Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Imhumanator t1_jduastc wrote

Reply to comment by JohnnyJordaan in ELI5: How is there enough water pressure to delivery water to every home and apartment in a city? by Maxweilla

Would this mean lower floors could potentially have higher pressure I’m the < 6 story scenario?

5

JohnnyJordaan t1_jdulje6 wrote

In a large building the pressure would generally be higher in the lower floors as there’s more water ‘leaning’ on it from all the floors above it. However as there are safety regulations for the maximum pressure at any point in the system, they often use pressure valves to make sure it will not rise above a certain pressure (eg 75 psi). So that way you generally won’t notice a difference between the floors in a building. In a small building without pressure valves it’s true that the lower floors will have the highest pressure.

6

fiendishrabbit t1_jdunnkg wrote

The potential is there, but there are water pressure regulators installed that lowers the pressure in the tap to where it's supposed to be.

3