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15 years of plumbing in Kempton Park
Water Pressure Repairs
Kempton Park
Water pressure repairs in Kempton Park start with two gauge readings at a busy time, one near the meter and one at the weak tap, to show where the pressure goes.
Six causes of weak water, each measured before it is blamed
Most sit inside the boundary. One is the network itself, and a reading at the busy time shows which.
Weak only at certain hours
Fine at some times of day and poor at others. Readings at the boundary at both times show whether the network or the house is dropping.
Pressure reducing valve
A PRV that has failed, clogged or been set too low holds the whole house down. A gauge either side shows it, and it is reset or replaced.
Scaled galvanised pipe
Old galvanised steel narrows as scale builds up inside it. Sections that have closed up are replaced with copper or plastic.
Aerators, heads and cartridges
Grit and scale collect in tap aerators, shower heads and mixer cartridges. They are cleaned before anything bigger is suggested.
Weak on the hot side only
When only the hot taps suffer, the geyser's own valves are the place to start. That is a geyser repair, priced as one.
A leak taking the flow
Water escaping underground or inside a wall takes pressure with it. A meter that moves with every tap shut gives it away.
Fifteen metres at your boundary
At its IDP public consultation for Kempton Park in April 2025, Ekurhuleni's slide for the Kempton Park Customer Care Area listed three problems: "Power failure", "Sewer blockages" and "Low Water Pressure". That area covers eight wards and 62,029 registered properties. Weak water here is not a private grumble; it sits on the City's own short list. The question for any one house is how much of it comes from the street and how much from the pipes behind the meter.
The City's design standard gives a number to aim at. Its Water and Sanitation Guidelines of July 2024 set the residual pressure "at every erf boundary" at 15 m for residential stands and 24 m for industrial or business stands, "under peak consumption conditions". Fifteen metres of head is roughly 150 kPa. That is a design figure for the boundary at the busiest time, not a reading promised at your shower.
The by-law is plainer still: it guarantees nothing. Clause 42 lets the City reduce pressure or interrupt supply without notice and without liability, and where normal network pressure cannot serve a property, the consumer provides and maintains whatever raises it, at their own expense. Pressure is also managed on purpose: on the asbestos-cement main in Norkem Park that burst five times in under a year, the City's answer included a pressure-reducing valve. In July 2023, after a burst main was repaired, the City reported low pressure in Glen Marais, Isando Industrial, Rhodesfield, Aston, Bredell, Croydon and Spartan.
For a house, that makes 15 metres at the gate the starting budget, and anything needed beyond it is the owner's installation to provide. An upstairs bathroom has to lift water above the meter, and a long run to a far shower loses some along the way. Old galvanised pipe adds its own loss: a 2006 industry paper puts the move away from steel pipe down mainly to corrosion and "reduction in pipe cross section through scaling", and records its "replacement by copper and plastic in residential systems". None of that can be seen from the street.
So the useful first step is a measurement, not a part. A gauge on the tap nearest the meter at a busy time shows what the network is delivering, and the same gauge at the weak shower shows what the house loses on the way. Low at the boundary is worth reporting to the City with the reading; healthy at the boundary and weak at the tap points to a pipe or a valve inside. Where the supply cannot reach an upper floor, the by-law route is a booster pump drawing from a storage tank, never straight off the main, with the City's written approval.
Before paying for a pump or new pipes, have two readings taken at a busy time of day: one at the tap nearest the meter and one at the weak outlet. The gap between them decides whether the fix is a pipe, a valve or a tank-fed booster.
Where weak water usually comes from
Five patterns of low pressure, the usual cause, and the reading that settles it.
Low pressure, Kempton Park homes
| What you notice | What it usually is | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Every tap weak, but only at certain hours | Network pressure dropping at peak demand | Boundary readings at a busy time and a quiet time |
| Every tap weak, all day long | A PRV failed or set too low, or a valve left half shut | Gauge either side of the PRV and each valve |
| One shower weak, the rest fine | A blocked head or mixer cartridge, or a narrowed branch | Head and cartridge cleaned, then that branch read |
| Upstairs weak, downstairs fine | Height above the meter using up the pressure | Boundary reading checked; a tank-fed booster priced if needed |
| Flow a little worse every year | Galvanised pipe closing up with scale | Pipe sections inspected and replaced with copper or plastic |
A meter that turns with every tap shut means a leak, and a leak is found before any pressure part is changed.
Four rules before any pressure part is fitted
Written against two outcomes people regret: a pump that did not help, and a bill for guesswork.
Two readings, both on the quote
Pressure at the boundary and at the weak outlet are written on the quote, so you can see where the loss is before paying to fix it.
The smallest fix first
Aerators, cartridges and valves are checked before pipe replacement is suggested, and pipe before a pump.
Pumps only the by-law way
A booster is quoted only with a storage tank feeding it and the City's written approval in the plan, never fitted straight onto the supply.
Readings again after the work
Both readings are repeated once the work is done, so you can see the gain. If the pressure falls away later, the same form reaches the team that did the work.
How a pressure complaint is narrowed down
Readings come before parts, and parts come only after you have the price.
Tell us which taps and when
Send the form. The plumber phones back to ask which outlets are weak, at what times and whether neighbours notice it, then explains the visit charge.
Read the boundary
A gauge goes on the tap nearest the meter, at a busy time where possible, to see what the network is delivering to your gate.
Read the weak outlet
The same gauge at the weak shower or tap shows what the house loses and roughly where. The fix is then priced in writing.
Fix and compare
The valve, pipe section or pump is fitted at the agreed price, and both readings are repeated so you can see the change.
Related work in Kempton Park
Pressure questions from Kempton Park taps and showers
If yours is not here, add it to the call-out form and the plumber takes it on the phone-back.
What do I pay to have my water pressure measured before anything is fixed?
You hear the visit charge on the phone-back, before anything is booked. It covers the readings and an explanation of what they mean; any valve, pipe or pump work is then priced in writing, and you decide whether to go ahead.
If the readings show the problem is the network rather than the house, you are told so, and nothing is sold to you. What a written quote should contain is covered on the plumbing prices page.
Low pressure is on the City's own list for Kempton Park. Does that make it the City's job?
Partly. The City designs for 15 metres of pressure at a residential boundary at peak, but its by-law guarantees no pressure and lets it reduce supply without notice. Anything the house needs above that is the owner's to provide.
A reading at the tap nearest the meter settles which part is which. If it is poor there at a busy time, report it to the City with the number; if it is healthy there and weak at your shower, the cause is in your pipes or valves.
What reading should I get at the tap nearest my meter?
Ekurhuleni designs for at least 15 metres of head, about 150 kPa, at a residential boundary under peak demand. Its design table also allows static pressure of up to 90 metres, about 880 kPa, when there is no demand.
So a reading can be modest at a busy time and much higher when demand is low, and both can be normal. One reading on its own says little; a busy-time and a quiet-time reading say a lot more.
Why does a booster pump here need a tank in front of it?
Because Ekurhuleni's by-law says a pump may not be connected directly to the City's network. Its suction pipe must come from a storage tank, and the details must go to the City for written approval.
A tank also gives the house a reserve during planned Rand Water work, such as the 50-hour shutdown that reached Kempton Park suburbs in July 2025.
The taps cough and spit air after Rand Water maintenance. Is something broken?
Usually not. When a network is drained and refilled, air is trapped in the pipes; in January 2026, as supply returned after Rand Water maintenance, Johannesburg Water said it would attend to "airlocks". Opening the taps one at a time and letting them run lets the air out.
If the flow stays weak once the air has cleared, an aerator or strainer may have caught grit, and a reading at the boundary shows whether the network has fully recovered.
Our upstairs bathroom barely runs but downstairs is fine. Is that the City or the house?
Usually the house. Water loses pressure as it climbs, so an upper floor gets less of the 15 metres the City designs for at the boundary, and a long or narrow pipe to that bathroom loses more.
Readings downstairs and upstairs show how much goes on height and how much on the pipe. If the pipe is sound and height is the problem, a booster drawing from a tank is the by-law route.
Could a pressure-reducing valve be the reason my pressure is so low?
It can be. A PRV holds the house below a set pressure, and one that has failed, clogged or been set too low starves every tap after it. A gauge either side of the valve shows whether it is the culprit.
The City uses the same device on its own network: it fitted one on the Norkem Park asbestos-cement main that kept bursting. Inside a house the valve protects the pipes, so it is reset or replaced rather than taken out.
My pipes are old galvanised steel. Will replacing them bring the pressure back?
Only if the readings show the loss is in those pipes. Galvanised steel scales up inside and narrows, and a 2006 industry paper records its "replacement by copper and plastic in residential systems".
If the pressure is healthy at the boundary and drops along a galvanised run, replacing that run is the fix, priced section by section. If the boundary reading is already low, new pipes will not help on their own.
Where we work
Every suburb inside Kempton Park, from Birchleigh North down to Bonaero Park on the airport fence.
- Kempton Park CBD
- Allen Grove
- Aston Manor
- Birch Acres
- Birchleigh
- Birchleigh North
- Bonaero Park
- Bredell
- Cresslawn
- Croydon
- Edleen
- Esther Park
- Glen Erasmia
- Glen Marais
- Isando
- Kempton Park West
- Nimrod Park
- Norkem Park
- Pomona
- Rhodesfield
- Serengeti
- Spartan
- Terenure
- Van Riebeeck Park