Need more power on the shower!!! Pls help.

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skuba

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Hi,

My first post here. I am hoping to get some help.

I have recently moved into my GF place and I have always disliked the shower at her house. It stands too low (I am 6.1) and it has no power.

I did get an extension arm to bring it higher and got a new shower head. The height problem is solved, but the water stream is still very weak.

Could you guys please give me advice on ways to make it stronger?

I don't think there is anything clogging the pipe or anything.

I do see that besides the hot and cold faucets, there is one in the middle witch had it's knob removed. I wonder if that faucet is meant to control the water flow. What do you guys think?

If there is no way to open the flow, is there any trick to get the shower stronger?

Thanks so much
 

Jadnashua

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An older home may have all sorts of issues - could have galvanized piping which can nearly close up to the size of a straw or less - no flow. that would require repiping.

Is the house on a well? You may be able to raise the pump control switch to up the pressure.

Take a picture of the valve...maybe someone will have some specific ideas.

Also, buy a pressure gauge - you can get one for around $10, and it will come with a fitting you can screw onto a hose bib, water heater outlet, washing machine hose connection, or with adapters, almost anywhere. See what your pressure is.
 

skuba

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I couldn't take a pic because I don't have my camera on me. But here is some more info.

The sink water is pretty strong, the water in the shower tub is also very strong. Apparently the only area that is not strong is the actual shower.

I did try turning the middle faucet to both sides with pliers and it made no difference. What I mean, is that I was able to turn the faucet that is located between the hot and cold, but it didn't increase the water flow.

I am not sure what else I can try.

Thanks
 

Markts30

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Take the head off and try to soak it in lime remover...
It might be that the head is partially clogged...
Try another head - get a cheap one and see if it makes any difference....
 

skuba

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It's not the head. I just installed a brand new head.
The water that comes out of the pipe is already weak. The stream is weak.
 

skuba

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Hi, I am still sering from a shower that I can barely get wet. I would really appreciate if someone here helps me out.

Anybody??

Thanks
 

Basement_Lurker

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By "power" I assume you mean pressure? You're kind of out of luck on a quick fix on that one.

But you might be able to do something about "volume" of flow from the shower head. You might be able to get more water to shoot out if you remove the flow restrictor from the shower head, but since you said that you removed the shower head entirely and still had weak flow, removing the flow restrictor might not accomplish anything.

My guess would be since you bathroom sink has decent pressure, and since your bathtub spout gets decent pressure, that your shower line must be clogged with something or the valve that you have is defective. Unfortunately that triple handle setup escapes me right now so I can't remember what the middle handle actually does...I am guessing that it diverts the water to the shower instead of a diverter on your tub spout. If that is the case, then the problem is probably localized to it.
 

Jadnashua

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A middle faucet is usually a diverter to switch the flow from the tub spout to the shower. Assuming you don't get flow through both at the same time, that could be plugged up, but it is more likely they used a galvanized pipe from the valve to the shower arm. If you post a picture of the valves, people might have some thoughts, but I think you won' tfix this without tearing some things apart and replacing.
 
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