Poor pressure in Shower


  #1  
Old 11-27-02, 12:29 PM
kingnothing2002
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Poor pressure in Shower

When taking a shower, the wather seems to fall out rather than have any force behind it. I had the city come out and check the main water line. I have 65psi at the meter, and the outside faucet. The rest of the house seems ok, but the problem is really evident when in the shower. The city maintance guy told me to check my screens. What is that? After looking at the piping for the shower faucet, I noticed that the pipes coming into the house are copper, but the pipe that goes up to the shower head is stainless steel. The water flow coming out of the shower faucet is still poor though. Not sure what to try next. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
 
  #2  
Old 11-27-02, 04:22 PM
L
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First, remove the shower head from the arm coming out of the wall. With the head off, try running the water and see what kind of pressure you have coming out of the arm. If that seems normal, clean the shower head. You may be able to backflush it, you might be able to disassemble it, or you might have to let it soak in white vinegar for a few hours then backflush it again.

If the pressure at the arm (without the head on) is low, the problem is in the valve. Reply to this post and describe the valve.
 
  #3  
Old 11-30-02, 09:14 PM
kingnothing2002
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By valve do you mean what the water lines are coming into? If it is, it looks like a 3 gang valve. One for hot, cold, and the tube that goes up to the shower head. I am going to take that out tomarrow and check it out. Thanks for your response.
 
  #4  
Old 12-01-02, 08:30 AM
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Cool

Whoa.
You probably don't need to take out the faucet body. You probably can just repair it with a new cartridge, diverter, etc., depending upon the brand and type of faucet.
What is the brand of faucet? Single-handle? Dual-handle?
Mike
 
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Old 12-01-02, 12:47 PM
kingnothing2002
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It is a dual handle. Moen is the brand. Are there any diagrams or procedure's that discuss what your describing. Thanks for your reply. I appreciate it.
 
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Old 12-01-02, 12:52 PM
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I'd replace the stem in the valve, good chance your is debrie clogging them up.
 
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Old 12-01-02, 05:07 PM
kingnothing2002
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Well, I actually replaced the entire faucet, (wanted a new one anyway, old one came with the house) but still no improvement. Something tells me this is actually in the pipes of the house. Is there anything else I can check?
 
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Old 12-01-02, 05:14 PM
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Cool

Sounds like you probably have obsolete galvanized pipes, instead of "stainless steel" (which would be extremely unusual in a residence).
Galvanized is notorious for scaling up inside until it eventually plugs up completely. The only solution for galvanized is to replace it.
Good Luck!
Mike
 
  #9  
Old 12-06-02, 06:33 PM
kingnothing2002
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Well, I know its not galvanized steel pipes. Ive looked at the pipes in my crawl space and they are all copper. The thing i found strange is that their is a old water softner in my crawl space, not being used, but still connected to my pipes. Do you think this could contribute to the poor pressure? Could it only affect the bathroom?

Thanks for your replies.

Paul
 
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Old 12-07-02, 11:00 PM
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Well it is not good to leave that in the lines and it would certainly affect volume over the long run if it were not maintained, but you are correct in assuming that it would affect more than the bathroom... In your original post, you said that the piece going up to the shower was stainless steel... of course, no stainless is used in residences, so verify what kind of pipe that it... remember, that all it takes is one piece of corroded pipe in the run to kill your volume... so while you may have copper all downstairs, what kind of pipe ties directly to the shower valve and to the other bathroom fixtures?
 
 

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