Water Pressure

Rze

My in laws have good water pressure everywhere except in the shower on their bathroom. Shower head was changed abut still bad pressure. Is it possible that there is a "clogged" or otherwise defective shower manifold?

Thanks!

Dave

Ron The Plumber

Replace the cartridge, see if that works.

Double A

Yes, its possible, but before you spend money on the cartridge, you should examine the shower head more closely.

Most shower heads manufactured for sale in the U.S. have a flow restrictor in them. If the shower head is older than say, 1990, then it might be the cartridge, but if the shower head is newer than that, it may well be that you simply have a flow restricting shower head.

You can do a simple test to check for this. Run water from the tub spout into a bucket and time how long it takes to full that bucket. Then, run the test again, but run the water through the shower head this time. If you're getting the same or close to the same amount of time to fill the bucket, then it's probably your cartridge, if not, its most likely just the shower head.

Go to your local hardware store (not big box store) and talk to them about a new shower head. They can find you one that has a removable flow restrictor in it.

majakdragon

Going along with what Double A said, if it is a "shower only" unit, you will need to conduct the test with the showerhead on, and then with it removed. Actually, with the head removed, you should be able to see if the flow is really bad. Be sure to use the same combination of water supply for each test (all hot, all cold, combination etc) One of the "O" rings in the cartridge could be bad and it is only the hot or cold that is blocked.

redline

How is the water pressure as it comes out of the tub spout?
If you turn on just the hot side for the tub spout is it the same pressure as if you were to turn on just the cold side?