Shower water flow reduced
 

Here's a baffling problem. Over maybe the last year or so, the water
flow in the shower has decreased. It's happened slowly, so not sure
when it really started, but lately it's become a problem. It's not
the shower head, I removed it and the flow right out of the 1/2"
pipe from both the hot and cold are way below what they should be.
But here's the bizarre part. If I open just the cold all the way,
I get a flow of X, which is slow and way below what it should be.
If I open the hot, I get the same exact slow flow. If I open them
both, I still get exactly the same slow flow, ie no improvement.

To me that's weird, because it implies that there is some obstruction
after the two valves. But this is a Grohe faucet from 25 years ago,
ie it's not one with a tempering valve or anything fancy, so I
would assume the water just comes from each valve into a simple T
and is combined. So, I'm at a loss as to what could be wrong.
If it were debris, I could see it lodging before or in a valve,
but how could there be anything after the two valves?

Water pressure into the separate bathtub is fine, plenty of
water flow there, many times what's coming out of the shower.
Only other odd behavior is that the cold side of the sink,
which is also a Grohe, once in awhile with the faucet wide open
or near wide open, there will be little or no flow. But close
it once or couple times, and the problem goes away.

I haven't take the faucets apart yet, I guess that's a next step,
but have been reluctant because I didn't know how the handles
come off. Just found on the internet that they just pull off.
So, I can investigate that way or alternatively I thought about
rigging up my air compressor and blowing back into the shower
line.

Any ideas?

Shower water flow reduced
 

On Tue, 23 May 2017 11:14:05 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

Here's a baffling problem. Over maybe the last year or so, the water
flow in the shower has decreased. It's happened slowly, so not sure
when it really started, but lately it's become a problem. It's not
the shower head, I removed it and the flow right out of the 1/2"
pipe from both the hot and cold are way below what they should be.
But here's the bizarre part. If I open just the cold all the way,
I get a flow of X, which is slow and way below what it should be.
If I open the hot, I get the same exact slow flow. If I open them
both, I still get exactly the same slow flow, ie no improvement.

To me that's weird, because it implies that there is some obstruction
after the two valves. But this is a Grohe faucet from 25 years ago,
ie it's not one with a tempering valve or anything fancy, so I
would assume the water just comes from each valve into a simple T
and is combined. So, I'm at a loss as to what could be wrong.
If it were debris, I could see it lodging before or in a valve,
but how could there be anything after the two valves?

Water pressure into the separate bathtub is fine, plenty of
water flow there, many times what's coming out of the shower.
Only other odd behavior is that the cold side of the sink,
which is also a Grohe, once in awhile with the faucet wide open
or near wide open, there will be little or no flow. But close
it once or couple times, and the problem goes away.

I haven't take the faucets apart yet, I guess that's a next step,
but have been reluctant because I didn't know how the handles
come off. Just found on the internet that they just pull off.
So, I can investigate that way or alternatively I thought about
rigging up my air compressor and blowing back into the shower
line.

Any ideas?

Shower valves have the scald protection for the last couple decades
and if that screws up, flow dribbles to nothing. You can throw a
cartridge at it or you may be able to take it apart and clean it up.

Shower water flow reduced
 

On Tue, 23 May 2017 11:14:05 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

Here's a baffling problem. Over maybe the last year or so, the water
flow in the shower has decreased. It's happened slowly, so not sure
when it really started, but lately it's become a problem. It's not
the shower head, I removed it and the flow right out of the 1/2"
pipe from both the hot and cold are way below what they should be.
But here's the bizarre part. If I open just the cold all the way,
I get a flow of X, which is slow and way below what it should be.
If I open the hot, I get the same exact slow flow. If I open them
both, I still get exactly the same slow flow, ie no improvement.

To me that's weird, because it implies that there is some obstruction
after the two valves. But this is a Grohe faucet from 25 years ago,
ie it's not one with a tempering valve or anything fancy, so I
would assume the water just comes from each valve into a simple T
and is combined. So, I'm at a loss as to what could be wrong.
If it were debris, I could see it lodging before or in a valve,
but how could there be anything after the two valves?

Water pressure into the separate bathtub is fine, plenty of
water flow there, many times what's coming out of the shower.
Only other odd behavior is that the cold side of the sink,
which is also a Grohe, once in awhile with the faucet wide open
or near wide open, there will be little or no flow. But close
it once or couple times, and the problem goes away.

I haven't take the faucets apart yet, I guess that's a next step,
but have been reluctant because I didn't know how the handles
come off. Just found on the internet that they just pull off.
So, I can investigate that way or alternatively I thought about
rigging up my air compressor and blowing back into the shower
line.

Any ideas?

Any chance the valve handle is slipping, not working as it should?

Shower water flow reduced
 

I haven't take the faucets apart yet, I guess that's a next step,

are the hot and cold actually two separate valves with two separate handles?

m

Shower water flow reduced
 

On 5/23/17 1:14 PM, trader_4 wrote:
Here's a baffling problem. Over maybe the last year or so, the water
flow in the shower has decreased. It's happened slowly, so not sure
when it really started, but lately it's become a problem. It's not
the shower head, I removed it and the flow right out of the 1/2"
pipe from both the hot and cold are way below what they should be.
But here's the bizarre part. If I open just the cold all the way,
I get a flow of X, which is slow and way below what it should be.
If I open the hot, I get the same exact slow flow. If I open them
both, I still get exactly the same slow flow, ie no improvement.
To me that's weird, because it implies that there is some obstruction
after the two valves. But this is a Grohe faucet from 25 years ago,
ie it's not one with a tempering valve or anything fancy, so I
would assume the water just comes from each valve into a simple T
and is combined. So, I'm at a loss as to what could be wrong.
If it were debris, I could see it lodging before or in a valve,
but how could there be anything after the two valves?
Water pressure into the separate bathtub is fine, plenty of
water flow there, many times what's coming out of the shower.

Some cut.
Remove the shower head and run a fish tape down the pipe?

Shower water flow reduced
 

On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 2:14:08 PM UTC-4, trader_4 wrote:
Here's a baffling problem. Over maybe the last year or so, the water
flow in the shower has decreased. It's happened slowly, so not sure
when it really started, but lately it's become a problem. It's not
the shower head, I removed it and the flow right out of the 1/2"
pipe from both the hot and cold are way below what they should be.
But here's the bizarre part. If I open just the cold all the way,
I get a flow of X, which is slow and way below what it should be.
If I open the hot, I get the same exact slow flow. If I open them
both, I still get exactly the same slow flow, ie no improvement.

To me that's weird, because it implies that there is some obstruction
after the two valves. But this is a Grohe faucet from 25 years ago,
ie it's not one with a tempering valve or anything fancy, so I
would assume the water just comes from each valve into a simple T
and is combined. So, I'm at a loss as to what could be wrong.
If it were debris, I could see it lodging before or in a valve,
but how could there be anything after the two valves?

Water pressure into the separate bathtub is fine, plenty of
water flow there, many times what's coming out of the shower.
Only other odd behavior is that the cold side of the sink,
which is also a Grohe, once in awhile with the faucet wide open
or near wide open, there will be little or no flow. But close
it once or couple times, and the problem goes away.

I haven't take the faucets apart yet, I guess that's a next step,
but have been reluctant because I didn't know how the handles
come off. Just found on the internet that they just pull off.
So, I can investigate that way or alternatively I thought about
rigging up my air compressor and blowing back into the shower
line.

Any ideas?

Try taking the screen head off and jambing a small snake or such. I had the same issue and snaked a yard of coax. It did the job even though it should not. It was a free sug and worked.

Shower water flow reduced
 

On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 3:33:46 PM UTC-4, Oren wrote:
On Tue, 23 May 2017 11:14:05 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

Here's a baffling problem. Over maybe the last year or so, the water
flow in the shower has decreased. It's happened slowly, so not sure
when it really started, but lately it's become a problem. It's not
the shower head, I removed it and the flow right out of the 1/2"
pipe from both the hot and cold are way below what they should be.
But here's the bizarre part. If I open just the cold all the way,
I get a flow of X, which is slow and way below what it should be.
If I open the hot, I get the same exact slow flow. If I open them
both, I still get exactly the same slow flow, ie no improvement.

To me that's weird, because it implies that there is some obstruction
after the two valves. But this is a Grohe faucet from 25 years ago,
ie it's not one with a tempering valve or anything fancy, so I
would assume the water just comes from each valve into a simple T
and is combined. So, I'm at a loss as to what could be wrong.
If it were debris, I could see it lodging before or in a valve,
but how could there be anything after the two valves?

Water pressure into the separate bathtub is fine, plenty of
water flow there, many times what's coming out of the shower.
Only other odd behavior is that the cold side of the sink,
which is also a Grohe, once in awhile with the faucet wide open
or near wide open, there will be little or no flow. But close
it once or couple times, and the problem goes away.

I haven't take the faucets apart yet, I guess that's a next step,
but have been reluctant because I didn't know how the handles
come off. Just found on the internet that they just pull off.
So, I can investigate that way or alternatively I thought about
rigging up my air compressor and blowing back into the shower
line.

Any ideas?

Any chance the valve handle is slipping, not working as it should?

No.

Shower water flow reduced
 

On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 8:40:15 PM UTC-4, Thomas wrote:
On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 2:14:08 PM UTC-4, trader_4 wrote:
Here's a baffling problem. Over maybe the last year or so, the water
flow in the shower has decreased. It's happened slowly, so not sure
when it really started, but lately it's become a problem. It's not
the shower head, I removed it and the flow right out of the 1/2"
pipe from both the hot and cold are way below what they should be.
But here's the bizarre part. If I open just the cold all the way,
I get a flow of X, which is slow and way below what it should be.
If I open the hot, I get the same exact slow flow. If I open them
both, I still get exactly the same slow flow, ie no improvement.

To me that's weird, because it implies that there is some obstruction
after the two valves. But this is a Grohe faucet from 25 years ago,
ie it's not one with a tempering valve or anything fancy, so I
would assume the water just comes from each valve into a simple T
and is combined. So, I'm at a loss as to what could be wrong.
If it were debris, I could see it lodging before or in a valve,
but how could there be anything after the two valves?

Water pressure into the separate bathtub is fine, plenty of
water flow there, many times what's coming out of the shower.
Only other odd behavior is that the cold side of the sink,
which is also a Grohe, once in awhile with the faucet wide open
or near wide open, there will be little or no flow. But close
it once or couple times, and the problem goes away.

I haven't take the faucets apart yet, I guess that's a next step,
but have been reluctant because I didn't know how the handles
come off. Just found on the internet that they just pull off.
So, I can investigate that way or alternatively I thought about
rigging up my air compressor and blowing back into the shower
line.

Any ideas?

Try taking the screen head off and jambing a small snake or such. I had the same issue and snaked a yard of coax. It did the job even though it should not. It was a free sug and worked.

Thanks to you and Dean for that idea. Coax sounds like the perfect
thing. I'll give that a try if reverse blowing with air doesn't work.
I went to Lowes yesterday and got a reducing elbow to make the air
to pipe connection.

Also Gfre says it may have an anti-scald in there, which AFAIK, it
doesn't. It's actually ~32 years old and I've been there for 20+
years, I've had the shower on full hot occasionally and never saw
anything cut in to prevent full hot water from coming out. I
suppose it could have been fouled up all along and only now is
showing this new system, but I tend to doubt it.

I'm not to keen on trying to take the stem out. I finally found
a video showing how that type of Grohe faucet handle comes off.
It just pulls off, no screw. Which tells me I'm screwed. A regular
handle with a screw is a bitch to get off after a couple decades.
One that only relies on being pressed on to hold it must fit even
tighter. Chances of getting that off without damage is probably
zippo.

Shower water flow reduced
 

On Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at 1:10:12 PM UTC-4, trader_4 wrote:

Update. I hooked up the air compressor and blew it out, going from
the shower head pipe to the tub and then to one sink. Blew out both
the hot and cold sides. Some dirty looking water did come out,
but no sign of any debris. Good news though is the flow rate is
at least double. Easily visible by both the size of the stream
falling and the arc. Tried blowing it again, but it didn't
improve any further and it's certainly acceptable now. Put the
shower heads back on and huge difference, decent flow and pressure
now. So, IDK what was in there, but it sure worked.

I also tried using a heavy gauge piece of stranded wire to snake
it out, but i couldn't get it past the first elbow. I was also
a little nervous that I could wind up with it stuck in there so
given the big gain already, I decided to call it quits.

Shower water flow reduced
 

On 05/25/2017 11:36 AM, trader_4 wrote:
....

Update. I hooked up the air compressor and blew it out, going from
the shower head pipe to the tub and then to one sink. Blew out both
the hot and cold sides. Some dirty looking water did come out,
but no sign of any debris. Good news though is the flow rate is
at least double. ...

Probably scale/rust/sediment that at least is temporarily relocated if
not removed. If could manage to backflush _might_ do some good.

I've no klew on the specific fitting; don't recall ever heard the name
before even...

--

Shower water flow reduced
 

On Thursday, May 25, 2017 at 2:45:28 PM UTC-4, dpb wrote:
On 05/25/2017 11:36 AM, trader_4 wrote:
...

Update. I hooked up the air compressor and blew it out, going from
the shower head pipe to the tub and then to one sink. Blew out both
the hot and cold sides. Some dirty looking water did come out,
but no sign of any debris. Good news though is the flow rate is
at least double. ...

Probably scale/rust/sediment that at least is temporarily relocated if
not removed. If could manage to backflush _might_ do some good.

I've no klew on the specific fitting; don't recall ever heard the name
before even...

--

It's Hansgrohe. I called it Grohe, thought it was Hans Grohe.
It's a German line. I have them in the master bath, had it in
the kitchen too. They performed fine, no real complaints. But
like I said, the fancy designer handles just press on the stems.
I've never had to take one off, but don't expect I'd be able to
either at this late date. Not only are they probably stuck on
real good, there is no way to apply the pulling force. It's not
like a gear, where you can use a puller.