Not much water from shower head but high pressure in tap

[IrinaPri]

Dear Professionals, could you please advise. I have standard mixer tap in my bath (its about 15 years old, i recently bought the house). The water comes out from tap itself in massive amounts, bath can be filled in 3min, same if i unscrew shower hose - the water will shoot up very high, however as soon as hose is connected back there is hardy any water coming from the shower head. I tried a 2 new hose and 2 different size shower head, no dereference. Then i connected hose to bath tap via adaptor but stil hardly any water from shower head. I can't figure out how is the water comes out so much only from the tap but nothing from shower. I have old school system with water tank in the loft and bathroom on ground floor so should be no issue with pressure, flow of water is also very heavy in the kitchen and from bath tap itself but nothing from hose with shower head. It doesn't seems to be just the part that switches between water flow to tap or shower as i tried to connect bath tap itself to see the difference but there wasn't any. Uploaded a few pictures of the tap and hose that i tried and the adaptor. Not able to afford a plumper at the moment to come out and to physically have a look so trying to figure out myself, would be amazing if it is something small that i can fix. Could someone please help!
Thank you,
Irina

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Have you tried high flow shower hoses ?

 

[IrinaPri]

Have you tried high flow shower hoses ?

Hi Shaun, thank you for your response. I have not yet tried that, but i did saw, while getting new standard hose, that i can also get large bore hose - is that same thing as high flow hose?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Hi Shaun, thank you for your response. I have not yet tried that, but i did saw, while getting new standard hose, that i can also get large bore hose - is that same thing as high flow hose?

Yes same some call high flow some big bore etc

 

[Basher]

Have you tested the water coming out of the shower hose itself, at the hand shower end, but without that attached.
Could it be that the small jets in the shower head are partly blocked, eg by scale.
I used to have to regularly soak my Aqualida shower head in Viakal from time to time, and sometimes even clean the holes with a cocktail stick!

It does look quite a small diameter hose you have compared to many though.
You really want one with a bore size of 10mm or more.

 

[IrinaPri]

Have you tested the water coming out of the shower hose itself, at the hand shower end, but without that attached.
Could it be that the small jets in the shower head are partly blocked, eg by scale.
I used to have to regularly soak my Aqualida shower head in Viakal from time to time, and sometimes even clean the holes with a cocktail stick!

It does look quite a small diameter hose you have compared to many though.
You really want one with a bore size of 10mm or more.

Hi Basher, thank you for your response. I have yes , without shower head the water still comes out not strong from the hose. The shower head I bought new ones, one smaller and one larger size, I thought maybe it will make a difference. I have ordered 11mm hose, will try tomorrow and honestly hope that will sort it Will update 👍🏼

 

[IrinaPri]

Yes same some call high flow some big bore etc

Great, I ordered 11mm one, will try tomorrow 👍🏼

 

[Chuck]

How do you control whether the mixer tap is in 'bath filling' vs 'showering' mode? There would usually be a knob to pull/push/twist on the mixer body, which I can't see on the photographs.

I ask because, if the mode is controlled by outlet pressure, i.e. an on-off valve somewhere between the mixer outlet and the shower head, then there will need to be an automatic diverter valve inside the mixer body that prevents the taps running when the shower is spraying and vice versa.

[I know that such a mechanism is unusual so this is a long-shot possibility.]

 

[IrinaPri]

Great, I ordered 11mm one, will try tomorrow 👍🏼

Yes same some call high flow some big bore etc

Hi Shaun, new hose didn’t make much difference, if I turn shower head upside down then water only rises about 1cm if that, without shower head it’s still not strong. However I noticed a few things with this hose - when I turn taps on the water spits a few times like the pressure is not correct, it also made a few gurgling noises inside the tap, could this be something to do with air? I’m not sure what else I can try? Any idea’s please do let me know 🙏🏻

 

[IrinaPri]

How do you control whether the mixer tap is in 'bath filling' vs 'showering' mode? There would usually be a knob to pull/push/twist on the mixer body, which I can't see on the photographs.

I ask because, if the mode is controlled by outlet pressure, i.e. an on-off valve somewhere between the mixer outlet and the shower head, then there will need to be an automatic diverter valve inside the mixer body that prevents the taps running when the shower is spraying and vice versa.

[I know that such a mechanism is unusual so this is a long-shot possibility.]

Hi Chuck, thank you for your reply. I do have the knob that goes up and down to switch between the shower and bath tap itself. When I pull it up for shower the water sometimes still comes out from the tap so I have to use more strength to pull it up, when water stops from the tap it doesn’t seem to make a difference with how strong the water is from shower, also when I turn both hot and cold taps the water flow doesn’t change which is strange because it should get stronger with 2nd tap, it does when I’m filling the bath for example. I just can’t understand how so much flow comes out from bath tap and the hose hole but as soon as I connect the actual hose it goes flat regardless if I’m turning one or both tap on 😔

 

[Basher]

Irina
In your third pic, is the central tubular bit that you screw the hose onto, also the 'knob' you pull up or push down (ie 'diverter')?
I'm not familiar with that tap, but it looks a bit older than 15 years to me!

In your 4th picture, are you holding the filter that goes in the end of the spout?

I'm wondering if there's something up with the diverter, if that's what it is, perhaps a rubber washer in it that's perished or getting in the way of the water.

 

[IrinaPri]

Irina
In your third pic, is the central tubular bit that you screw the hose onto, also the 'knob' you pull up or push down (ie 'diverter')?
I'm not familiar with that tap, but it looks a bit older than 15 years to me!

In your 4th picture, are you holding the filter that goes in the end of the spout?

I'm wondering if there's something up with the diverter, if that's what it is, perhaps a rubber washer in it that's perished or getting in the way of the water.

Dear Basher, yes correct, the push up/down diverter is literally just under where i screw the hose. and you are correct about the age, its very old, i bought the house recently and bath definitely wasn't changed for about 15/20 years. The diverter has 2 lines on it, front and back, i understood it means i can unscrew that part but so far i wasn't able to, i think i just don't have enough strengths and it is probably stuck a bit with lime scale from inside. I had a look at the brand new taps but could not find exact same one, most are now have one leaver for both hot and cold rather then 2 separate ones, i don't mind how the new tap looks, can go for simple one but im not sure how difficult this could turn out to install and how much the cost be. On the 4th picture correct - i unscrewed it to try the adapter and connected the hose to that but it didn't made much difference. So far the only thing that made a difference is a hose with 11mm bore, water stil not coming out in full but for sure noticeable difference from shower head.

 

[John.g]

Can you actually measure the flowrate (into a bucket or whatever) with the hose disconnected at the mixer, then reconnect the hose (with no shower head attached) and measure it again.
What length is the shower hose?, the one with 11mm bore?.
Are you sure its 11mm bore and not something like 8MM or so??.

 

[IrinaPri]

Can you actually measure the flowrate (into a bucket or whatever) with the hose disconnected at the mixer, then reconnect the hose (with no shower head attached) and measure it again.
What length is the shower hose?, the one with 11mm bore?.
Are you sure its 11mm bore and not something like 8MM or so??.

Hi John, thank you for your reply. I can defiantly try to measure the flowrate, could i please check - do i need to measure first from main tap nosel and then from the hose without the shower head? When i disconnect the hose the hole is at the top of the diverter so water will shoot up very high. Regarding the hose 11mm - i bought brand new, length 1.5m and yes it is defiantly much larger hole compare to my first hose with 8mm so looks like 11mm as ordered. It made a difference with amount water coming out from shower head but not nearly as much as it should considering the flow is so heavy.

 

[John.g]

Hi John, thank you for your reply. I can defiantly try to measure the flowrate, could i please check - do i need to measure first from main tap nosel and then from the hose without the shower head? When i disconnect the hose the hole is at the top of the diverter so water will shoot up very high. Regarding the hose 11mm - i bought brand new, length 1.5m and yes it is defiantly much larger hole compare to my first hose with 8mm so looks like 11mm as ordered. It made a difference with amount water coming out from shower head but not nearly as much as it should considering the flow is so heavy.

Take flow readings where ever you can.

Just to be clear, the hose connects directly to the "hole where the water shoots up"???, A 1.5M hose with 11mm bore will have a head loss of only 0.3M at a flowrate of say 6LPM, the effect is only like raising the whole tap/diverter by this 0.3M to get the same flow rate as with the hose installed, which shouldn't make a huge difference because of where the bathroom is located on the ground floor which give a total height/head of ~ 5M from the CWSC.

 

[opplumbinghub]

The problem is likely something blocking the water flow since water works fine from the tap but not the shower head. First, take off the shower head and check if it's clogged - you can clean it with vinegar. Also check those metal connecting bits on the hose for any stuck pieces. If that doesn't work, test the hose by itself to see if water flows through it properly. These are simple fixes you can try before needing a plumber. Just don't forget to turn off the water first!