Shower has weak stream, not sure what to do

**irev210** · 01-25-2013, 06:00 PM

Learned a lot about toto toilets on this forum (and ended up buying a toto with a heart shape in the enamel on the back, which I think was a shout out to terry love)... so I thought I would ask about my shower problem.

Basically, the shower has very little water pressure and makes it extremely annoying to shower. Everything else in our condo has great water pressure so I think it has something to do with the valve. It's a modern shower head, so I assume that replacing the shower head with another low flow head wont do me much good, or do I have that wrong?

Here is a picture of the valve:

It is hard to turn off the water to do repairs here, so I am probably going to have to call out a plumber but I don't even know what work I need to have done.

Can anyone tell me what the possible problems might be and what type of valve I have?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. It's very frustrating!

**Terry** · 01-26-2013, 12:08 PM

I would check the shower head first. Most are flow restricted down the 2.5 gallons, though some are now 1.75 and less.
Unthread the showerhead and see what you have first. The least expensive fix would be changing the shower head.
If the restriction is at the head, nothing you do to the valve will matter.

**irev210** · 01-27-2013, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by Terry

I would check the shower head first. Most are flow restricted down the 2.5 gallons, though some are now 1.75 and less.
Unthread the showerhead and see what you have first. The least expensive fix would be changing the shower head.
If the restriction is at the head, nothing you do to the valve will matter.

Ok, that will be my first go of things.

Terry, have you ever seen a toto with a heart on the back? Someone put it into the enamel, pretty funny. This is my toto vespin II (made in usa):

**Terry** · 01-27-2013, 06:57 PM

Terry, have you ever seen a toto with a heart on the back? Someone put it into the enamel, pretty funny. This is my toto vespin II (made in usa):

Now I have to start looking for that! And I have a Vespin II in the main bath at the moment.

**irev210** · 01-28-2013, 03:19 AM

I think someone from the toto factory sees all their toilets going to Terry Love and is saying hello!

Thanks for the advice on checking the shower head. The shower head was clogged with debris. Bought a new shower head and now I get great water pressure.

I did notice a few things though. The shower tube coming out of the wall moves a bit when I was installing the new shower head. I checked for leaks by taking the trim off the valve and seeing if any water dripped down but didn't see any.

The other thing was that when I turn the shower off a little water seeps out of the o-ring on the shower valve.

Any issues with either one of those? It's a symmons shower valve with fairly easy access from behind the wall.

**jadnashua** · 01-28-2013, 01:40 PM

SLoppy plumbing on the shower riser tube...it should have a drop-ear ell in the wall, screwed down to some blocking so it is firm and can't move around. There are probably millions out there like that...not good, but probably not horrible unless you are constantly moving the shower head angle around. A leak, regardless of how small, is probably worth fixing.