While low water pressure isn’t a plumbing emergency, it can be extremely annoying. It’s difficult to clean your dishes, wash your hands, and even rinse out your hair in the shower with low water pressure. Most of the time, low water pressure can be solved with some easy DIY home plumbing. Here are some tips to improve the water pressure in your home!
Fixing low water pressure in your sinks:
It’s frustrating to wash your dirty hands with drippy, low water pressure. If you are experiencing low water pressure from one of your sinks, be sure to check if it is a problem in both the hot and cold faucets. If both have low water pressure, you probably have some build-up in your aerator. The aerator is a screw-on screen located on the end of your faucet. To clean the aerator, simply unscrew it and then remove any debris or build up you see on the screen in the faucet. Then, screw it back into place and your water should be flowing strongly again.
Fixing low water pressure in your shower:
Here’s some different approaches you can try when fixing low water pressure in your shower.
- Check the GPM of your shower head
The first thing to check when improving water pressure in your shower is to test the flow of your shower head. You will need to measure the gallons per minute (GPM) to determine if the flow from your shower head is too weak. To do this, turn on the shower at full blast, put a 5-gallon bucket underneath to catch the water, and time how long it takes to fill. Then, do 5 divided by the amount of time it took to fill the bucket. For example, if it took 2.5 minutes to fill the bucket, you would do 5 divided by 2.5 and have a GPM of 2.
If your GPM is a 2 or below, you might want to consider replacing your shower head with a higher-flow option. 2.5 GPM is the standard and maximum legal flow in the United States for shower heads. When you upgrade to a 2.5 GPM shower head your water will flow much stronger and easier!
- Clean your shower head
If you are experiencing low water pressure in your shower, you also might want to consider cleaning your shower head. It’s normal for materials to build-up in your shower head overtime, and they could be preventing water from flowing through strongly. Unscrew the head and let it soak in white vinegar for eight hours. After soaking, try to clean out and debris from the holes in the shower head with a toothpick. Then, screw the head back on and see if your water is flowing strongly again.
- Check the Main Shutoff
Sometimes the cause of low water pressure is the curb-side main shutoff valve not being fully turned on. Check where your water comes in to your property and see if the valve is fully rotated counterclockwise, or if the lever is parallel to the pipe. If not – you should call your water provider to come turn the valve on fully for you.
If your low water pressure persists – call a plumber!
Our team of plumbing experts will inspect your pipes, diagnose and correctly fix the problem, and have your water flowing strongly again in no time. Give Aloha Plumbing a call today!