Weak Water Pressure Fix
I recently moved into a new building and my water pressure is extremely weak, but only coming out of the shower head. The pressure from the tub and sink faucets seem “normal” to what I’ve had in the past. While the building is prewar, I’m on the 3rd floor (of 12) and can’t imagine that…
I recently moved into a new building and my water pressure is extremely weak, but only coming out of the shower head. The pressure from the tub and sink faucets seem “normal” to what I’ve had in the past.
While the building is prewar, I’m on the 3rd floor (of 12) and can’t imagine that ALL the tenants in this building are ok with the weak pressure. Thus, I have to assume it’s my apt…
What can I do to rectify this? I’ve heard that replacing the shower head might work (it’s currently a brand new one, although the cheap market standard one) and failing that, calling the plumber?
Any advice would be awesome, including recommendations on shower head replacements, if that will do the trick.
Thanks
Clean out the showerhead or get a new one. Gunk gets into aerators every time you shut off water and turn it back on. Even in brand new pipes the aerator may need to be removed from faucets, etc., and water allowed to run while gunk and grit get washed out.
Ok, not very green of me to point this out, but when I bought a new showerhead years back (the kind where you could dial up different sprays and that had a flexible hose attachment) the instructions were clear that this clear plastic cylinder (not the gasket type flow restrictor mentioned above) was in there to make the flow compliant with low flow laws. It was easy to slide this out and not use it. Perhaps you are used to an older one which allows for more flow and now have a newer, now required, flow-restricted kind. Don’t know if they are still made with the cylinder that comes out. Try cleaning out gunk from the screen or gasket type flow restrictor first if you have one and see if that helps.
Alternately, there could be a problem with your plumbing. Knew someone on the top floor of 4 floors who had this problem with just the shower pressure…just a trickle came out for years, though pressure was fine in tub, sink, and toilet – plumber fixed it somehow to be much better…but I can’t recall where the fix was…think it was in pipes in wall (behind sink near floor, or perhaps behind handle which changed flow from tub to showerhead, but definitely not behind tiles in showerhead area) when the were fixing a leaky pipe somewhere in wall behind sink (but maybe plumber just cleaned junk out of showerhead?), so it might help to consult a plumber.
Yes, replacing the showerhead can make a big difference. An adjustable spray type helps tremendously with low water pressure applications. Also try removing the flow restrictor (rubber gasket looking thing) before installation. And don’t forget plumbers tape.
I get crud in my shower head from time to time which reduces the pressure. I take it off and it’s easy to clean out.
See if the pressure from the pipe (w/o head) is good.
since the head is new, the pressure reducer may be too alarmist. You can remove it sometimes, or enlarge the hole.