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General Plumbing and Gasfitting Talk => Ask Plumbers (Public) => Plumbing => Q & A - Water Pressure => Topic started by: meadsy on October 11, 2011, 10:02:15 PM

Title: Low shower flow
Post by: meadsy on October 11, 2011, 10:02:15 PM: Hi,
We have a Keith Hay house built app 35 years ago with very poor hot and cold water flow at the shower. We are on tank water with a pump and pressure vessile.
I have measured the flow rates as below.
16 litres a min cold and 10 litres a min hot at the bath,
6 litres a min both hot and cold at the shower, measured seperataly.
These rates at the shower dont change much when i remove the shower head or have the bath running at the same time so i dont think there is a problem with the pump. the gauge on the pump turns the pump on and off at 35 and 55 psi.
surely this difference in flow rates isnt due to the slight difference in height. Could there be a problem with the mixer. Its one of the real old types with seperate hot and cold star shaped taps. Any help appreciated.
Title: Re: Low shower flow
Post by: aboutgas on October 11, 2011, 10:09:15 PM: Must be hard to climb into the bath :D ;D
Title: Re: Low shower flow
Post by: meadsy on November 08, 2011, 01:00:07 PM: Have fixed the problem. After talking to a few people i was about to bash a hole in the wall to see what was behind it but noticed that the flexy shower hose seemed to have a narrow bore. Replaced it with a bigger bore hose and it significantly increased the water flow. Problem solved.
Title: Re: Low shower flow
Post by: termite on November 08, 2011, 11:38:50 PM: Classic fix.............
have this one often.
Title: Re: Low shower flow
Post by: Thunderhead on November 09, 2011, 04:41:18 PM: your probablies exceeding the wel's rating now lol
Title: Re: Low shower flow
Post by: Jaxcat on November 10, 2011, 04:36:48 PM: Keith Hay Home - about 35 years old - hope you haven't got black Dux pipework in there...
Title: Re: Low shower flow
Post by: Shoreside on November 11, 2011, 10:31:26 AM: Quote from: meadsy on November 08, 2011, 01:00:07 PM
Have fixed the problem. After talking to a few people i was about to bash a hole in the wall to see what was behind it but noticed that the flexy shower hose seemed to have a narrow bore. Replaced it with a bigger bore hose and it significantly increased the water flow. Problem solved.

Theres low pressure shower hoses and mains pressure. Need to get the right one. Also the shower head can make a huge differnce.