, just completely out of adjustment.
(Sometimes I think that people who indiscriminately drywall over important valves or install flooring over basement clean outs and stuff like that must be the same people that appear as guests on the Jerry Springer show.)
I ran some water out of the system before and after each adjustment, and the pressure stayed over 100 - even when I was running the kitchen faucet. I even went next door and checked the gauge on my neighbor's line and his pressure read about 65.
There's no need to have your house's water pressure any higher than 30 psi. In fact, if it's a single level house, even 15 to 20 psi is way more than you actually need.
The problem now is - because the old PRV is so close to the back side of the wall board, there's no way to unscrew it from the permanent threaded side of the unit, unless I cut out some of the wall board behind it; so, I'm going to try to hack saw it out - and I'm not that experienced with soldering, but I'm going to give it my best shot before calling a plumber since I'm this close to getting it fixed.
I think you might want to leave this one to a plumber. Your main water shut off valves might leak, in which case you might not be able to solder.
If you're new to this house, what might be a good idea is to hire a plumber to both replace the pressure reducing valve AND install new water shut off valves on each side of it so that when you shut the water off to your house, you know the water will be completely shut off and you won't have a problem soldering. I'd install ball valves as shut off valves. They're the most reliable shut off valve you can buy.
Also, if you have room, install a ball valve not only upstream of the PRV, but a pressure gauge, drain valve and another ball valve downstream of the PRV. That is:
ball valve - PRV - pressure gauge - drain valve - ball valve
Install the drain valve so that it points UP, to prevent introducing air into your drain piping. Cover with a plastic cup when not in use to prevent dust getting into your drain valve.
That way, you can:
1. close both ball valves and release the water pressure with the drain valve.
2. turn your PRV all the way down (to 10 psi say)
3. open the upstream ball valve
4. adjust the PRV until the desired pressure shows on your pressure gauge (because of the very small volume of piping being pressurized, you will see an immediate response on your pressure gauge as you turn the PRV's adjusting screw to increase the pressure)
5. Now, open the downstream ball valve and the PRV will then pressurize the whole house's water supply system to that same pressure.
Having your plumbing set up this way allows you to very accurately set the water pressure in your house because the PRV will pressurize the whole house to exactly the same pressure you set in Step 4 when pressurizing a much smaller volume.
Maybe hire a plumber to do this, and you'll have complete and accurate control over your house water pressure from now on. If you don't quite understand how this set up will allow you to do this, post again.
If you have a hot water heating system in your house, I highly recommend you set up the pressure reducing valve on the feed water line to the boiler exactly the same way so that you can quickly and accurately set the pressure your heating system operates at.
If you're new to DIY, you might get yourself into trouble over your head on this one if you cut the old valve out, and then can't solder the new one in because the shut off valves are leaking. If you have to hire a plumber to replace the shut off valve to your house (and do the rest of the piping for the PRV) then you avoid a major problem many new home owners have to contend with, and that's a leaking main water shut off valve so they have trouble soldering.
You will find that 90 percent of the cost of maintaining your home can be saved by doing simple and straight forward stuff yourself. If you can't solder yet, then I'd let this project fall into the 10 percent category for now. You'll have ample opportunity to save money on other things that will come up that need repairs and attention.
I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate all of your help. What a great concept this DIY website is for novices like me who like to try to do-it-themselves. If I can ever help you with any woodworking, electrical or roofing questions - which I know a lot more about then plumbing..., feel free to email me at
chris30044@yahoo.com.
Thanks again,
Chris
No problem, Chris. But, before you start cutting that old PRV out, make sure you can't fix it by just adjusting it. Also, the company that made it may make an overhaul kit for it, and that might save a lot of problems. Certainly, make sure that your shut off valve upstream of that PRV works to shut the water off completely before you cut any piping. You don't want to be paying a plumber double to get you out of an emergency you got yourself into. That's counter productive.