Can fixing a leaky shower pipe cause low water pressure?

October 26, 2023 6:21 AM

I live in a 60s-era high rise apartment. Maintenance came yesterday and fixed a dripping connection in my shower pipe--and now my shower pressure is noticeably lower. Could these things be related?

I need to figure out if this is something I can discuss with maintenance and they can actually fix--or, should I hire a professional plumber?

The backstory of the leak/fix is: I have a small tub/shower, with the lever on the tub faucet you pull up to direct the water through the shower. One day, the pipe the showerhead was connected to broke off and my showerhead fell. I've called three times to ask maintenance to fix it:

1. The first time, the shower head was still unconnected, but the note said "I removed the piece of broken pipe".

2. Eventually, I managed to gather up enough executive function to call them again. This time, the shower head was connected when I got home, and I was so happy--but I did think to test it, with my finger over the pipe joint inside the wall, and it dripped water down inside the wall when the shower was running.

3. Finally I called yet again, and someone came while I was at work yesterday. A test showed no drip, so I was thrilled. But, though there's no leak now, this morning's shower pressure was a sad affair--I have thick hair, and now it's very hard to get it wet. :(

I've heard of showerheads that can concentrate the water to create the feeling of more pressure--but I really don't want to replace my showerhead again if I don't absolutely have to, because I love my handheld-with-filter. It suited my needs very well...when there was water pressure. :(

If people who know things about plumbing think that the latest repair and the low flow might be related, then maybe I can talk to maintenance about it and get them to do something--although given their general approach so far, I'm betting I'll have to suggest things, instead of just leaving it to them.

If the fix and the low flow seem really unlikely to be related, then I could try just discussing the pressure problems with them--though I don't know what they might be able to do about it.

Or, do you think an actual pro plumber would be able to tackle it, without me knowing the cause? I know absolutely nothing, and am hoping to be able to delegate to an expert.

Please help if you can--my shower was one of the things I didn't hate about my apartment! I own, so I can't abdicate responsibility to my landlord, although as I mentioned the co-op does have some maintenance staff.

posted by theatro to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

Best answer: Monkeying around with any pipes, or pressure within, and loosen sediment which can jam up the cartridge (the thing that mixes the hot and cold water). I basically have to clean, or fully replace our cartridges every time I do medium sized plumbing repairs. It is now just taken into consideration whenever I do any plumbing work.
posted by furnace.heart at 6:26 AM on October 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Yes to the grit; the most likely location of the mini-clogs is in the many tiny holes in your shower head. The first thing to try is to unscrew your shower head and flush water through it backwards under a sink faucet.
posted by heatherlogan at 6:28 AM on October 26, 2023

Best answer: I thought about this some more and "grit in the many tiny holes" is probably wrong. There is normally a small round screen inside a showerhead for exactly this purpose. It should be between the pipe and the flexible hose, or between the flexible hose and the actual hand-unit (assuming that "handheld" means what I think it does). You could probably google your brand/model of handheld-with-filter and see if you can find out where the screen is.

If you can get at the screen, and it is full of little hard grains, all you need to do is remove the little hard grains and then reassemble everything (teflon tape is probably your friend here). If you are not comfortable unscrewing your showerhead and/or its hose from the pipe and reassembling it, this is a job for maintenance (since it sounds like you have some kind of contract with maintenance staff).

If maintenance is as incompetent as they sound, you might have better luck finding out if any of your local friends knows how to do this and asking them to come over. A plumber could do this type of job, but it's kind of not worth it. (A borked cartridge would be another matter.)
posted by heatherlogan at 6:52 AM on October 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Here's a mini-tutorial that shows use of teflon tape and mentions "insert[ing] the other black washer with the mesh screen" (between the flexible hose and the shower head unit itself). That "mesh screen" is the target here.
posted by heatherlogan at 6:56 AM on October 26, 2023

Best answer: The flow reducer in a shower head can also get obstructed. It is generally a plastic disk with holes or a plastic disk with a disk on top. Either way a backflushing can help or they can be replaced.
posted by Mitheral at 9:06 AM on October 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: You mentioned a filter. I'd also change the filter after trying the above.
posted by miscbuff at 11:22 AM on October 26, 2023

Best answer: Agree with all of the above. Also, if your water is at all hard, taking off the showerhead and soaking it either in vinegar or CLR for a couple of hours will help remove hard water build up in the showerhead. You can also do this by putting vinegar/CLR in a plastic ziploc and rubberbanding it around the showerhead (submerging the showerhead) without having to remove it from the pipe.
posted by sarajane at 11:39 AM on October 26, 2023

Response by poster: Update: looks like I'll be best off outsourcing this, if I do ever end up calling anybody, because we were just informed this afternoon that our head of maintenance is leaving for another job. So I'm assuming the remaining crew will be hugely busy in the near future, and won't be able to help with an issue like this that has no clear cause or fix.

My shower head is this one--at least, same brand and looks right, though I don't have the exact model number on hand: https://www.amazon.com/Culligan-HSH-C135-Hand-Showerheads-Single/dp/B0006VVN18

I hadn't thought about disconnecting the shower head from the pipe again and looking at that end... I don't know what if anything is currently going on between the pipe coming out of my wall, and the connector containing the flexible hose. I'll look for any screens, flow reducers, washers, anything else that might be clogged or crooked.

Thanks for that tutorial, heatherlogan! It makes me less nervous to unscrew and rescrew the shower attachment--especially once I get ahold of some plumber's tape.

I also am a big fan of descaling with white vinegar in general (hard water here, leaves deposits of minerals everywhere), so I might as well do that while I'm poking around.
posted by theatro at 12:53 PM on October 26, 2023

Response by poster: Good news! I unscrewed every part that could be unscrewed, and discovered debris clogging up the last bit, under a part of the shower head I didn't realize came apart. Bits and shreds of plastic, it looks like, which, eugh.

But still! The filter is changed, the head is cleaned with vinegar, and the plastic shreds are removed; the water pressure feels vastly better--possibly even normal, I'd forgotten what that felt like.

Thanks for all the tips! I feel kind of foolish, not exhausting all of the easy-DIY bits first, but at least now I know more than I used to--I'd never had this kind of shower head before.
posted by theatro at 12:55 PM on October 30, 2023 [2 favorites]