Low Water Pressure

[ragswl4]

One word of caution: Before everybody starts drilling out their shower heads to 10gpm, take a minute to think about the size of your water heater (unless cold showers appeal to you)...

Great advice and in addition if you are on septic consider what that will do to that system.

[Rslaugh]

Started to re-plumb around 4:30. Went to the hardware store and got everything i needed (and for a change I actually did get everything I needed - no second trip!). Get home around 5 and start laying everything out....

Phone rings - "Hello?"

"Uhm Honey? could you come over to my mom's?"

"No not right now"

"Ok then I'll be spending the night cuz I locked my keys in the car"

45 minutes later I'm back at it. (Do they have a critical time sensing gene?) I decide to split this into 2 stages. Stage 1 is replumb the output of the water heater replacing 1/2" w 3/4". This will get rid of the temporary hose from the laundry sink to the pipe that supplies hot water to the 2nd Floor. Stage 2 will be to re-plumb the supply to the water heater with 3/4".

Fast forward to test time for phase 1. Start on 2nd floor - yes we have hot water. back down to first floor - yes we have.... flow for 5 seconds and then nothing. what the heck? (not actually the words used). To make a long story short - 3/4" line from water heater has a T just above shut off valve that branches off and reconnects to original 1/2" line through a reducer. That was the obvious place to look for a blockage so of course I cut open the pipe in 2 other places first working my way back to this spot. I couldn't believe it. There was a marble there acting like a check valve. How it ever got there I'll never know. I know the previous owner did some plumbing and had kids. I don't have kids and couldn't tell you where to find a marble in this house if my life depended on it.

Needless to say I did not get to stage 2 tonight but there was quite an improvement with what did get done. Phase 2 will remove (5) 90 degree els in 1/2" after it gets reduced down from the 3/4" and replace it with 2 45 degree els in 3/4". That's got to remove some resistance to water flow.

[rnelson0]

Do they have a critical time sensing gene?

Yes. Last night was supposed to be a "quick dinner" and then off to her office to help her with her desk. Dinner was 90 minutes ("oh, I guess they don't serve their quick lunch menu for dinner...") and $100 - guess we won't be eating out for the rest of the month. It wasn't until almost 10pm before we got home after working on her desk.

It was worth it though. BeStar Desks stand behind their product and shipped her two new tops for her damaged desk and credenza and told her to keep the old ones. I now have a great 1.5" workbench top!

There was a marble there acting like a check valve.

And this is why I hate plumbing. You couldn't make this stuff up, right?

At least it didn't work its way back into the water heater somehow and damage an element or something else.

[dlminehart]

I had a real low pressure shower head recently. Bought a replacement, complete with new hose. I preferred the old hose, and the head's screw attachments were (surprise!) compatible, so I just put the new head on old hose. Still had low pressure/volume. Thought, maybe I'll just try the new hose. It worked fine. I looked at the old hose, where it attached to the wall fixture, and saw that it had a screen filter there in the end of the hose. Filter was plugged up with little rust particles from my aging galvanized pipes. On cleaning the screen, even my old shower head worked great with the old hose! Took the new head back to the BORG.