LESLIE: Alicia in Tennessee has got a shower question. What can we do for you?
ALICIA: The flow of the shower is interrupted whenever water elsewhere in the house is turned on.
TOM: OK.
ALICIA: And there’s just a small stream of water that comes out of the shower even on a good day. One thing that we have done, we have soaked the showerhead and removed it before and we can’t find any kind of clog or anything that …
TOM: How old is the showerhead … the valves? Have they been replaced any time in the recent past?
ALICIA: You mean the actual head of the shower?
TOM: Yeah, the actual shower itself. Yeah.
ALICIA: No. And any … this problem started … we had our house replumbed and …
TOM: OK, see, this is what I’m getting at. Because what I think has happened here is I think you have a water saving showerhead. And built into the showerhead there’s a water reducer. Here’s a … here’s a test. When you take that showerhead off and throw on the shower so just the pipe is kind of sticking out of the wall …
ALICIA: Right.
TOM: … does the water come out full blast when you do that?
ALICIA: No.
TOM: Alright. Well then the problem is not with the showerhead. Alright, rewind. (laughing) Let’s come up … come up with another thing.
I think then, probably, the next step might be the diverter valve.
ALICIA: OK.
TOM: How old is your house?
ALICIA: Thirty years old. Uh-huh.
TOM: ’76? OK, so you probably have copper plumbing. And you’re on city water or you’re on well?
ALICIA: We do have a well.
TOM: OK.
ALICIA: We do live in the country…
TOM: Mm-hmm.
ALICIA: … so we have a well.
TOM: And is the pressure problem only with the shower or is it really with the whole house?
ALICIA: It’s only with the shower.
TOM: Well, there’s got to be a restriction somewhere and it’s probably, if it’s just the showerhead, it’s probably in the diverter. So you might need just to replace the faucets in the tub/shower area and that might solve it.
ALICIA: OK.
TOM: If it’s only limited to that one area …
ALICIA: Yes.
TOM: … it’s got to be in the valves that are controlling that area. Alright, Alicia? That doesn’t have to be an expensive job. It should be just a … one trip for a plumber should be able to knock that out.
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