Low Shower Head Water Pressure

Tim,

My problem isn't with the shower head, it seems like there's little pressure coming from the one-half inch pipe, while the pressure in the sink next to the shower stall is fine. Any suggestions to try?

Brad,
It is either sediment in the valve cartridge and/or sediment in the shower head holes or flow restrictor.

Tim -

I have a similar problem to Brad. We've replaced the shower head, checked for sediment. Not only is the water pressure pathetic coming out of the pipes but I can barely get hot water out of the shower in the wintertime without turning the handle all the way to H. All other faucets are fine. I live in a rented townhouse (12 years old) and can't rip out the shower wall. Looks like PVC piping, possibly a separate pipe for the shower as opposed to the garden tub next to it.

Kat,
The problem is in the valve body. I have other columns here about this.

Tim,
we just bought a new house (that was completely gutted) and are having problems withthe shower pressire. It is a bath and shower combo. The water coming out of the bath facet is great - not as hot as it should be but good pressure. When we turn the shower on, the pressure right off the bat is great, 15 seconds later it is halfed, and 1 minute later it is just spitting out?!?! It is only mildly hot, even though we have the hot water tank cranked!?! Any ideas? cranked

Tim my delta 1400 shower/tub cartridge is working properly but theirs still little water flow when reinstalled. When I reopened the main water shut off valve, water was shooting towards the back of the tub. When I reinstalled the delta hardware I still get the low water flow.

Soni,
The first thing I would do is remove the shower head from the chrome pipe that sticks out from the wall. If all is well with the flow and temperature, then the blockage is in the head.

Ron,
Then there is a blockage in the shower head. Are you *positive* the cartridges ports are totally free of sediment?????

Hi Tim - I've been reading your other articles on the topic but haven't hit on a solution for my upstairs low pressure shower yet (and very little hot water in wintertime only). Would sprinkler systems be set to the same water pressure as our townhouse building? I'm wondering if the maintenance staff adjusted the sprinkler pressure and it's affecting our houses too? Sounds weird but these buildings are barely built to code (the electrical system is a real mess and the plumbing isn't much better).

Kat,
Read all of my columns about water pressure and start to do a process of elimination to see if it is system wide.

I've recently had problems with my shower. On fully cold the water pressure is good. As I turn the thermostat hotter the water pressure drops off until there is only a trickle of hot coming out.
I don't know the make of the shower as it is buried in the wall.
Can you help?

My problem seems to be that when you pull out the tab on the bath faucet to send the water up to the shower, only about 50% of it is sent up to the shower head and the rest is still coming out of the bath faucet down below...any ideas?

Matt,
Remove the spout and soak it in warm vinegar for hours.

AsktheBuilder,

I'm assuming that soaking the spout is in order to remove any mineral deposits or build up, and I will try this. But wouldn't that just make MORE water escape through the spout? I'm just wondering what the theory behind this tactic is...and thanks soo much for helping.

Dear Tim,

I have a problem with our new condos shower pressure. I read your last column and some seems true. But when i removed the shower head and turned on the water, it came out spraying sparaticly from the angled pipe. Also, our other shower weakened in pressure over time. Could it just be build up?

Krista,
It could be. Did you read all of the other comments?

We had a plumber rebuild the whole shower faucet and when you turn the shower on half way the water pressure is fine, but when you turn it to hot,the pressure goes half and the temperature is fine as long as the faucet handle is all the way up, but when you turn it down it goes cold.
Thanks,
Steve

Steve,
There should be adjusting screws behind the decorative wall plate. Read the instructions that came with the faucet.

i have low water pressure in my entire house and i just got done plumbing it with 1/2 inch water line pvc i was told my a co worker that to regain pressure is to go from 1/2 line to 3/4 line and this will up my pressure is this true or ?

CamaroKevin,
You need to read all of my past columns on Water Pressure and Installing Water Supply Lines. I also strongly suggest you research projects thoroughly *before* you start. You will save lots of money and time. Oh yes, you will be removing lots of the new pipe you just installed. And as for 3/4 inch, in some places you may be installing 1-inch pipe. I tell you all about this in my past columns.

Tim,

I believe my problem with a low (now no) pressure shower is the valve body. I have explored your whole web site after reading your comment to Kat "I have other columns here about this." Could you point me to ones concerning valve bodies since I can not seem to find them?

I'm a decent do-it-yourself plumber and can handle most things between the faucet and the wall. In this case I took off the head and pulled out the valve cartridge. I blew into the 1/2 inch pipe and it is blocked. Can I unblock it myself? I had a plumber come in and he suggested trying CLR, likewise explaining the blockage is probably in the smaller valve passage than the pipe. I tried the CLR with no luck.

The plumber tells me he can replace the valve for $900. I am interested in avoiding that charge.

Scott,
What happened when you turned the water back on with the valve cartridges OUT? You need a helper to do this to avoid a flood. If the hot and cold water gush from the valve body, then *all* of my previous replies and columns tell you the *only* two places the blockages could be.

NEVER again put chemicals like CLR into water lines. This is a great example - no offense intended - of why only licensed plumbers should work on water lines. Do you realize you could poison your neighbors if you are on a public water system?

"It is a good law in that it helps to conserve precious natural resources."
No Tim it is a bad law that intrudes on people's private lives. Gold is a precious natural resource. Oil is a precious natural resource. Two thirds of the earth is convered by water. It is simply a distribution problem. Furturemore, I use my shower to quickly clean my body. I do not shave in the shower. I do not listen to opera in the shower. I get wet, soap up, and rinse. Why must I be punished with miserable flow amounts and limited pressure? If the resousrce is so precious why is it so cheap.
Last year on an extended stay in Tucsan, Arizona, I witnessed first hand the precious nature of water. Tucsan is a dry place on the surface. In the motels, a card informs you that you can conserve water by hanging up your towels and reusing them on multinight stays. Meanwhile, they find water to keep 29 golf courses green year round. So, let me have 5 minutes of unrestricted water flow like it used to be before you liberal do gooders overstepped your constitutional authority with my water!!

My family and I love the handheld we got from a Massachussetts outfit called Water Management to resolve our low water pressure shower situation. I would reccommend them to anyone. It was very affordable and looks and works great. Their service was terrific too.

Tim:

I have read the numerous emails regarding low water pressure. Recently, I have encountered this issue in one shower, and on the hot water side only. You stated in other emails if it was not the shower head (i took of the head, and the flow on the hot side only was very poor), that it must be the valve body. Please specify on this. I am assuming that either the pipe on the hot side has become clogged, or the mechanism that opens the cold/hot valves when the handle is turned is not operating correctly. This started about 3 months ago, and has steadily gotten worse. Our gas hot water heater was very old, and we replaced it thinking this would correct the problem, but we were wrong. What are your thoughts?

Thx,

David

TIM THANK YOU!!!!

I just tried this. I took apart the shower head and saw the little round rubber thingy (real technical I know), saw the three holes and used a bobby pin that had lost its round tips (ladies know) to unclog the holes and reinstalled. Well I JUST got out the shower and it was the best damn shower I've had all year. lol. since march I've been suffering from itchy skin and suspected it was from not being able to rinse off well. i figured that must be why becuase it was only on my lower legs and arms, no rash, didnt feel itchy when I used other peoples (better) showers and got better when I started using baby/extra gentle, clean rinsing soap. This was the first time Ive taken a shower in MY apartment and didnt feel itchy when I got out since March!! THANKS SOOOOOO MUCH!!! Relief! dont call the doctor call the plumber!! :)

Hi

My name is Sandy and I purchased a new home just 3 months back. I hail from India so we use water for toilet cleansing. So i would like to install a shower head faucet near the flush tank. Could u pls tell me what dimensions should I take into consideration.

Thanks,
Sandy

I just installed a Danze pressure balance single handle shower valve and the pressure seems low.

All lined were flushed,and the shower head has no debris.

There appear to be 2 screw adjustments in the brass valve assembly(one on the cold side and one on the hot) that the parts list refers to as "Check Stop Sets". They have a slot for a blade screwdriver. They appear to be miniature input valves on the actual valve assembly. Can these be adjusted to allow for increased flow? The Danze site is of little help.

Note these are not the pressure balance adjustments as that is a separate mechanism that sits in front of the ceramic disc assembly.

Many thanks

Hi, We bought our house in 2004 and never used one of the baths. The shower/tub faucet water pressure is so low it can't be used. The rest of the house has no problems at all. We have been told the pipe to that shower might be pointed to far up?? That the wall might have to be taken down to repair the problem. Please help!!

Has anyone checked the Balancer Spool [Delta and others] to see it if is stuck? Sediment gets in there too.

Also, the shut-off valves to the hot and cold can get heavily corroded over time. This can also cause a blockage. This usually only applies if your water is low after you've taken off the diverter spout or shower head.

Tim, For 30 + years I could run my washer do dish, cook and wash dishes while someone took a shower. I can't turn anything on now or it gets hot or too cold. The only thing that changed was we replaced the shower head. Why would that make a differance? I HATE not being able to turn ANYTHING else on!!!

low pressure on the hot feed to shower...can you just put a pump on the hot water to increase hot water

Hi, I have a similiar problem. In my hall bath, the hot water pressure is lousy, the cold water pressure is fine. I live in a new home that has the pex lines run to each individual line. What would be the easiest way to find out what the problem would be? Again, it's only the hot line to the hall bath. Thanks!

Askthebuilder says he has other columns about valve body problems on this website but I can't find any of them when I use the search field. I too am having the problem of having replaced both the cartridge and the shower head without any improvement. What can you tell us about valve body problems?

I did a quick overview of the other comments here and they all seem to pertain to houses. I just moved into an apartment and the water pressure is fine except when (1) too much (or too little) water is flowing through the head and it squeals like crazy and (2) when the restaurant downstairs (or apartment upstairs) is using the water. Then when I'm in the shower there is less than a trickle of water coming out of the pipes/showerhead. I checked to see if we were sharing water tanks and it looks like I have my own but now I'm worried about the winter. Will I only be able to take showers on Sundays (because that's the only day the restaurant isn't open!)??!! Help!!??

Tim -

I have very low pressure out of my shower head, but the tub spout and bathroom sink are fine. I took the shower head completely off. The water pressure coming directly from the pipe is still very low. What now, since it is not the shower head?
Thanks!

Help our shower starts off fine, but after one minute goes down to a trickle. We have replaced the cartridge still no luck yet.

Tim: fyi..
Since 1993 there has been a federal regulation which mandates the flow rate for shower heads be 2.5 GPM. That's not much more than if you held a watering can over your head. Prior to '93 you could get anywhere from 3.0 to 7.0 gpm, for one of those beat your body feel good showers. There are, indeed, flow restrictors in today's shower heads.

The house I just bought had low flow in the upstairs shower. After replacing the whole house water filter the flow got a little bit better but still unacceptable. I then removed the shower head and found lots of sediment in the screen. I removed the sediment and reinstalled. Flow was even better now but still unacceptable. I then decided to do a little online research on showerheads and found a website that tests shower heads for flow and sells the ones that they found to be the best. I bought a new shower head from this site and now the shower is awesome. This site only sells legal shower heads with the required flow restrictors in place. I'm a firm believer that most showerheads are not engineered properly for maximum flow and instead they are designed by the marketing department instead. So, in conclusion: 1st check and replace any clogged water filters, then check the screen in the head for sediment, and if that doesn't satisfy get a well engineered shower head. Just a last word: I could not find the shower head I bought online in any of the popular home improvement stores!

Hi, I have an upstairs bathroom and I have good water pressure in both sinks. When I turn on the water in the bath tub there is low water pressure and even lower when I turn on the shower.The water used to hit the back of the tub now it doesn't even hit the middle.Help!!!

Hi Tim,
All water works fine except in shower. Replaced cartridge still water flow almost nonexistent . What if its not either sediment in the valve cartridge and/or sediment in the shower head holes or flow restrictor.

Tim, Just purchased a Delta hand held shower #547613 that has terrible pressure. Pressure into the house is fine - PSI 63. Please advise how I remove the flow restrictor. Also, where the shower hand holder screws into the curved pipe, there is a gray, plastic insert, likely a debris catcher. Should this also be removed? there is a green plastic piece at the end of the wand that appears to be the flow restrictor. It has a rubber donut shaped washer in the center. Does just the rubber washer come out, or the entire green plastic piece. Many thanks, Lee

Tim and co.,
I am building a 2 bedroom house on a hill and was told today by my water district guy that my water pressure is at around 40psi. I had planned to put in an overhead water tile by kohler,3 body sprays, and an additional opposite side hansgroh hand held rain shower. This sounds way too much now. What can I realistically get away with ? Thank you, Tom

Hi Tim,

I have read your comments and appreciate your feedback. My story, like the others, is that I have low hot water pressure. However, mine is only in half of my house. My Hot water heater is located in the middle of my house. This problem has been slowly getting worse for the bedroom bathrooms. We have low pressure in the sink, tub, and shower. That tells me there is some sort of blockage once the water goes to the right hand side of the house. How do you determine where to check the pipe for blockage or is there another way to clean out the entire system.

Thanks,

Mike

I recently installed a new shower faucet. There are no leaks in any of the pipe connections but water continues to drip from the shower head. I'm baffled. Could I have purchased a defective faucet? Any suggestions?

I recently cleand my shower head less than a week ago. There was a white granuals looking substance on the screen. I cleened it off and with in a week is is cloged again. What could be the cause of this. This is the only area with this problem within my house. Is my pipes or water heater?

Hi Tim, I have a very similar situation with a lot of these people. Low shower pressure. I have a shower only, ball type faucet. I have replaced all the rings and springs. It's low even without the head, and it has a lot of pressure when the inner faucet workings are not in place. Any idea's?

Tim,

I have similar problem as many of the other questions. I have a tub/shower combo, and the pressure from the tub faucet is fine, however the flow is roughly half through the shower pipe, even with the fixture off of it. Could the problem be with the diverter valve in the tub faucet?

WITHIN THE LAST TWO WEEKS MY ELECTRIC SHOWER EITHER STOPS WORKING AFTER APPROX TWO MINUTES OR WONT WORK AT ALL. WHAT COULD BE THE REASON?

After replacing the shower unit (bath and shower) the water pressure in that location is terrible. The bathroom sink in great though. What are my possible mistakes? *Note, I'm a noob and didn't research this before the work* Read somewhere I should have turned on the outside faucetts prior to returning water to the home. Any ideas?

having installed a shower with multi jets hot water is great but cold water will not come out quick enough to get a body temperature so too hot to have a shower

I have a house that is about 4 years old the shower has always had good water pressure but within one day it went to very low pressure but the water seems to be coming out of the tub faucet fine what could be the problem that would make it do that over night

Tim - Some of these issues sound close to the problem I'm having. I have a three handle bath/shower unit and water is not flowing at all from the shower head. I turn the middle handle for shower and it continues to flow from the down spout for the tub. I've replaced the diverter valve and the problem persist.

Please advise...i've been taking baths for a week now. I would love to take a shower.

Our house had horrible water pressure and we tried every shower head in Walmart....none of them worked. It took forever to rinse my long hair. I called maintanence over several times to figure out what is going on. I finally looked online and found www.takeashower.com and bought the fire hydrant shower and I LOVE IT!!!! It is the best $40 I ever spent. They have EXCELLENT customer service. I will definetly recommend to others and would buy more if I needed.

Melanie
Honolulu, HI

I am just getting moved into a new house. ( http://www.ConcreteCottage.com )I remember from my last new bathroom w/ Delta faucets and shower valve that the plumber had to make changes in the pre-settings that supposedly keep some one from getting burned w/ too hot water...it was impossible to get a hot shower until he re-set the innards. Ditto on amount of water coming out of shower head. I cannot wash my hair in the pitiful 'drizzle' of water in our new Delta showers...we must remove the restrictors.

Tim,

I have 2m of pressure head (0.2 Bar); the pressure from all taps and my previous shower is fine. I recently replaced my shower with a gravity fed system 'bar' type shower. The paperwork suggested that it would work with 0.1 Bar or higher; unfortunately I can now stand in the shower cubicle and stay dry (with the shower on full!)This is apparently due to restrictors in the 'bar'. I am resigned to buying a different type of shower; what type would you recommend?

Tim,

We live in a 3 year old house and when I turned on the water in our upstairs bath tub this morning, we had normal water pressure for about 5 seconds and then there was barely any flow coming out of the faucet. I couldn't even get enough water pressure to get the water to come out of the shower head. The water pressure in the same upstairs bathroom sink was fine. The water pressure in the downstairs bathroom shower was normal and we have never had any problems before. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Hi Tim,

The cold water pressure in my shower head and faucet is fine but when the hot water is turned on it trickles. What can we do? We live in an apartment and can not rip out walls.

Tim G

Thanks Tim. But I disagree that this was a "good law" to force us all to comply to someone's (who's?) idea of water conservation. Our shower is simply anemic. It takes longer to shower to get the job done with our Delta hand held fixture. I guess I'm sick of the Nanny State mandating what we should all do. Two-flush toilets (same concept ostensibly to save water).. low flow shower heads. Please. Just let manufacturers build good products that work, and let conservation efforts be voluntary, not mandated.

I have low water pressure in my shower when the cold water is turned on. When I continue to turn the faucet towards the hot water position the amount of water decreases dramatically. Any ideas?

I have a all-in-one tub/shower unit. With this unit, there is a, what looks like a tube, that you push in to make the water go up to the shower head. Mine works just fine, but with the one in my wife's bathroom, when you push the tube in, there's a very little amount coming out of the shower head, with a lot of the water still going to the tub part. As far as I know, this has always been a problem since we had the house built, which was in 1984. There is a plate mounted with 2 screws that fits over the part where the shower knob and the tube I was talking about. I have mentioned to my wife about taking out the 2 screws and see if hers looks any different from mine, but she always frowns when I do. Would this be safe to do? What are 'your' thoughts?

I know this article is 2 years old, but on the off chance someone is around to see it, thanks a lot. I just took my first full pressure shower in months thanks to you.

The pressure of water coming out of the shower head is low. It has a new shower head. Can I safely work on the valve to improve the flow??

Hi....ive checked my shower head and Mine doesnt have the valve thing u are talking about....if take the shower head off there is still little pressure. replaced the little metal bit with holes in it yesterday (think its the filter) it was slightly snapped and very grubby but this has still made no difference....please help :(

Tim, I have the same issue with my shower in my master bath. Low water pressure 9 days out of 10 and very little heat. Can it still be sediment if I just purchased the shower head AND replaces the shower valve less than 6 months ago? Every once in awhile, the pressure and heat will be fine.

(I was a new construction plumber for a few years and I am stumped.)

Thanks!

I received a new rain shower head for christmas. My previous shower head had very good pressure but when i installed my rain shower the pressure is now very low. Is there any way to increase the pressure in a rain shower head?

Mine works fine without the small plastic disk. If I put it back I have no pressure again.
Anyone else find it reduces water pressure?

Hi Tim,

Our shower works fine, but our kitchen sink only drizzles. I have cleaned the check the airator and soaked it and the screen in vinigar. Even without these installed the sink dripples. However the spray hose appears to work fine. It is a sink that combines the cold and hot water adjustments and doesn't have seprate nobs. Can you help?

we had to replace the faucet to the shower and tub. they are made together when we did when you turn the water on to get it set to turn on the shower at the end of the tub spout the shower head is leaking as if the shower is on. what is wrong.