Pressure OK, low flow

[Digital_Larry]

I have 1" PVC leading into the house from the water meter near the street which is about 20 to 30 feet higher.

A 90 elbow in the PVC failed behind a retaining wall. My neighbor dug it out and we replaced the section with a flexible coupler. We also had cut the service pipe near the meter to put a garden hose bypass because there was no way we were going to figure it out quickly.

Unfortunately when we cut the service, the pipe down to the house got a lot of dirt in it. We got everything connected and turned the main valve back on. Bunch of dirt came out of the tub and toilet, and eventually cleared up.

The post regulator pressure is about 45 PSI. This drops to 18 PSI when I turn on a single bathroom faucet. All faucets in the house start with a good burst and then within about 15 seconds, the flow is perhaps half what it was when it started.

I cleaned out the strainer in the regulator, which wasn't a lot of stuff.

We took the main line off the input to the regulator and opened the main valve for awhile. My neighbor said some crud came out. We reconnected and the flow didnt really change.

I checked the strainer again and a bunch more stuff, now small pebble size, came out. Put strainer back in and flow hasn't really changed.

I have an outdoor faucet which is pre-regulator. We opened that one all the way, it has plenty of flow, and did not affect the pressure post regulator.

So, the question is, what should I do next? My tendency is to clear the strainer in the regulator and turn the water back on and repeat this until I dont get any more crud coming out.

Thanks,

DL

 

[Mr_David]

You said you cut in a bypass to connect a hose at meter . disconnect the meter from main. connect a hose to meter and try to back wash the line.

If that does not work you can try a small handsnake from house to meter.
You want to push debris back the way it came it

 

[Digital_Larry]

OK I think I figured out what is going on.

My pressure regulator is a Watts L25AUB. The current version of this is:

http://www.watts.com/pages/_products_details.asp?pid=6805

I took this apart today and made sure there was no crud in it. Long story short, I am sure that when my neighbor and I took this apart, we lost the spring washer that lets the adjustment bolt compress the spring. The bolt just goes in and out without changing anything.

I took the cap off exposing the "disc holder". I tightened this down since it seems that threaded things in plumbing generally want to be tightened. When I did this, no water comes through at all. Then I backed the disc holder out a bit and tried it again and this time the post regulator pressure went to about 75 PSI before I turned everything off in a panic.

Then I tightened the disc holder again and have achieved about 25 PSI.

So, fine. I screwed up and lost the piece that makes the regulator really work. Doubtful I can get a spare, so I'll buy a whole new regulator if I have to. My challenge is this.

I have to take the cone off the regulator in order to install it as the pipe is too close to the wall and I have to rotate the regulator to tighten it. When I do this, the spring is going to fly out and the spring washer is going to fly out and I'm going to need to figure out a way to keep that thing together as I attempt to fit it back together. As the cone will be pointing horizontally at this time, I am looking for some suggestions as to how to keep it all together while I reassemble the cone onto the body of the regulator.

Thanks!

DL

 

[SHEPLMBR]

Excuse me for being off topic of your dilemma, but what do you mean by flexible coupler? This is a pressurized line.