Shower unusually loud whooshing sound

[John Hsu]

Hi all,

I am property-managing a newly expanded single family house. For some reasons the showers in the house creates a unusually loud whooshing sound. I've checked the water pressure from the main supply, it comes out to be 65-75 PSI which is normal I think.

What else can be the problem? We actually don't mind breaking drywall and doing what's necessary, but we really would like to know what the problem is before doing so since the tenants move in already. I've attached the pipe layout for the shower faucet (there is even insulation!) Here is the video link recording from the other side of the wall showing the loud sound :

The faucet is new, Kohler single handle. Really appreciate any help. Thank you! !!
John

 

[Jeff Handy]

It could be a noisy shower head.
Some of them mix air into the water stream, which can make a whoosh noise.
Or it might be a massage type head, which also can pulsate and be noisy.
Kohler valves are horrible creations from Hell.
Prone to failure and often hard to work on.
At least the repair parts are usually free, if you call Kohler and describe your valve, they will usually send parts to fix it.
You can also find Kohler charts online that will help you identify your exact valve, and diagrams showing all the repair parts.
Maybe the guts of the valve have just gotten noisy, there could be an internal restriction from crud stuck in it.
Change the valve guts.
I can’t tell from your pic, but some shower valves have shutoffs for the water lines at 3:00 and 9:00 o’clock, right at the sides of the valve.
They have little straight screwdriver slots, maybe one or both are partially closed, that will surely add some noise.
Make sure the slots are horizontal, in line with the pipes entering the shower valve.

 

[John Hsu]

Thank you very much Jeff. I will give that a try.