Whitby Shores Community Forums

The shower pressure has always been low in the bathtub plus the water does not seem to be as hot as in the other taps. Any suggestions as to what it might be? We have turned up the heat on the water tank.

Thanks

You most likely have the anti-scald taps in your shower. These keep the temperature lower than maximum on purpose so that you don't end up getting burned. If your hot water tank was like ours it was cranked all the way up when we moved in. It would create steam in the kitchen when I turned it on but the showers were lukewarm! If you take the plastic handle off the tap in your bathroom you will see the anti-scald device. It's a little dial if I remember correctly. I wouldn't recommend removing this in any bathroom that will be used by kids though. Pressure is a different matter. I doubt you can get at the shut off valves for the shower...



Jordan.

Thanks Jabber - we will check that out.

Have you tried cleaning or replacing the shower head? You can remove and soak the shower head for an hour in a bowl of vinegar to dissolve and loosen any mineral deposits that might be inside. Some shower heads can just be screwed back on, but for some you will want to add some teflon tape to the threads before re-attaching the head. If there is white residue in the threads when you take the head off, try to clean it off and re-apply some teflon tape before re-attaching the head. You can buy it in any plumbing department and it's very cheap (a buck or less).

We put a new showerhead on recently hoping it might help but it didn't - but thanks for the suggestion

Did you change the temperature of the water at your water tank? I lowered my recently and I don't hear come on as often which is saving me gas.... and I still have plenty of hot water. But if was turned down too much, it wouldn't get hot. Mine is located near the base so a child could easily turn if the saw it.

The temp adjustment for your hot water tank is out in the open? Mine is buried behind a plate and lots of insulation. Very strange...

Jordan.

Any chance your house was built by Baycliffe?

I have the same problem with water pressure in both of my upstairs showers. Our main (kid's) bath is REALLY bad....the water pressure coming out of the spout is abysmal, and no one likes to shower in there b/c even with a new watersaver/high pressure shower head there is barely enough pressure to rinse hair properly. I have taken off the spout to check for any kind of blockage, tried two different shower heads and it's had no impact. Not to mention, it takes FOREVER for the tub to fill for anyone to have a bath.

I complained about this at my 1-year inspection and the service guy who checked it out said the pressure was acceptable -- maybe I should have asked him to soap up so he could see how long it took to rinse. He did show me that there is a small valve near the water meter than can be adjusted to increase the water pressure coming into the house, but I'm reluctant to change that b/c it means higher water pressure everywhere in the house, and therefore more wasted water if anyone leaves a tap running while doing dishes/brushing teeth, etc.

Let me know if you find a solution.

NRW - My house was a Queensgate wonder !!!! thanks for the hint about the valve - may have a look to see if we can see that and then give it a try.

Re: the hot water tank - I can and have adjusted that - it's located at the bottom of the tank - I think it's blue