Inspection report said plumbing system would not hold 40 psi?

Question

I am under contract with the HUD house. In the HUD inspection report it said plumbing system and sewer system are tested with air compressor and would not hold 40 psi. I do online search they said normal range for household water pressure is range 40-80 psi. Do you think is it a big issue or not?

Steve Babiak · Answer

In my area, when I see in a HUD report that it doesn't hold pressure, I usually see that there is NO COPPER to pressurize once in the house!

Expect to replace some pipes and/or fixtures, since you will definitely want to be able to hold at least that much pressure.

Account Closed · Answer

First off, from much experience i can tell you that PCR report from hud is about worthless.    If anything, it just helps point out problems.   If they say it works, don't believe it.   I have a PCR saying the ac works fine with HUD's appraisal after receiving a contract showing the AC in pieces from thieves.

As for the PSI test, any opening in the water lines cause it to lose pressure (common sense).   so any bad faucet, toilet, crack in a pipe or bad seal would cause this to fail.     Obviously a concern in most cases but not something that keeps me up at night.

What I do find very odd is hud is willing to sell a house with a sinkhole, chinese drywall or i'm sure other yummy problems without disclosing them even after they are told in writing about the problem.

Kevin N. · Answer

Just want to provide some feedback on my story...

Finally it turned out to be some crack in one of the water supply pipes inside the second floor. The home inspector could not find the problem and we closed the house. After closing, we could not get much water from the second floor faucets, then the plumber crank up the water supply (by adjusting some valve outside of the house ?) then we have water in the second floor. After that the plumber left and so did we. Fortunately I came back to the house around 8pm the same day, just to find out water dropping from living room's ceiling.
Long story short, the plumber has to cut out some ceiling on the first floor and some wall on the second floor. He charge me $100 for part and labor and I have to fix the drywall. Not that bad.
Kevin

Don Hines · Answer

Sell a house under ADDI which is a HUD program and see how the inspectors act. The doublw standard is incredible.
Don

Don Hines · Answer

Funny, sad, and true. I know of a Church that lost the AC compressor to theives. I guess the crackheads don't fear the Devil.
Don

Mitch Kronowit · Answer

Thanks Steve. From what I can see, all these tests check the integrity of the system from a leak standpoint, but the one thing they do NOT check is the primary function of the DWV system, i.e., does it drain??? To test that, you actually have to run water for several minutes down the drains and make sure it doesn't back up, indicating a blockage (tree roots, pipe collapse, foreign objects, bad vent, etc.). I don't see how pressure testing can reveal a problem there since it requires the introduction of several intentional blockages to make the system airtight!  :mrgreen:

If the home is "winterized", I don't see a way around undoing the supply side other than pouring several 5 gallon buckets of water down the drain and see if they drain properly. And since the water is shut off in a winterized house, the water will have to be brought in from somewhere else (doesn't sound fun).

As I stated earlier, we had to wait for the listing agent to get authorization from the asset manager to de-winterize the last house we bought so we could perform our inspection. The broker in charge actually wanted us to "waive" the plumbing inspection!!! I never worked with so many morons on a home purchase before, but that's another subject.

I wished there had been another way to test the plumbing, hence my interest in pressure testing, but the fact is you WANT the DWV system to have a leak, ONE really BIG one, into the sewer system!   :wink:

Steve Babiak · Answer

When the water isn't turned on in REO, you can use air pressure to see if pipes hold - no need of having to re-winterize that way.

Steve Babiak · Answer

A good plumbing contractor will be able to do an air pressure check, and then go around and identify what likely needs replacement.  You would want to conduct as much of the replacement as possible without the water being turned on, and do air pressure testing until the system holds pressure.  Don't put any water into the pipes until it holds air pressure.

Robert Steele · Answer

Agreed. The last HUD I picked up said the same thing on their inspection report. My inspector could not find anything wrong because there was nothing wrong with the plumbing. The house has been rented out now for 3 years with no issues.

Jeffrey K. · Answer

I think when you pressure test a house you take the angle stops off and cap all of the lines.  When we test waste we cap everything.  We just use water to test water pipe.

Inspection report said plumbing system would not hold 40 psi?

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