What happened to the water pressure?

September 7, 2009 10:26 AM

Sudden drop in water pressure since repairman was here the other day. Is there a simple trick for fixing it?

Repairman was here and replaced the pipe that holds the shower head. Since then, our pressure is crappy. Any simple ideas for fixing it myself, rather than call the repairman again?

posted by bunny hugger to home & garden (6 comments total)

If you are only talking about the water pressure in the shower, first you should check that the supply valves to the shower were fully opened when the plumber finished. It could also be that the shower head itself was also replaced. Today's unit are low-flow and you would notice a difference if your old one was not. (A Seinfeld Moment)
posted by Neiltupper at 10:57 AM on September 7

Two options from the "easy" department: One, they accidentally covered some of the end of the pipe with teflon tape. It'd be pretty easy to check & fix -- unscrew shower head (using two wrenches, one to hold the pipe steady), use wire/coat hanger/etc. to probe to the back of the pipe and try to ream out anything that feels in the way. Don't unscrew the back of the pipe unless you trust your own reassembly skills to not leak inside the wall, because your first warning will the mushroom farm that erupts. Or, in my case, your downstairs tenant complaining about the rain.

You should also check the filters in the shower head itself. It's possible that his work either introduced or knocked loose some grime, which immediately embedded itself into the filters and knocked the pressure down.
posted by range at 11:01 AM on September 7 [1 favorite]

Assuming you follow the first two suggestions, could there be an air-lock in the pipe?

An air-lock can happen if you have a u-shaped piece of piece somewhere in the line and some of the water has been drained out of it, leaving a bubble. One way you can get rid of it is to connect a hose-pipe between a tap that is at normal pressure, and the shower head pipe. You turn on the tap, and try and force water backwards through the shower head pipe to get rid of the air in the pipe.

This works for a plumbing system that has an attic water tank that is gravity fed (which is commonly done in Ireland/UK). I'm not sure where you are.
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 11:05 AM on September 7

A plumber's trick is to shove some bread into a pipe to absorb water before they solder. If your plumber did this and did not clear it properly then it could be reducing your pressure. If that's the case, it should probably dissolve soon, but unscrewing the shower head and running the water will speed things up.
posted by Killick at 11:21 AM on September 7

It's possible that his work either introduced or knocked loose some grime, which immediately embedded itself into the filters

This is a very good possibility. I've worked on pipes that weren't even close to the shower, but ended up carrying crud to the shower head.
posted by orme at 3:12 PM on September 7

Problem solved... I took off the shower head and adjacent pipe and found an ancient "screen." completely corroded and blocked. black even. flows clearly now. amazing. don't know how plumber missed it. thanks for the advice.
posted by bunny hugger at 4:58 PM on September 8