Low Water Pressure

[seanyuen]

Hi fellow residents,

Did anyone notice that the water pressure for our area is low? Actually i noticed this few months back but thought it was just temporary, made complaints to Syabas, no news from them...

I moved in 1 year ago, and the water pressure was 60psi/4bar. Then later in the year it dropped little by little until now it's only 30psi/2bar. It's still usable, but i'm sure everyone would also prefer a higher pressure for nicer shower, washing car, etc...

I called Syabas on this matter again last week, and after some checks, they told me that our land area is on high ground, and cannot raise the pressure. Of course I told them that it's impossible, as our area is on a low flat ground next to the lake. But that guy said he can't do anything and told me to write a letter to Syabas's GM on this matter. He also said that I'm the only one from our area who raised this issue. I also asked what's the normal water pressure and he replied it depends... ok so they're not very helpful.

So I want to find out if anyone else is having low water pressure?

Thanks,
Sean

[Harjeet Pannu]

How do you check the pressure?
I only have a stethoscope..

[seanyuen]

I have a water filter just after the meter. And there's a meter at the incoming valve

[ppfoong]

I remember there was once in the first half of last year, the water pressure was as high as 80psi. I was worried because my water filter is recommended to operate at the maximum pressure of 80psi.

By that time, the water pipe under the road at our entrance, near the reservior and the to-be-build shop office, always burst out and formed pond of water on the road.

After that, the water pressure became extremely low at around 20psi, and slightly risen back recently.

[spiderman]

Yes, I feel the same. I had my water heater connected directly to the outside water, and yet the water pressure is still not strong.

[seanyuen]

Hi all, after getting the disappointed response from Puspel, I went on and got the emails of the Directors of Kementrian Tenaga Air dan Komunikasi (KTAK), aka JBA and relayed my case. I told them the ridiculous answer i received about our houses are on a hilltop from Puspel Operators.

Then one of the Directors (Ir. Dr Hasnul from the Bahagian Perancangan & Pembangunan) responded and said he will action this case. The next day, i received a call from Puspel saying that they opened another case for me and will dispatch another engineer to the site. Shortly after, I received a call from the Customer Service Exec En Zulkeple and we fixed an appointment for them to come over.

The next morning, i was suprised to see that a team of 7-8 staff were at my front gate. They were the managers and engineers. I asked them what is the normal water pressure and they said it's about 30psi (which is our current water pressure). I'm not sure if that's genuine, but it doesn't seem like I can do much if that's the standard. They proceed to check my main water pipe before the meter and confirmed it. Well, I told them that if that's the standard, then I can accept it. It's a case of miscommunication - I had asked the Puspel Operator many times and they can't tell me what is the normal water pressure and all other answers they gave me were crap.

So in summary, our current water pressure (2 bars or 30 psi) is the standard (as they claimed), and the previous higher pressure we had was a bonus. Personally I would prefer about 3 bars or 45 psi, but I guess that's a request for enhancement, rather than a complain.

Anyway, the effort weren't a waste, because while they were here, I also told them that our water is quite dirty and even showed them the color of my water filter backwash. Then they came back later in the day, and flushed the water pipes for the whole Taman. Indeed, our water pipes were quite dirty. According to them, they will periodically flush them quarterly, but will also flush if they received complains of dirty water. After the flush, they checked the water quality from my main pipe, and registered a reading of 3.74 NTU on some device that checks for water quality. I don't know what kind of reading is that, but the water looks clear enough.

Also, the next time if we have any water woes, we can make a report to Puspel (1800-88-5252), and follow up with En Zulkeple Othman (012-2168978), who is the Customer Service Exec in charge of Syabas PJ. He mentioned that it's easier if we have a Community Representative to lodge any reports to Water, Police, MPSJ, etc... so thanks that we have Ramesh..

[Harjeet Pannu]

Well done Sean Yuen, being part of the system.... I can vouch that when you keep on poking the civil service it will usually work exceptionally well....

[linjepp]

How come i'm only getting 20psi?