Water pressure: booster needed

This is likely a question for Master Plumber. We are experencing water pressure problems in our 2 family house. We have a roughly 3/4 inch water pipe entering from the street. There is a valve right before the water meter. When we hook up a water pressure gauge, it reads 45 psi. When we run a bathtub on the 1st floor, water pressure falls to 20 psi, and absolutely NO water gets to the 2nd floor. I am very confident that the plumbing inside the house is in good order, as it was recently finished with 1 inch pipes, splitting to 3/4 inch, then 1/2 inch new pipes. We tested also the rate of flow out of the tap right before the water meter: about 8 gallons per minute.
We are pretty certain that we need a pressure booster sytem, as I do not want to have to deal with the city and have them in my business. So the question is: what type of a system would be appropriate? What is the most energy-efficient solution? It also should be on the quiet side.

By Sputnik13 |