Low water pressure at tub

Tonglebeak · Jun 20, 2009, 11:30 AM

Hello. Tub spout recently replaced, as well as the showerhead (needed new ones of both anyways due to bad diverter valve, and I didn't like the old head).

Anyways, I find water pressure coming out to be very low. It's so low that when the shower is being used, and I turn the showerhead upside down, the water only goes a couple of inches in the air.

I started reading about repairing faucets and such. I got the handle off, and the compression nut, but I don't know where to go from here (in fact, I think I'm going the wrong way for this problem).

Behind the faucet are two valves that still let drips of water come out when fully closed (I hate that, old plumbing, etc).However, there are stainless steel supply hoses coming out of the valve and into a brass-looking body with 2 inlets and 2 outlets (hot/cold, tub/shower). After removing the hoses and aiming them into a bucket, and turning the water back on, I get a massive amount of pressure (that I would expect). This is true for both hot and cold. Also, not that it matters, but I get great water pressure out of the bathroom sink as well.

So I guess my next step is getting this brass body off. Am I correct? It appears the body is screwed into the tub's pipe, but the other three ports have the steel hoses and the shower pipe screwed onto them. The fitting on the shower pipe refuses to budge though, and I'm afraid of causing more harm than good.

It's an Aquasource single-handle faucet. If anyone needs pictures I can gladly supply them. Thanks!

Tonglebeak · Jul 4, 2009, 04:42 PM

Ok, I can try that...but...a gallon of water weights 8.34 pounds right? That bucket held around 21 pounds of water, and it was all put in there within a minute. Nearly 3 gallons in a minute, is that too low?

afaroo · Jul 4, 2009, 05:00 PM

Tonglebeak,

Mark is correct those flexible supply lines may be reducing the volume, proceed with his advice, but before you do that I would suggest to clean the shower valve and see what happens, I am spending my 4th of July in the hotel here in Winston Salem NC, Thanks.

Regards,
John

Tonglebeak · Jul 4, 2009, 05:02 PM

I completely understand. I'm not trying to argue with you, just trying to learn more

And I definitely am going to change the hose, because I see that they also have some rust in them.

But if I got 3GPM out of the cold water supply, why am I not getting that out of the tub faucet unless the faucet is bad?

Just tested, got 2.15GPM out of the tub faucet. Did some recalculating, and got 2.9GPM out of the supply (52 seconds is how long I had that valve open). Clearly there's nearly a 1GPM loss through the faucet...

Also, my pump shuts off at 51PSI. It kicks on at 40.

Again, I'm not arguing, in fact I'm very happy you're still responding to me, I'm just trying to learn.

Tonglebeak · Jul 4, 2009, 08:27 PM

Sure, gimme a few minutes...

Tonglebeak · Jul 4, 2009, 08:37 PM

I got 2.84GPM out of the hot water side of the supply.

massplumber2008 · Jul 5, 2009, 05:57 AM

It's enough to get a shower, for sure, but if someone else uses any fixture in the home while someone is showering you're only gonna get a trickle of water at your shower.

Last request...OK?? I want you to try the volume test at an outside faucet...that should tell us if this is isolated to the bathroom or is system wide.

If confirmed low then there will be no question about those flexible connectors being the culprit.

Let me know and I think we will be able to draw final conclusion.

Tonglebeak · Jul 5, 2009, 11:34 AM

Out of the outside faucet, I had 34 pounds of water in one minute. Roughly 4GPM.

HOWEVER, something I had missed was that the pvc piping off the well pump actually splits BEFORE it gets to the flex hose. One leg of the split feeds the outside faucet, and the other leg feeds to rest of the house (goes towards the flex hose).

Looking at the tag, the flex hose is 12" long and is 3/4". Anything else you want me to try before going further?



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