Low Water Pressure for Cold Water in a Shower

LESLIE: Vicky in Louisiana is on the line with a shower-pressure issue, I would say. Tell us what’s going on, Vicky.

VICKY: I have a shower and when I turn the handle all the way to the left, on hot, the pressure is fine. As I turn it to the right to get to the cold, it’s diminished. And when I get to the cold completely, it’s probably about 25 percent of what the hot is.

LESLIE: Is it only on this fixture or does it happen at other showers or other sinks?

VICKY: No, it’s just on that shower. Just that one shower.

TOM: OK. Alright. And how old is the house, Vicky?

VICKY: Ten years old.

TOM: Oh, so it’s a fairly new house. Well, it sounds to me like there’s a problem with this – that shower diverter. Right. If it’s just happening on that one fixture, that rules out a problem – a bigger problem – with the plumbing pipes.

VICKY: Mm-hmm. Fine.

TOM: So, for whatever reason, that diverter is not working properly. It could be clogged or obstructed in some way and it probably has to be – and it would have to be repaired or replaced.

VICKY: OK. So, is it something we can do at home or is the plumber going to have to go inside that wall to do that? The shower wall.

TOM: You can replace the guts of it from the shower side without tearing it out. If you have to replace the whole thing, then you have to go into the wall. And if you have to go into the wall, the way it’s usually done is by accessing that shower wall from the back side, depending on how your house is built, if that happens to be against …

VICKY: It’s in the bedroom.

TOM: Yeah, if it happens to be against a closet or a bedroom or something like that, generally that’s a lot easier than having to go through tile or whatever the surface is of your shower stall.

VICKY: Yeah, this is the acrylic – the one-piece shower.

TOM: Yeah. So if it had to be replaced, you’d go – you’d do it from the back. But a plumber should be able to repair that.

Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.