Pipe size upgrade 1/2 to 3/4

[stacks04]

Hey folks. My wife and I bought our home in 2005, first house and were on a tight budget being only 25 y/o at the time. Since we have done a little remodeling here and there and this year have enough in savings to redo our master bath. We have battled pressure issues since we moved in but kinda of grew used to the low pressure. The issue is now with the remodel, we want to use a couple nicer shower heads in our shower and I know the pressure/volume will be an issue so its time to fix that.

Currently I have a well about 75ft deep. IIRC 3/4" or 1" coming in to the tank. Off the tank it is 3/4" for about 8ft up and then its 1/2" both hot and cold for main lines and its a tee fitting at every fixture. Our shower is the last on the 1/2 run upstairs. I want to run 3/4" as long as I can and up to the shower if possible. I figure using 3/4" pex main lines and using a tee to 1/2" at each fixture like now would be a great improvement in volume/pressure.

I want to upgrade using the pex material but had 2 questions about it.

1: I have read that utilizing a manifold system is good, problem is I only see 3/4" in and 1/2" out lines on all of them. Will I accomplish the higher pressure/volume I am after using this system over my proposed change over to 3/4" main lines with a tee at every fixture like I want.

2: I need to plumb into my furnace for the hot water, it is a hot water on demand system and the cold is plumbed into it, then out of it is the main hot water line for the house. How close can the pex be plumbed to the furnace with out a problem? I can use 3/4" copper if need be to do the furnace plumbing if I have to.
Thanks in advance for the assistance.

 

[lordofthepipes]

increasing the size of the piping will give you better flow however the pressure will remain the same and is set by your well pump. i dont have any info for you on pex as we dont use it here in Chicago. good luck

 

[speedbump]

The pipe to your tank should be 1". Check it to be sure it is.

Coming off the tank with 3/4" or larger is always better than starting with 3/4 and immediately going to 1/2". Then there is the mineral build up problem. So redoing the whole thing in new plumbing (pex or whatever) will be a major improvement.

If you have a submersible pump, you should be able to bump the pressure up to 40/60 or 50/70 to sting you in the shower. And the new plumbing (larger is always better) will make up the difference.

 

[stacks04]

Thanks for the info guys. AFAIK the well piping is 3/4. Maybe it changes right at the inlet of the house, but I cant see it because the oil tank is in the way. I did readjust the pressure settings, and adjusted the bladder pressure in the tank. I followed a guide online saying to set the bladder pressure to a couple psi lower then the cut in pressure you set the switch at. I have the cut in set to 40psi, so I set the tank bladder to 35psi.

I started the change over to the 3/4 line. It time consuming getting everything right. I did the furnace heating coil loop into the mixing valve all copper to be safe because I could not get a definite answer on the temp ratings of the pex. It worked out good and have 3/4 hot and cold off the well and furnace now. Next is to continue down the line, and adapting all the older copper 1/2 fixture lines to the main 3/4 trunk.