Pressure Regulator

After 10 days in our new home we discovered several plumbing issues that were not called out at the home inspection. A plumber that came out yesterday said the pressure regulator read at 100 and it should only be at 50. I have a few questions

  1. Does the scope of the inspection include reading the pressure regulator and should that have been noted in the inspection. The home inspection stated water pressure is satisfactory but does not indicate a reading.

  2. Could this be the cause of the plumbing leaks under the sink and behind water heater and potentially other “behind the walls” that have not surfaced as of yet.

The problem is a pressure regulator could and can go at any time , Was the water shut off during the transfer of the home?

1 I NACHI Inspectors are not required to measure water pressure. If the “pressure regulator” truly is set at 100 psi, just adjust the pressure lower.

The plumber stated that if a pressure regulator is working properly it would have “regulated” the water pressure as needed and would not be at 100 if it was working properly

How ever the above could vary from state to state as a requirement .

Very few pressure regulators here have a “reading”, I assume you mean a pressure gauge? If so I never see them here, except on sprinkler lines but that’s a whole separate thing.

Most pressure regulators are preset to 75 psi. But they can be adjusted.
And the plumber saying 50 psi should be the setting? Kinda low imho.

There are many questions to consider. What type of water lines do you have? What association is the inspector associated with? Does your state have licensing of home inpsectors? Do you have an expansion tank on your system?

Personally, I check the water pressure on every home inspection, because it effects many areas of the water line system. Pressure should be from 50 to 70#. Pressure over 80 will affect faucet seals, electric water valves on washers, dishwashers, etc. You can google search for other information.

Many HI standards of practice state that water pressure checks are not required. How much did you pay for your inspector? Did you select him/her, or did you hire the HI that your agent suggested?

Find a new plumber

Is the plumber saying that the regulator is also defective, and offering to change it out for a new one?

I’m one of the few that check water pressure at home inspections in my area.

Anything over 80 PSI gets written up. I like to see 60 PSI in SFD’s.