Hi,

We finished installing our new 3rd floor bathroom last month, with lots of help from these forums. Everything's great, except that the shower pressure is too high and we end up running out of hot water during a shower. We have a new Delta shower, where you can adjust the water temperature but not the pressure.

So I need some way to reduce the water pressure... is there any kind of insert I could put in the shower arm, or other simple trick I could use?

Thanks!

 

I don't know if there is anything to reduce the flow. I'm assuming you have a 1300 series Delta valve. I know with deltas the valve body is universal so you can replace the 1300 series with a 1700 series. It requires replacing the cartridge and also the trim but it has 2 handles, one for flow and the other for temp. You may be looking at $100 to buy the trim kit depending on the color.

 

It could be as simple, too, just changing the shower head to a low flow head. What series of control valve did you install so we can know for sure?

 

As Chandler said, perhaps the shower head. Some come with flow control built in.

Bud

 

Thanks chandler. I remember you answering a lot of my questions over in the electrical forum. Nice to see you here too!

Here's what I have:

Classic Monitor® 13 Series Shower Trim : Bath Products : Delta Faucet

I can see from their website that the "13" series doesn't let you adjust the pressure, just the temp. I was hoping for a super low-tech solution here rather than having to buy a new shower head or "17" series shower kit.

Low-tech as in... what do you think would happen if I tried putting a washer or a few tile spacers behind the filter in the shower head?

 

Adjusting the spray control of the shower head is different thgan changing the pressure (volume, actually). If you take off a shower head and look in the 1/2 inch female hole on the backside, often you will see a round rubber or plastic washer that has all total, whether one hole or 5 small holes, the equivelant of about a 1/8th inch hole that all that water can come out of.

I actually thought it was law now that such restricted shower heads had to be sold.

If there already is such a restrictor in your shower head, then your problem would be that if you really have high water volume, as opposed to simply the feeling of high pressure, based on pain of pins and needles type spray - then your house water pressure may be really high, like above 80 psi.

Time the flow coming out the shower head into a pail and see how many gpm's actually come out.

 

ecman... yes, I do mean volume, not pressure, sorry.

This is a new shower so I assume it won't produce more than 2.5gpm. It's not that I don't like the volume... but we run out of hot water when both our showers are in use simultaneously each morning. That's really the issue. So I'm looking for a low-tech way to reduce the volume.

 

Something like this may help...available most anywhere that sells showerheads. It installs between the arm and the head.
Shower Cut-Off Valve 1/2 - Shower Head made by Chatham - Dickson Supply's AccentShopping.Com 1-800-456-5267

The key info was in your last post...you have to have a pretty big WH to support 2 showers at the same time..even with low flow heads. A 40 gal WH can really only supply about 27 gal of HOT water before you start noticing a change...and thats if the water is fully hot when you start using it.

 

I never thought I would instantly fall in love with a valve... but you proved me wrong. If the big box doesn't have it tonight, I'll just order it online.

Thanks Gunguy!