how to improve water pressure?

[gERM]

Can anyone point out some common problems that may cause extremely low water pressure throughout the entire house?

It is 150+ year old farmhouse, with very poor water supply (source is a private well). The pressure is fairly low on the first floor, with barely a trickle on the second. Replacing the faucets helped a bit, but does not fix the problem. I was told the water pump is fairly new, but also did not fix the problem.

Thanx in advance, I appreciate your insight.
-jOHNNY

[clyde]

First off, I'm no plumber, but simply tackle the problem as your doing and you'll finally figure it out. Do you have a pressure gauge on the line anywhere? if not, consider putting one in. What is the pressure that the well is supposed to supply. Normal city water pressure is 40 psi. You need at least that. Another problem. What diameter is the supply line coming into the house from the well? A half inch pipe at 40 psi doesn't have the flow that a 3/4-inch pipe would. Consider replacing that line first. Also, are all the lines copper? The old galvanized pipes could be clogged up with rust. Just replace them all if so. Copper is safer anyhow, also make sure to use tin without lead. I have a 70 year old house in denver that had a 1/2 copper line coming from the city water and for a small house we had problem with water pressure. I replaced it with 3/4 and all problems were solved.

[EasyE]

Hopefully the problem is with your pump or a strainer/screen/filter if your line has one,I wish I could help you more but lots of different styles of pumps and my plumbing expierience is limited to industrial applications,not home for the most part except side work. I've heard that people have had to get a new well drilled,I hope it's not that because its very costly.Best of luck with your problem.

[gERM]

Thank you for both of your replies.

I had a feeling the well may have something to do with the problem, the owner of the house started digging a hole in the front yard for some reason, I suspected trying to locate the well.

Does anyone know what is involved in drilling a new well? I am very new to this stuff... is water abundant at a certain level beneath the ground? Are there machines/electronic equipment that can locate water underground (without digging first)? How can you tell if water (if any) will be enough to supply a house? Just the basics will do, its all new to me!

Thanx again
-jOHNNY