Can a shower valve flow regulator reduce pressure?

[Adam78]

Hi,

I recently converted from a gravity fed system to a combi. I have a manual mixer shower that has now developed a dripping shower head when the shower is turned off which I'm assuming is due to the increased pressure (the hot and cold pipes to the shower run through the loft and then down to the shower). Theres also a small weep between the backnuts that fasten the shower valve to the inlets.

Normally I would just replace the shower valve to one that is suitable for high pressure systems. But my inlets are z connectors whiche have:

1) G 1/2" (all the new shower valves are G 3/4" compressions type)
2) Inlet centres are 152mm (all new shower valves have standard inlets of 150mm)



So without stripping back all the tiling and doing a new fit its difficult for me to upgrade to a new shower valve.

I was thinking would fitting a flow regulator similar to the ones that fit between a shower valve and shower handset (see link below) if it was fitted between the inlet and shower valve instead, would it reduce the pressure to the valve due to a decreased flow rate?

http://www.bristan.com/WebRoot/BristanNewDB/Shops/Bristan/Products /WEB_DATA-1057911-1-D3-1.PDF

 

[Chalked]

Flow and pressure are two very different things. Reducing flow will not affect static pressure.

 

[Chalked]

If it's not already being mentionond on your many threads about this shower. Why don't you take the shrouds off, take the 1/2 z connectors out . This will leave you with a 1/2 female thread in the wall. replace with a new mixer that has 1/2- 3/4 z connectors? 90% of bar mixers come this way.

 

[oz-plumber]

Installing your new combi boiler would only have increased the pressure on the hot water side of the tap.

So any leaks on the cold side of the tap would be pre-existing.
As for dripping shower head - can you determine whether the water is hot or cold?

Even if it is hot water leaking through the tap - it has more to do with the deterioration of the tap through general wear and tear than the installation of the combi boiler.

Re read some of your posts - Are you trying to blame the Plumber that installed the boiler for the leaking tap?

 

[Adam78]

Installing your new combi boiler would only have increased the pressure on the hot water side of the tap.

So any leaks on the cold side of the tap would be pre-existing.
As for dripping shower head - can you determine whether the water is hot or cold?

Even if it is hot water leaking through the tap - it has more to do with the deterioration of the tap through general wear and tear than the installation of the combi boiler.

Re read some of your posts - Are you trying to blame the Plumber that installed the boiler for the leaking tap?

Changing to combi will have increase pressure to both hot and cold becuase previously both the hot and cold were fed to the shower via a fordic tank in the loft (on the top was cold tank and on the bottom was a hot tank).

Plumber had nothing to do with the shower mixer. Theres an increased flow rate/pressure to the shower mixer since converting to combi. I thought that maybe adding a flow regulator to the inlet would reduce the amount of water flowing into the shower valve hence it would have less pressure and be able to cope so that when i switch the shower off the valve wont have much water pushing on them due to the regulator. However my understanding of flow and pressure maybe flawed.

 

[Adam78]

If it's not already being mentionond on your many threads about this shower. Why don't you take the shrouds off, take the 1/2 z connectors out . This will leave you with a 1/2 female thread in the wall. replace with a new mixer that has 1/2- 3/4 z connectors? 90% of bar mixers come this way.

if I take the 1/2" connector out this would leave me with 3/4" female thread in the wall because the z connector currently has 1/2 " end protruding out of the wall to connect to the valve, therefore the other end behind the wall will be 3/4".

 

[Chalked]

No, it will be 1/2 inch in the wall. That is the standard.