Poor pressure in Shower
#1
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.
Thank you.
#2
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.
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.
#4
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Northeastern NC On The Albemarle Sound
Posts: 10,701
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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
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
#8
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Northeastern NC On The Albemarle Sound
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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
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
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
Thanks for your replies.
Paul
#10
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?