Salt air wears on plumbing from the outside, and high pressure wears on it from the inside, and an Imperial Beach home can have both going on without anyone knowing. The pressure side shows up the usual way, banging pipes when the washer stops, a knock in the walls when a faucet closes, a shower that comes out too hard. Those are the signs you can hear of a system running above its healthy range, and they're the least expensive part.
The wear you can't hear costs more. Constant high pressure wears every joint and fitting early, strains the supply lines, shortens fixture life, and works hardest on the water heater, which can wear out years early under strain it was never built for. In a town where salt air already shortens equipment life, that adds up. The PRV is one device that holds the whole system in the healthy range, and the main question is whether it's working, failed at some point, or never installed at all, which is common in the older cottages. From the kitchen sink, all three look the same.
A gauge reading by a licensed contractor can settle it. The pressure gets measured, the regulator gets checked, and the options get explained in plain English. Cottages that never had a regulator get the straight talk about what adding one protects. The salt air is out of your hands, but the pressure can be brought down, and it starts with a phone call.
