Concrete house, no water in shower

[Jess_SXM]

Hi all -

We are in a concrete house (so difficult for pipe repairs) which has 3 separate showers, only one of which is ever regularly used (and works fine).

Went to use one shower, very low pressure, rest of the bathroom is fine. I changed the shower head, no real improvement.

Went to check other unused shower, no water at all to shower, rest of the bathroom is fine. I took off the shower head, also checked to see if the faucet handles are actually working, both seem to be fine.

These 2 showers are up and downstairs from each other. Both have very basic faucets, one knob for hot and one for cold, and the showerhead on a short pipe from the wall.

As far as I can tell there are no water shutoff valves for these showers as there are for toilets and sinks, is that normal? Could this lack of water be from an obstruction in the pipe? How do I check?

Thanks for any help!

[Jess_SXM]

Just want to add things as a kind of plea for guidance - I don't have a clue what is going on with these showers.

We are in the Caribbean and plumbers don't seem to be licensed here. We know one or two good plumbers but they are working on big construction jobs and just don't have time. We had one guy who offered to rip out the whole wall and replace the pipes. I don't want to go that way if I don't have to.

Things that may have affected the pipes: our shower sink and toilet water comes from a rainwater cistern which has a fair amount of crud in it though we filter it (we don't drink it) - also, rust is a serious problem. But I can't figure out why it would only affect the showers and not the supply for the sinks and toilets in the same bathrooms?

Any ideas? Thanks so much.

[Bob NH]

Maybe someone needed some pipe for another job.

When I was in Bluefields, Nicaragua (East coast) it looked like the biggest industry was making and installing gates and window grates welded up out of 1/2" re-bar. Some of them were quite decorative, but the real purpose was to protect the people and contents of any building that had any value.

You need to make a map of where all of the pipes run. You may need to guess and then try to trace it all out by putting known pressure into the lines and seeing where the water comes out.

[plumber1]

I would start by repairing those faucets in question by taking them apart and putting new washers, bib screws and stem seals.

I don't recommend a construction plumber for in house repairs. It's like two different trades. There are construction plumbers and there are repair plumbers. You need the latter.......

Look for access doors behind the tub......

[hj]

Normally one thing you could be sure of is that if neither faucet gives water, the problem is in the center mixing section, but with your system that may not be a valid assumption.

[Randyj]

I recently did a repair on a similar situation (after another plumber had ripped them a new one...). I had to remove the guts of each faucet and valve, used a wire coat hanger to knock out the crud, rust, dirt, etc. Then had to rig up a connection to my air compressor to blow the air and water back and forth through the lines until I could flush out every line in the house. It was a block house from the 1940's or 50's with all galvanized pipe. After all that was done I had to replace the line from the meter to the house.