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-   -   When sink faucet on shower water pressure returns (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=13179)

  • Sep 28, 2005, 10:57 AM
    lisaconley6280
    When sink faucet on shower water pressure returns
    Hi everyone. Looking for help on returning hot water pressure to my shower. I've replaced cartridge and verified that there is no clog at masterbath shower. I was able to do this by turning on masterbath faucet and seeing that full hot water pressure was returned to shower. Also the faucet handle to shut off/pressure pipe is leaking substantially. This handle supplies only this masterbath. Any troubleshooting ideas would be greatly appreciated. :confused:
  • Sep 28, 2005, 02:10 PM
    speedball1
    Hi Lisa,
    I need to know the brand name of your shower valve and any details you can give me. I'm a little confused.
    Are you saying the MB shower has pressure and another shower doesn't?
    Please explain; " I've replaced cartridge and verified that there is no clog at masterbath shower. I was able to do this by turning on masterbath faucet and seeing that full hot water pressure was returned to shower"
    How many showers are we talking about? I'll wait on your answer. Regards, Tom
  • Sep 28, 2005, 03:43 PM
    lisaconley6280
    No water pressure unless sink faucet on
    Thanks Tom very much. I'm referring to one shower located in masterbath (mb). All of other faucets/fixtures in the mb bath have water and have normal pressure (no issues here).

    The mb shower has only a trickle of hot water unless the sink faucet is turned on. I discovered this after replacing the cartridge because of a first issue which was that the mb shower did not have hot water pressure. I then thought it was the cartridge and removed old and installed new. (Moen 1222) Once new was installed pressure did not change.

    It was on a hunch that I discovered I gain water pressure to the mb shower when I turned on mb sink faucet. When the cartridge was completely removed I tested pressure/flow to see and it was good. Only after old cartridge on and new cartridge in did the mb shower pressure drop to a trickle. Thanks.
  • Sep 29, 2005, 06:16 AM
    speedball1
    "overnight our masterbath shower hot water pressure was gone. after replacing
    cartridge (which was another long story) and several tests still no hot water
    pressure. for some reason i turned on masterbath sink faucet and when it is on
    the pressure in the shower returns. Also there is a substantial drip from the
    hot water pipe blue shutoff/pressure valve. could this be related? Any help
    would be SO greatly appreciated."

    Hi Lisa,
    Both the lavatory and the shower are on the same branch so I can see no reason why turning on the lavatory faucet would increase/return the pressure to the shower. Ya got the "old timey plumber" stumped girl! And that don't happen too often. Turning on a valve located on the same branch as another valve should decrease the pressure a bit, not restore it. This is one of those times I wish I could be there. Please keep me informed of any developments. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. Rick, Labman, any ideas?
    Tom
  • Sep 29, 2005, 10:36 AM
    lisaconley6280
    When sinck faucet on shower
    LOL here! I can't believe I stumped YOU :D ! Now I don't feel so dumb.

    After some more troubleshooting this morning I resolved the shower and it is working.

    First of all I still don't know why turning the sink faucet on added more pressure to the shower. I did figure out the because the cartridge was a moen with the posi-temp that I had to set the temp with the new cartridge. Previously I skipped this step in the directions. When I went back over directions I was able to get the correct water flow and temp. Shower fixed.\

    Thanks for helping me. Plumbing is a lot of deductive reasoning and patience.
  • Dec 1, 2010, 06:47 PM
    deanhiller
    Man, very similar to my issue. I had a leaky cartridge, water pressure fine until I replaced it with a new one... water pressure sucked so I put the old one back in and water pressure still sucked, fiddled around more and put the new one back... water pressure now is EVEN less... grrrrr... I am going backwards. I can't figure out why it is degrading from fiddling.

    Ah thank god... after using my head a little more, starting looking elsewhere and since you can take our kitchen faucet "head" out of the faucet and spray someone across the room(or use to wash dishes more easily sometimes), there is a filter there that kept getting more and more clogged the more I fiddle from stuff upstream that got flushed down stream to the filter in the head... finally... only 4 hours to replace a cartridge in the kitchen sink... :( grrrrr, but thankfully solved.
  • Dec 1, 2010, 07:21 PM
    massplumber2008

    Hi Dean...

    I posted an answer on a shower cartridge. I deleted it once I saw your post on this being a sink.

    Glad you're all set!

    Mark

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