low water pressure in shower
 

Just moved into a new house... renting, actually, as we moved half way
across the country. Anyway, I intensely dislike the water pressure in the
shower. The pressure is great everywhere else in the house, including the
tub faucet next to the shower. Pressure from the shower is almost
non-existant. I couldn't fidure out how to take apart the existing
hand-held shower head, so I bought a WaterPik Shower Massage, removed the
water restrictor (yeah, I know, not supposed to do that), and installed it.
The pressure from the shower still sucks. There is not enough to use the
shower massaging settings, and barely enough to rinse off with. What can I
do to increase the water pressure from the shower? Thanks.

On 8/18/2005 6:07 PM or thereabouts, The Dave© appears, somewhat
unbelievably, to have opined:

Just moved into a new house... renting, actually, as we moved half way
across the country. Anyway, I intensely dislike the water pressure in the
shower. The pressure is great everywhere else in the house, including the
tub faucet next to the shower. Pressure from the shower is almost
non-existant. I couldn't fidure out how to take apart the existing
hand-held shower head, so I bought a WaterPik Shower Massage, removed the
water restrictor (yeah, I know, not supposed to do that), and installed it.
The pressure from the shower still sucks. There is not enough to use the
shower massaging settings, and barely enough to rinse off with. What can I
do to increase the water pressure from the shower? Thanks.



The low pressure compared to what you are used to is probably due to the
shower valve itself rather than the showerhead. The newer valves are
limited by law as to how much water can flow through them per minute.
I'm not sure what the limit is, but I do know that my new home (1 year)
has a less satisfying shower pressure than the old one (25 years) did.
I consulted a plumber I trust about this and was told that the law now
requires low flow shower valves. He mentioned that if I wanted to I
could probably drill out the lines on the valve to allow for a bit more
flow, but I really didn't want to try that as it sounds like an easy way
to really make a mess.

That said, replacing the showerhead with a Grohe head did help quite a
bit although it's still not up to the standard of the older home.

--
As a child, my parents thought I was an idiot-savant.
Now, however, it is rather clear that I'm simply an idiot.

Maybe somebody put a water saving constrictor on the shower pipe.

"The Dave©" wrote in message
news:1124406597.853d2f569e3cf4daa70c9b9e3aa821aa@t eranews...
Just moved into a new house... renting, actually, as we moved half way
across the country. Anyway, I intensely dislike the water pressure in the
shower. The pressure is great everywhere else in the house, including the
tub faucet next to the shower. Pressure from the shower is almost
non-existant. I couldn't fidure out how to take apart the existing
hand-held shower head, so I bought a WaterPik Shower Massage, removed the
water restrictor (yeah, I know, not supposed to do that), and installed
it.
The pressure from the shower still sucks. There is not enough to use the
shower massaging settings, and barely enough to rinse off with. What can
I
do to increase the water pressure from the shower? Thanks.

That's the most likely scenario for rental units. Whenever we're
looking for a new apartment the first thing we check is the
plumbing, to see if there's decent water flow (or if not, whether
we can "fix" the "problem"). Most units we've seen the past
few years have had very poor water pressure in the shower,
not from easily removed flow constrictors, but by water
saving valves and other methods that would be very expensive
to fix. We simply kept looking at other places to rent.

"Jim-Poncin" wrote in message nk.net...
Maybe somebody put a water saving constrictor on the shower pipe.

"The Dave©" wrote in message
news:1124406597.853d2f569e3cf4daa70c9b9e3aa821aa@t eranews...
Just moved into a new house... renting, actually, as we moved half way
across the country. Anyway, I intensely dislike the water pressure in the
shower. The pressure is great everywhere else in the house, including the
tub faucet next to the shower. Pressure from the shower is almost
non-existant. I couldn't fidure out how to take apart the existing
hand-held shower head, so I bought a WaterPik Shower Massage, removed the
water restrictor (yeah, I know, not supposed to do that), and installed
it.
The pressure from the shower still sucks. There is not enough to use the
shower massaging settings, and barely enough to rinse off with. What can
I
do to increase the water pressure from the shower? Thanks.

"The Dave©" wrote in message
news:1124406597.853d2f569e3cf4daa70c9b9e3aa821aa@t eranews...
Just moved into a new house... renting, actually, as we moved half way
across the country. Anyway, I intensely dislike the water pressure in the
shower. The pressure is great everywhere else in the house, including the
tub faucet next to the shower. Pressure from the shower is almost
non-existant. I couldn't fidure out how to take apart the existing
hand-held shower head, so I bought a WaterPik Shower Massage, removed the
water restrictor (yeah, I know, not supposed to do that), and installed
it.
The pressure from the shower still sucks. There is not enough to use the
shower massaging settings, and barely enough to rinse off with. What can
I
do to increase the water pressure from the shower? Thanks.


There might be a low flow restrictor plugged up with sand or gravel. I had
this problem in a brand new house and since the shower was the first
substantial water used the sand found it's way into the shower head....good
luck...

On Thu, 18 Aug 2005 18:07:28 -0500, "The Dave©" wrote:

Just moved into a new house... renting, actually, as we moved half way
across the country. Anyway, I intensely dislike the water pressure in the
shower. The pressure is great everywhere else in the house, including the
tub faucet next to the shower. Pressure from the shower is almost
non-existant. I couldn't fidure out how to take apart the existing
hand-held shower head, so I bought a WaterPik Shower Massage, removed the
water restrictor (yeah, I know, not supposed to do that), and installed it.
The pressure from the shower still sucks. There is not enough to use the
shower massaging settings, and barely enough to rinse off with. What can I
do to increase the water pressure from the shower? Thanks.

Shut off valves open all the way?