Low water pressure

   / Low water pressure #1  

coachgrd

Gold Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2003
Messages
355
Location
nw PA
Tractor
Kubota BX1870
This morning my wife and I had low water pressure for our showers. (Sadly, they were separate showers ;)) My 8 year old son actually noticed the same thing yesterday during his. We are on a well. The pressure in the rest of the house seems fine, I think. I was going to pick up some of CRL on the way home and let the shower head soak for a few hours tonite and see if it's just perhaps some deposits clogging up the head. If this doesn't work, any thoughts on where I should go from there?
 
   / Low water pressure #2  
Is this the same shower for your son and you?

If it's just 1 fixture, you may want to also look
at taking the valve apart, and seeing if a small piece
of material is restricting flow into or thru the valve.

If you think it just happened, and wasn't a build up
over time, i doubt it's from hard water deposits
on the shower head, but could be. It might be
worth lookin at the shower head inlet for an
obstruction also. (easier to pull apart
than the valve)

I've seen small pieces of shale, gravel, etc get caught
in valves before.
 
   / Low water pressure #3  
You should have a gauge at your pressure tank, so you should know if the house pressure is normal or not. That's the first thing to check. If you have a filter, that would be next. FWIW, we notice low pressure in the shower before we notice it anywhere else. That means it's time to change our sediment filter.
 
   / Low water pressure #4  
SnowRidge said:
FWIW, we notice low pressure in the shower before we notice it anywhere else. That means it's time to change our sediment filter.

Exactamundo!
 
   / Low water pressure
  • Thread Starter
#5  
SnowRidge said:
You should have a gauge at your pressure tank, so you should know if the house pressure is normal or not. That's the first thing to check. If you have a filter, that would be next. FWIW, we notice low pressure in the shower before we notice it anywhere else. That means it's time to change our sediment filter.

I'm ashamed to admit this but where would I find my sediment filter?
 
   / Low water pressure #6  
coachgrd said:
I'm ashamed to admit this but where would I find my sediment filter?

You may not have one, but if you do, it most likely would be in the line between the pressure tank and the rest of the house. Some people install them so that only inside lines are filtered, while outside faucets are left unfiltered. It is also possible to install them so that only part of the house is filtered. To me, that doesn't make much sense, but that doesn't mean someone hasn't done it.

Again, you may not even have a sediment filter. If you don't have one, it is a distinct possibility that trash is getting into your faucets, and that may have clogged the shower faucet, as Dutch445 indicated. It could even be the spray head that is loaded with the stuff. However, if that were the case, I think it would be a volume issue, rather than a pressure issue.
 
   / Low water pressure #7  
My system has no sediment filter,
but sounds like a good idea.

I often have to unhook my hoses going
to the laundry to clean out those screens
to regain flow there... mostly that's small
stuff, but an occasional small stone finds
its way there.
 
   / Low water pressure #8  
This is the fourth property that I have owned with a well for a domestic water supply. The other three did not have any filtering, although one place could really have used one.

We installed the filter here after noticing fine black sand like particles in the water. They just showed up one day. We had something similar when we first bought the place, but they cleared up soon after we moved in.

The filter used to last three months, about what the manufacturer said it would, but the drought has changed things. We are now getting a lot of sediment. A couple of times, I had to change the filter at only two weeks. Things have been better lately, and we are now getting about six weeks between changes.

I think what has surprised me the most is the variability of it all.
 
   / Low water pressure #9  
Check the shower head screens or the water saver screen . this is usually what we find stopped up
 
   / Low water pressure
  • Thread Starter
#10  
kenmac said:
Check the shower head screens or the water saver screen . this is usually what we find stopped up

In talking to my brother this a.m., this is what he said too. He also said that I can clean the head by soaking it with some white vinegar. I'll give that a try, vinegar's pretty cheap.
 
 
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