1/2 or 3/4 to shower heads

[Vincent McMahon]

Good afternoon,

I am installing a Brizo thermostatic and 3 volume controls in our master (Replacing old stuff). The inlet and outlet on the 3 Volume controls are 3/4.

My existing rough-in piping to the heads is 1/2. Is there any benefit in changing this to 3/4 and reducing it closer to the Head, or am I ok with reducing it to 1/2 at the outlet side of the volume controls?

We have a 1" cold and 3/4" hot feeding our 2-second floor bathrooms, so we should have ample volume coming in. I know the shower heads are mostly limited to 2.5, just want to keep as much volume pushing to them as possible.

thanks

 

[Terry]

With 2.5 GPM heads, 1/2" is fine.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

One head, 2.5gpm, 1/2" pipe works fine as it can flow more volume than that head can handle...not necessarily true if you're planning more than one head to be operable at the same time...then, 3/4" may be useful...

For the nozzles to function per design, you need more volume than can pass through the head. It's when the supply tries to maintain its momentum, and is restricted, that the water tries to speed up giving it that more intense feeling rather than dribbling through say a rain head that won't cause the flow to speed up but just pass through divided into smaller streams.

What's your supply line TO the main valve? If it's not already all at least 3/4", larger lines after it probably won't help much, especially since they're likely not very long (where the increased friction can cause pressure losses).

 

[Vincent McMahon]

Thanks @Terry & @jadnashua

I have a 1" line cold line and a 3/4 " hot line feeding the second floor. The cold is reduced via Tee to 2 3/4" Lines which feed the main Bathroom and this Master Bath independently. The Hot remains at 3/4 all the way. So to answer your question, at the main shower valve, it will be 3/4" reduced from 1" at a tee about 5-6 feet away for the cold and 3/4 for the hot