Check your water pressure
Annual · typically July
Why it matters
Water pressure is the blood pressure of your house: invisible, symptomless for years, and quietly destructive when it's high. The healthy range is 40–80 psi, with 50–70 the sweet spot. Above 80, you're out of code and into damage territory — every rubber washer, supply line, appliance solenoid, and pipe joint in the house is taking a beating it wasn't designed for. And plenty of municipal systems deliver 100+ psi to the curb, counting on a pressure-reducing valve (regulator) at your house to civilize it. Regulators wear out in 10–15 years, usually failing high, usually unnoticed.
What skipping it costs
$500–$5,000
High water pressure is invisible abuse: every valve, hose, fixture, and appliance in the house aging on fast-forward. At 90+ psi, washing machine hoses burst years early, water heater relief valves weep, faucets drip young, and pinhole leaks show up in copper. The $12 gauge finds it; a $400 regulator fixes it; not knowing costs you a plumbing system that dies in slow motion.
Two ways to get it done
Do it yourself
You'll need: Hose-bib pressure gauge (~$12 at any hardware store).
1. Buy the gauge — brass, hose threads, ~$12. It lives in the junk drawer between uses. 2. Screw it onto any hose bib (or the washing machine's cold tap), make sure no water is running anywhere in the house, and open the valve fully. That's your static pressure. 3. Read it against the ranges: under 40 = weak (annoying, occasionally a symptom); 40–80 = healthy, you're done for the year; over 80 = regulator conversation, this month, not someday. 4. Bonus reading at night: municipal pressure often climbs overnight when neighborhood demand drops. A 75 psi afternoon can be a 95 psi 2 a.m. — if your daytime number is high-normal, take one late reading before declaring victory. 5.
Hire it out
$250–$500National fair range — local labor moves this number.
Regulator replacement or a first-time install runs $250–$500 in most areas — a genuinely worthwhile spend when your gauge reads high, because it protects everything downstream at once. Make the transaction about numbers: reading before, reading after, set point on the invoice.
One honest wrinkle: a new regulator creates a "closed system," which usually means you also need an expansion tank at the water heater (roughly $150–$300 added) so heated water has somewhere to push. That's not an upsell — it's physics — but have them show you the check valve or regulator that makes it necessary rather than taking it on faith.
Ask the tech
- What's the static pressure reading, and what did you set the regulator to?
- How old is this regulator, and did you test that it's actually holding the set pressure?
- Do I need an expansion tank with this regulator, and can you show me why?
Red flags you're being upsold
- A regulator replacement pitch without showing you a gauge reading. The diagnosis is a number, not a vibe.
- Regulator install quotes over $700 for an accessible location — the part is $80–$150 and it's a couple hours of work.
- Blaming every plumbing symptom on pressure while quoting a whole-house repipe. High pressure is real and fixable for a few hundred dollars; make them prove anything beyond that.
Second opinion time: Any repipe conversation that started as a pressure complaint.
The call
DIY the reading — it's screwing a gauge onto a hose bib. Hire the regulator work if the number's bad; that part is real plumbing.