Decreasing Flow Rate

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BrokenGasket

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Hi Folks,

We've been in our new house for almost 2 years and have noticed the flow rate in our shower declining over time. This is particularly evident when the 4 body jets are used in addition to the overhead showerhead since the flowrate demand is higher. The overhead showerhead seems to be fine, but the bodyjets have gotten steadily worse. We tried cleaning them by soaking in some distilled vinegar and tried making sure the connections were tight to avoid leaking around the gaskets. Problem seems to be the flowrate of water coming out of the nozzles is too low that some of them just dribble down the face of the head, causing the lower nozzle spray to "stick" and most of the water goes straight down instead of spraying.

Any ideas on what to try? Need to flush the hotwater tank so maybe that will help? Perhaps heads with fewer nozzles will too, although I'd be concerned if the flowrate keeps decreasing that it will just be a bandaid rather than a solution.

Thank you!
 
BrokenGasket said:
Hi Folks,

We've been in our new house for almost 2 years and have noticed the flow rate in our shower declining over time. This is particularly evident when the 4 body jets are used in addition to the overhead showerhead since the flowrate demand is higher. The overhead showerhead seems to be fine, but the bodyjets have gotten steadily worse. We tried cleaning them by soaking in some distilled vinegar and tried making sure the connections were tight to avoid leaking around the gaskets. Problem seems to be the flowrate of water coming out of the nozzles is too low that some of them just dribble down the face of the head, causing the lower nozzle spray to "stick" and most of the water goes straight down instead of spraying.

Any ideas on what to try? Need to flush the hotwater tank so maybe that will help? Perhaps heads with fewer nozzles will too, although I'd be concerned if the flowrate keeps decreasing that it will just be a bandaid rather than a solution.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Can you take apart the body jets and remove the shower head and cap it off
Or just remove and cap off the showerhead do the water is diverted to the body sprays
 
We can actual control that already - the showerhead and body jets are on separate valves. Ideally we can use both at the same time, which is what we used to do before the jets stopped working as well.
 
Hmm do you mean like take apart the assembly of the body jets and let that soak in the distilled vinegar?
 
These may be a restriction plate in the shower head somewhere. I had similar issues and I really like a strong shower spray. Removing it took two minutes and my wife and I are very pleased. Also no discernible difference on our water bill in this berg where water rates are at a premium.
 
Agreed, there are probably little o rings and/or screens that you can take out to improve the flow.

They are usually right inside the knuckle type of joint where the spray heads thread onto the supply pipe.

The government requires them to help reduce water use, but many are too tight, and over time they get even tighter as minerals or pipe crud builds up.

Sometimes vinegar or CLR will help, but some are so stingy tight that removal is best.
 
Thanks guys I'll give soaking the individual parts a try. Know when I tried taking the restrictors out of 2 of the 4 jets, it makes those 2 very high with hardly any water coming out of the other jets or the main head. Guessing I'd have to take them off everything to keep the pressure balanced?

Also I flushed out the tank but didn't see much of a difference in water pressure.
 
You flushed out what tank?

Are you on well water?

If so, you should have mentioned that first.
 
The hot water tank. Thought maybe it had a bunch of buildup and restricting the pressure. Also it's been a while. Not on well water.
 
You should flush the water heater at least once a year.

After flushing, run at least twenty gallons of both hot and cold out of the bath tub faucet, or a slop sink with no aerator.

After flushing, little particles will be stirred up that can clog faucet aerators, or screen and flow restrictors inside shower heads.
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Took the heads apart and soaked in vinegar for ~24 hrs. Just put everything back together and unfortunately seems to be more or less the same.

One thing I did notice as I was testing it out this time, is the pressure only decreases when hot water gets mixed in (it's a single dial). When all the way cold to about 40% of a turn, pressure is very high. After that it drops a lot. Perhaps it's an issue with the hot water tank?
 
BrokenGasket said:
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Took the heads apart and soaked in vinegar for ~24 hrs. Just put everything back together and unfortunately seems to be more or less the same.

One thing I did notice as I was testing it out this time, is the pressure only decreases when hot water gets mixed in (it's a single dial). When all the way cold to about 40% of a turn, pressure is very high. After that it drops a lot. Perhaps it's an issue with the hot water tank?
Click to expand...
No I think your shower valve cartridge
Soak that like you did the other parts
See what happens
 
Your water heater might have clogged nipples at the cold inlet or hot outlet.

They can clog or narrow from corrosion.

Also, some nipples have little inserts called heat traps that operate like a check valve, to keep hot water from rising up into the pipes above the heater when hot water is not being called for.

These doohickies can malfunction and limit full flow.
 
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