Plumbing – How to diagnose weak water flow from tub faucet and shower

faucetplumbingshower

I have a shower that has very low flow from the hot and cold water and also from the shower when you turn the valve to switch it to the shower. All of the other fixtures in the house have strong flow including the sink in the same bathroom. Unfortunately there isn't an easy way to get access behind the shower (tile on both sides of the wall). Does this sound like something that could be caused by bad cartridges? What about some kind of corrosion built up in the pipes? How can I go about diagnosing this without ripping open the walls?

Best Answer

If you have a shutoff valve feeding that bath or that shower, I would check:

  1. Is it on all the way?
  2. If it is, you can sometimes disassemble it in place (of course turn the house water off first). The typical valves for this application are gate valves, which can get a lot of gunk in them. Disassembly will also let you see if the problem is before or after the valve (with valve disassembled, turn on house water for a second; Did you get good flow or not?).
  3. If you disassemble a gate valve don't be surprised if you need a new stem seal (the seal that keeps it from leaking around the shaft).
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