View Full Version : Low water pressure
Thomasts
Jul 17, 2015, 03:16 PM
I live in a mobile home the water pressure in the bathtub has never been great about four days ago the pressure started to drop and continued to drop until there is virtually no water at all. It is a two handled faucet. I have taken the handles off and turned the water on and the water shoots back to the wall so at this point I took off the spout thinking perhaps calcium build up but that does not seem to be it. When I turn the water on with the spout off the water running from the stem in the wall acts the same low pressure and after a few seconds tapers off to no water. What can I do?
massplumber2008
Jul 17, 2015, 03:43 PM
Two handled faucet you said... is diverter to send water up to shower head on the tub spout or is there a third handle in the wall to do that? If you have a third handle, that is a diverter and the issue should be in that part of the valve (disassemble and clean/purge like you did for the hot and cold water).
If this is a two handle faucet with shower diverter you can try blowing pressurized air up (or down) the tub spout (cover end of spout with towel) and see if anything gets blown loose (purge water again). You could also use an outside hose with water to do this...
Try that... post back.
Mark
Thomasts
Jul 17, 2015, 04:05 PM
It is a two handles faucet with the diverted on top of the spout there is no third handle. Are you saying the way to purge the stem coming from the wall that the spout was on is to cover up the stem with a towel and turn the water on I'm confused about blowing air into the stem I do not have an air compressor. Please elaborate.
Would pressurized air such as that to clean a computer with possibly work?
massplumber2008
Jul 17, 2015, 07:51 PM
Since both hot and cold water are affected here, I was thinking you could shut the water to the valve off... remove the stems and the tub spout like you have done earlier and blow air or water up the tub spout pipe... could blow any sediment blocking the pipe back into the valve. Purge water/air from the valve before reinstalling the stems. Could your compressed air can help here... maybe, but hard to say? Since you have no compressor I guess I would try it... why not?
Thomasts
Jul 18, 2015, 06:09 AM
Okay I tried blowing air up the stem just goes right through but I did not have the stems removed so let me remove those and try and I will get back to you.
massplumber2008
Jul 18, 2015, 01:33 PM
Ok...
Thomasts
Jul 19, 2015, 06:34 AM
Okay so I took off both handles blew air through the stem that the spout attaches to nothing much happens except a tiny little piece of dirt comes out of the cold side, the piece of dirt was the size of a grain of rice. I have my girlfriend watch the tub as I go out and turn the water she tells me after I turn the water on the hot side has really good pressure but the cold side has much lower pressure. Could the cold side affect the pressure of the entire unit when put together? Is there a mixer that mixes hot and cold that could possibly be clog?
massplumber2008
Jul 19, 2015, 11:47 AM
Not much to these units. I would replace the stems with exact replacement... should fix the valve.