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    godja's Avatar
    godja Posts: 1, Reputation: 1
    New Member
     
    #1

    Oct 15, 2006, 08:44 PM
    Low water pressure in shower
    Hi,

    We have recently moved to an apartment that had the (two) bathrooms renovated before we moved in. The renovation was done in such a way that it made the bathrooms worse than they were before we moved in. For starters, they put in all non-standard elements: sink, tub, toilet, faucets. We can't find a toilet seat that fits (it is round but 17in instead of 16.5in). We cannot attach a handheld shower head because the shower arm that comes out of the wall is 7/8in instead of 1/2in, and I can go on and on. The most troubling of all is that they seem to have installed a pressure regulating valve into the wall before they put the new tiles on the wall. The amount of water that comes out of the shower is absolutely insufficient to feel good about your shower and let alone clean yourself in a rush.

    We have offered to redo the bathrooms with our own money, but this being "faculty housing", we are not allowed to touch anything. Even the maintenance people are not allowed to change anything.

    I have two (OK, four-five) questions:
    (a) Who ever came up with the pressure regulating valves that make the pressure so low that it makes the bathroom unusable? Is this a regulation that it must be obeyed? I understand that you want the pressure regulated, but it should be regulated within the acceptable range - not to such a low level that you makes the water drip in a shower.

    (b) Is there anything I can do in my situation? How much it would cost to replace the valve - given that the tiles would have to be removed? Are there plumbers who would be willing to do this even if it would be illegal? (I actually don't know that legality status of this, but I am just guessing - I would love to find out, though)

    Thanks!
    darrel1953's Avatar
    darrel1953 Posts: 86, Reputation: 12
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    #2

    Oct 16, 2006, 11:06 PM
    Remove the shower head and turn on the water before you replace the shower head. Do you get good flow? If yes you just need to take out the restrictor inside of the shower head. This may be against code in you city in which case I don't recommend you let anyone know that I said remove it. I mean don't remove it of course. Let me know what happens.
    shamilton's Avatar
    shamilton Posts: 10, Reputation: 1
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    #3

    Nov 27, 2006, 10:11 AM
    I live in Maine and have a well. My water pressure has always been bad. My wife and my children have always complained that they can not rinse the soap off their skin or the shampoo out of their hair. I think that I bought and tried every shower head that I could ever find in every home center and hardware store in New England. They were all junk!! Finally I found the solution at a small home show in Portland. A company was there that specializes in shower heads for low water pressure. Their name was Water Management in Boston, MA, and their website address is www.TAKEASHOWER.COM. They sold me a shower head that worked so well with my low water pressure that it almost felt like we had drilled another well. IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE!! Unlike all the other shower heads we bought this one actually worked. If you are suffering from low water pressure you MUST visit this website. I only wish that I had found this company 10 years ago when I first moved to Maine because I would have eliminated a decade of suffering in the shower for me, my wife and my family.
    speedball1's Avatar
    speedball1 Posts: 29,301, Reputation: 1939
    Eternal Plumber
     
    #4

    Nov 27, 2006, 12:17 PM
    I don't care what the advertisements say. You can not get more pressure or volume out of a showerhead or faucet then you put into it. To increase the volume of water out of the newer showerheads, remove the shower head and toss the water saver away. That's the rubber washer with the holes around the edge. Cheers, Tom
    shamilton's Avatar
    shamilton Posts: 10, Reputation: 1
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    #5

    Jan 2, 2007, 01:50 PM
    You can say what ever you want about removing the flow restrictor and it will improve your shower pressure. All I know is that I tried removing the flow restrictor but nothing works as well as this new shower head from takeashower.com. I was told it was the way that they were engineered. Don't knock there products until you try it. Come up to the home show and visit their booth. You can see for yourself. This isn't a sales pitch as you suggested. I am a regular person with a family whose house in on a well in Maine.
    speedball1's Avatar
    speedball1 Posts: 29,301, Reputation: 1939
    Eternal Plumber
     
    #6

    Jan 3, 2007, 05:53 AM
    A little physics lesson. Volume and pressure, you must have both to have a decent flow of water. When you remove the water saver in a shower head you increase the volume the shower head produces, in other words you get more water out of it. Your "Take a Shower Head" sacrifices volume for pressure, (sorta like holding your thumb over a garden hose to increase the pressure to make it squirt farther, but as you do so you cut back the volume.) There are no free rides. There's only so much pressure and volume entering your house. You can not increase either one without lowering the other. The laws of physics rule. Regards, Tom
    shamilton's Avatar
    shamilton Posts: 10, Reputation: 1
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    #7

    Jan 3, 2007, 01:15 PM
    I understand a lot about physics thank you. I took a lot of it in my engineering program in college. (University of Massachusetts). I am a very successful engineer today with more experience than I care to admit...

    Increasing the speed of the water feels a lot better than just dumping buckets of water on your body.

    The shower that I bought was specifically engineered for low water pressure. (Water Management) Takeashower.com showerheads' don't sacrifice volume for pressure.

    No shower head can increase your pressure. Anyone knows that. A shower head is just a fancy word for a nozzle. By just removing the flow restrictor and not adjusting the volume you are wasting lots of water and not conserving anything. I don't know about you, but money is tight in my house. I can't see why I should heat water to not get that much out of it and dump it down the shower drain.

    We can debate this into eternity... I have my opinion and you have yours. That is what makes this country a great place to live in. I just know I like... no love… what I bought!

    Cheers! - S
    mh_riley's Avatar
    mh_riley Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
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    #8

    Jul 14, 2008, 10:10 AM
    Quote Originally Posted by shamilton
    I understand a lot about physics thank you. I took a lot of it in my engineering program in college. (University of Massachusetts). I am a very successful engineer today with more experience than I care to admit...

    Increasing the speed of the water feels a lot better than just dumping buckets of water on your body.

    The shower that I bought was specifically engineered for low water pressure. (Water Management) Takeashower.com showerheads’ don’t sacrifice volume for pressure.

    No shower head can increase your pressure. Anyone knows that. A shower head is just a fancy word for a nozzle. By just removing the flow restrictor and not adjusting the volume you are wasting lots of water and not conserving anything. I don’t know about you, but money is tight in my house. I can’t see why I should heat water to not get that much out of it and dump it down the shower drain.

    We can debate this into eternity... I have my opinion and you have yours. That is what makes this country a great place to live in. I just know I like... no love… what I bought!

    Cheers! - S
    Shamilton is a liar, see below:

    I live in South Florida and have a well. My pressure has always been bad. My wife and two daughters have constantly complained to me that they cannot rinse the soap off their skin or the shampoo out of their hair. I think that I have bought and tried just about every shower head that I could find in any home center or hardware store in Florida - and nothing worked. Frankly they were all junk. Finally I found the solution via an online blog and it was a company in Boston, Massachusetts named Water Management. Their website address is Water Management . They sold me a shower head that worked so well with my low water pressure that it almost felt like we had drilled another well. Unlike all the other shower heads I bought this one actually worked! If you are suffering from low water pressure you must visit this website. I only wish that I found this company 12 years ago when I first moved to Florida because I would have eliminated years of complaining and lousy showers for me and my family.
    Its ridiculously similar to what the user above submitted:

    shannonhamilton
    Junior Member
    I live in Maine and have a well. My water pressure has always been bad. My wife and my children have always complained that they can not rinse the soap off their skin or the shampoo out of their hair. I think that I bought and tried every shower head that I could ever find in every home center and hardware store in New England. They were all junk!! Finally I found the solution at a small home show in Portland. A company was there that specializes in shower heads for low water pressure. Their name was Water Management in Boston, MA, and their website address is TAKEASHOWER.COM. They sold me a shower head that worked so well with my low water pressure that it almost felt like we had drilled another well. IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE!! Unlike all the other shower heads we bought this one actually worked. If you are suffering from low water pressure you MUST visit this website. I only wish that I had found this company 10 years ago when I first moved to Maine because I would have eliminated a decade of suffering in the shower for me, my wife and my family.
    This sort of thing really pisses me off, guess where I won't be buying any products... Water Management!

    link to post


    link to bogus FL post

    "Shannon Hamilton" posts this crap in lots of forums, while pretendning to be a helpful average Joe suffering from the same issues the rest of us are... Gee thanks 'Shannon'
    Turtley's Avatar
    Turtley Posts: 58, Reputation: 3
    Junior Member
     
    #9

    Jul 14, 2008, 03:42 PM
    Oh My!!
    composer's Avatar
    composer Posts: 3, Reputation: 1
    New Member
     
    #10

    Jul 14, 2008, 10:15 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by godja
    Hi,

    We have recently moved to an apartment that had the (two) bathrooms renovated before we moved in. The renovation was done in such a way that it made the bathrooms worse than they were before we moved in. For starters, they put in all non-standard elements: sink, tub, toilet, faucets. We can't find a toilet seat that fits (it is round but 17in instead of 16.5in). We cannot attach a handheld shower head bc the shower arm that comes out of the wall is 7/8in instead of 1/2in, and I can go on and on. The most troubling of all is that they seem to have installed a pressure regulating valve into the wall before they put the new tiles on the wall. The amount of water that comes out of the shower is absolutely insufficient to feel good about your shower and let alone clean yourself in a rush.

    We have offered to redo the bathrooms with our own money, but this being "faculty housing", we are not allowed to touch anything. Even the maintenance people are not allowed to change anything.

    I have two (OK, four-five) questions:
    (a) Who ever came up with the pressure regulating valves that make the pressure so low that it makes the bathroom unusable? Is this a regulation that it must be obeyed? I understand that you want the pressure regulated, but it should be regulated within the acceptable range - not to such a low level that you makes the water drip in a shower.

    (b) Is there anything I can do in my situation? How much it would cost to replace the valve - given that the tiles would have to be removed? Are there plumbers who would be willing to do this even if it would be illegal? (I actually don't know that legality status of this, but I am just guessing - I would love to find out, though)

    Thanks!
    Definitely can empathize! (see below)

    Quote Originally Posted by speedball1
    I don't care what the advertisements say. You can not get more pressure or volume out of a showerhead or faucet then you put into it. To increase the volume of water out of the newer showerheads, remove the shower head and toss the water saver away. That's the rubber washer with the holes around the edge. Cheers, Tom
    That's what it seems like, logically. I know that I got here to my mother's home in Michigan (reluctantly leaving the SW where it's warm after my hubby died), only to find that she'd let my dad "play" (that's what I call it!) with the pipes. Got the idea in their head that water needed to be conserved. Rather than buying a conserving showerhead, he tore out the old pipes, put in new skinny ones with, I'm sure, excess pipe gunk inside them, since there was excess gunk found hanging on the OUTside of them(!). Water used to gush into the tub, & a shower was good; now's agonizingly slow ... I do mean, agonizing. I've cried in there.

    Hardly able to (1) keep warm w/out enough water flowing over oneself in cold weather---not such a warm bathroom, (2) wash the soap out of one's hair when cleaning it, (3) feel as tho' one were clean, and (4) UNable to have the water massage a crushed back had relied on, after hubby died, & he couldn't do it, I've been in sheer anguish trying to feel like a decent, clean human being who's never had such a horrid bathroom situation before. I bo't shower head after shower head after shower head, until nearly losing track (think this last one was 6th or 7th?), while only on Social Security, because I was trying to find SOMETHING that wouldn't make me literally avoid the agony of a shower, tho' I'm a clean person at heart!!

    Took the gizmo that's supposed to restrict flow, since his danged pipes already did that ... measured with a STOP WATCH, I learned one could barely get a gallon out of it in a minute!! Now, that's agony. This latest one was an expensive one ... had seen it advertised with not only a pulsating outer flow, but an inside flow that actually rotated (well, that is, if there's enough water flow to even push it to *DO* that, I learned!!) Anyway, what it was supposed to do while rotating is make a circle about a couple of feet in diameter ... which would be good coverage, and feel good, too. Tho't if I could even get it moving a wee bit, I might actually feel the water hit me, rather than have it merely TRICKLING over me (with me nearly crying, wanting to PULL the water out of the pipes to be able to FEEL it!!).

    What a joke it turned out to be ... it might, if it gets to turning at all, make a wee little 3"-diameter stream, rather than just dripping out of the head. But that compared to the video seen of a two-foot circle!?!? This place is just sickening ... MY BACK (on disability after working many years following its being crushed) NEEDS that shower to massage it; I cannot AFFORD a masseuse on Social Security!! I'm sad. Once a week I can take a shower at a friend's house, so I don't have to undergo this misery without some reprieve now & then. But, oh, when it's winter ... that's even hard getting out to go there, & then coming home not totally dry! One needs to be able to bathe adequately where they LIVE!

    Thanks for listening. But, as said, taking every restrictor out isn't going to PUSH water out faster than the weak pressure will allow it to drizzle out, unfortunately.
    mh_riley's Avatar
    mh_riley Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
    New Member
     
    #11

    Aug 1, 2008, 06:22 AM
    Quote Originally Posted by composer
    Definitely can empathize! (see below)



    That's what it seems like, logically. I know that I got here to my mother's home in Michigan (reluctantly leaving the SW where it's warm after my hubby died), only to find that she'd let my dad "play" (that's what I call it!) with the pipes. Got the idea in their head that water needed to be conserved. Rather than buying a conserving showerhead, he tore out the old pipes, put in new skinny ones with, I'm sure, excess pipe gunk inside them, since there was excess gunk found hanging on the OUTside of them(!). Water used to gush into the tub, & a shower was good; now's agonizingly slow ... I do mean, agonizing. I've cried in there.

    Hardly able to (1) keep warm w/out enough water flowing over oneself in cold weather---not such a warm bathroom, (2) wash the soap out of one's hair when cleaning it, (3) feel as tho' one were clean, and (4) UNable to have the water massage a crushed back had relied on, after hubby died, & he couldn't do it, I've been in sheer anguish trying to feel like a decent, clean human being who's never had such a horrid bathroom situation before. I bo't shower head after shower head after shower head, until nearly losing track (think this last one was 6th or 7th?), while only on Social Security, because I was trying to find SOMETHING that wouldn't make me literally avoid the agony of a shower, tho' I'm a clean person at heart!!

    Took the gizmo that's supposed to restrict flow, since his danged pipes already did that ... measured with a STOP WATCH, I learned one could barely get a gallon out of it in a minute!! Now, that's agony. This latest one was an expensive one ... had seen it advertised with not only a pulsating outer flow, but an inside flow that actually rotated (well, that is, if there's enough water flow to even push it to *DO* that, I learned!!) Anyway, what it was supposed to do while rotating is make a circle about a couple of feet in diameter ... which would be good coverage, and feel good, too. Tho't if I could even get it moving a wee bit, I might actually feel the water hit me, rather than have it merely TRICKLING over me (with me nearly crying, wanting to PULL the water out of the pipes to be able to FEEL it!!).

    What a joke it turned out to be ... it might, if it gets to turning at all, make a wee little 3"-diameter stream, rather than just dripping out of the head. But that compared to the video seen of a two-foot circle!?!? This place is just sickening ... MY BACK (on disability after working many years following its being crushed) NEEDS that shower to massage it; I cannot AFFORD a masseuse on Social Security!! I'm sad. Once a week I can take a shower at a friend's house, so I don't have to undergo this misery without some reprieve now & then. But, oh, when it's winter ... that's even hard getting out to go there, & then coming home not totally dry! One needs to be able to bathe adequately where they LIVE!

    Thanks for listening. But, as said, taking every restrictor out isn't going to PUSH water out faster than the weak pressure will allow it to drizzle out, unfortunately.
    I'd move.
    hkstroud's Avatar
    hkstroud Posts: 11,929, Reputation: 899
    Home Improvement & Construction Expert
     
    #12

    Aug 1, 2008, 07:40 AM
    Bureaucracies. The camel is a horse designed by a committee.

    What was put in the wall was probably a flow restrictor, not a pressure regulating valve. It may or may not be adjustable. Surely the bureaucrats provide the toilet seats. The 7/8 shower arm is totally illogical, you put in a restriction then increase the shower arm over the standard. Are you sure that the size is 7/8, that's real weird size. Pipe is measured on the inside. Could it be ¾”? If so, you could put on a ¾ to ½ coupling then short nipple, then hand held showerhead. But you are not allowed to touch anything.
    composer's Avatar
    composer Posts: 3, Reputation: 1
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    #13

    Aug 1, 2008, 02:17 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by mh_riley
    I'd move.
    If it were that simple, would I be posting on here for some answers? No. The reason I'm not back where I came from in the first place is that -- trying to be responsible -- I was trying to find us some affordable med insurance before spending $$$ on life insurance. Well, once hubby was found with cancer, you do not GET life insurance!

    Therefore, I was left with nothing but Social Security (crushed back had put me on it---auto/tree accident long before that got worse), and long HUD housing waiting lists! So where does one wait? This is not the street, but as far as trying to keep clean, it's nearly as bad! Nothing is as easy as just, "I'd move." Were it, that solution would have been over & done with!

    :o(
    hkstroud's Avatar
    hkstroud Posts: 11,929, Reputation: 899
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    #14

    Aug 1, 2008, 03:12 PM
    If you have a tub you could always temporarily change out tub spout like below, bypassing any restriction. But you are not allowed to touch anything.

    Add a shower to your bathtub from the PlumbingWorld
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    composer's Avatar
    composer Posts: 3, Reputation: 1
    New Member
     
    #15

    Aug 2, 2008, 05:04 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by hkstroud
    If you have a tub you could always temporarily change out tub spout like below, bypassing any restriction. But you are not allowed to touch anything.

    Add a shower to your bathtub from the PlumbingWorld
    No, it has nothing to do with only the shower spout; believe me, if you could see the pipes in the basement, and the trickle, even from the tub spout... this is a disastrous "pipe trick"... someone was allowed to play with them, and now I'm to suffer/pay for it. On social security, I can't really pay to get a REAL shower, either! Those skinny PIPES (nowhere else in the house other than this bathroom has these ridiculous things! ) need replacing, period!

    I'm so sad, because I know that I just will not be able to go out every time I turn around come winter; I'd go "forever" without going out last winter, either, and another WORSE THAN NORMAL winter (just as we already had! ) is forecast already. :o(

    TORTURE is what this is... physical (can't get a shower!) abuse...
    (even if my body could stand being tortured in a drizzle, my back NEEDS that normal shower for some massaging... social security folks can't afford masseuses, either).
    speedball1's Avatar
    speedball1 Posts: 29,301, Reputation: 1939
    Eternal Plumber
     
    #16

    Aug 3, 2008, 05:44 AM
    I have this feeling that Daddy cut way back on the volume of water coming into the bathroom when he reduced the size of the pipes. I also think he might have used so much pipe compound that some got into the valve where it's now clogging the inlet ports of the valve. Shut the water off to the valve and open it up. Remove the cartridge and check and clean the inlet ports. Now, with the valve still open, turn the supplies back on to flush them out. You should have a strong stream out of the open valve when you do this. If you don't then let me know. Good luck, Tom
    hkstroud's Avatar
    hkstroud Posts: 11,929, Reputation: 899
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    #17

    Aug 3, 2008, 06:33 AM
    Sorry, I got confused. Failed to note that the original post was 2 years old, didn't read quote by mh ri riley and don't know where it came from. Trying to solve problem that doesn't exist.

    I'm so confused.
    speedball1's Avatar
    speedball1 Posts: 29,301, Reputation: 1939
    Eternal Plumber
     
    #18

    Aug 3, 2008, 06:46 AM
    Quote Originally Posted by hkstroud
    Sorry, I got confused. Failed to note that the original post was 2 years old, didn't read quote by mh ri riley and don't know where it came from. Trying to solve problem that doesn't exist.

    I'm so confused.
    Hey Herald,
    If you're confuseed think about how I feel! Tom

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