Water Pressure in Shower

Lord Fart Bucket on 25/10/2022 - 14:27

Good afternoon all,

I have a weird one. A brand new house… almost everything is to my liking, except one thing. If I am having a shower and someone turns on the kitchen tap, the shower is seriously affected and stays at a severely reduced pressure until the tap is turned off.

Did some sleuthing… the incoming water pressure is about 50-54 PSI (measured at the closest garden tap - not rainwater), everything else is off.
The water pressure in the house (measured in the laundry) is the same. It is briefly affected if I turn on another tap, drops 10 PSI, but comes back to the normal 50-54 PSI. I am about to measure the pressure out of the shower (I expect this to be a bit less - probably a reducer somewhere to protect the mechanisms of the tap) and see how much it drops.

Contacted my builder, and they say there's nothing wrong and to contact Sydney water. The pressure is fine, no issue there. I suspect there is a reducing mechanism somewhere and that it is placed too close to the incoming water (rather than using multiple reducers to manage the pressure at an endpoint, they use one to reduce most of the system?).

Thoughts? Is there something I am missing (besides the joy of a good shower)?

Home & Garden

Comments

  • EightImmortals on 25/10/2022 - 14:41

    Do you know which plumber they used? Give them a call directly and ask them.

  • trex on 25/10/2022 - 14:41
    +1

    There's a valve in the shower head that reduces the flow of water. Lower pressure from the open tap can affect the flow through the shower head. Removing the valve or changing it can help improve the flow. Read this

    • Lord Fart Bucket on 25/10/2022 - 15:06

      Respectfully, this seems odd. If the shower pressure is reduced, which i expect to be, then it should be less affected by the kitchen tap?

      • trex on 25/10/2022 - 15:26

        The open kitchen tap causes a drop in water pressure. With the valve that reduces water flow in the shower head, a drop in pressure would further reduce the flow. Are your kitchen and shower are located close? Could both be sharing the same water supply line?

        • Lord Fart Bucket on 25/10/2022 - 18:57

          They're not close. I'd have to hop in the roof to see where it splits.

          • trex on 25/10/2022 - 19:18

            @Lord Fart Bucket: Nah, don't waste your time to look for the split. Open up the shower head and remove the valve and test it. Just be careful not to break the valve in the process.

      • brad1-8tsi on 25/10/2022 - 18:42
        +1

        Water takes the easiest way out. If it has to fight against a valve or reducer it will just give up

        • trex on 25/10/2022 - 18:53

          I learnt the same thing about electricity too! It takes the path of least resistance! :)

  • iamherenow on 25/10/2022 - 14:57
    +1

    Not solving the problem, but how about check if the shower can keep up when the kitchen tap is only opened certain % - like 50% or 75%. If so, modify in kitchen to reduce the max flow to an acceptable level with 2nd tap under bench or other method.

  • Euphemistic on 25/10/2022 - 15:29

    Doesn’t sound uncommon and may depend on the size of the mains coming into the house.

    We had issues with the pressure regulator in our hot water service once, but that affected all taps at once.

    Plenty of fun can be had turning on the hot water tap in another part of the house while someone is showering.

  • carlJack on 25/10/2022 - 16:21
    +1

    You need Commando 450.

  • Sinful on 25/10/2022 - 17:08

    Maybe pay a plumber to run the main hot water line straight to your bathroom, have a 40psi 1-way-valve after the connection, then feed the rest of the hot water backwards through the existing plumbing.
    If someone uses the hot water while you are in the shower, it should cut down to 40psi, the valve closes and you don't loose too much hot water. The person using a 'sink' would only have 15psi whilst you are showering.

    (Not a plumber, I don't know what I am talking about.)

  • omguleh on 25/10/2022 - 17:10

    You would find it’s not just pressure issue but also not enough flow. I have the same issue at my new house and pressure is all to standard. The internal pipes they used is too small with too many bends so it’s effecting the flow.

    If your HWS is instantaneous type then it only heats the water once a certain flow is detected.

  • parsimonious one on 26/10/2022 - 07:31

    We had a weird clicking noise that was constantly present but worse when taps were used

    It went away when the mains water was turned off so ultimately we had to get a plumber to get to the bottom of it

    Apparently the problem was a supplemental pump under the house which was there to boost the water pressure when taps were used

    Perhaps you could look in to a pump to supplement the pressure/ flow

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