Low Water Pressure Issue in Shower - Real Plumbing

We got a call about a low-pressure issue in a master bathroom. This house was a new construction home a couple was looking at buying, so they wanted to make sure the home they were going to buy was ready to move into with no issue whatsoever. Let me know how you would've handled this troubleshooting plumbing call.
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Thanks for watching! I'm Roger Wakefield, LEED AP, The Expert Plumber and welcome to my channel. On this channel, I teach homeowners how to save money on their plumbing by doing DIY plumbing projects. I also teach plumbers and plumbing company owners how to be the best plumbers in their area and run successful plumbing businesses. My goal is to teach you everything you need to know about plumbing.
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[@RogerWakefield]

What do you think about this low pressure issue? Do you think I was right?

[@sweat319]

Thank for your information

[@JB-jk3ow]

Changing out a ball valve isn't gonna make a hill of beans difference. Are you saying it's a pressure or volume issue? When the house is plumbed out of essentially the same I.D of 1/2" copper then choke it on down with a million fittings it all adds up. I'd say the cheapest fix for their problem is to crank that PRV up to 80psi and let em be. It's at 60 as seen. Who ever roughed that in should have went with 1" since using crimp style junk. My .02 cents..

[@joshm5816]

@@JB-jk3ow Please educate yourself on flow, volume, pressure. The ball valve replacement will solve the problem.

[@JB-jk3ow]

@@joshm5816 the ball valve is a small piece of the puzzle. The problem is I.D of the pex and however many fixtures it's serving. Ball valve will not provide any magical day and night difference. Actually read in another comment on Roger's fix and then you'll understand what I was saying earlier.

[@joshm5816]

@@JB-jk3ow I understand the flow reduction created by undersized crimped pex. The ball valve creates an even greater reduction. A proper sized ball valve will help increase the hot water flow. I've fixed this issue many times. When crimp pex hit the states I always increased size to prevent this issue throughout the home.

[@michaellinner7772]

Finally a man who understands the difference between flow and pressure. I've been searching, in vain, for information about which commercially available shower heads are easily modifiable to increase flow. Every single video I've come across on this specific subject confuses flow with pressure claiming that they are the same thing. In this instance they are, for all intensive purposes, opposites. If you've got the low down on that information I would love to hear it. That would make you my hero for life. Although this video didn't address my specific problem I'd hit the thumbs up button a thousand times if I could. I sincerely hope this reaches you and that you might respond. Thanks in advance. Help me Obi-Wan, you're my only hope.

[@Spirited_Driver]

Our new house had low pressure on all the faucets except the garden outlets.. The fix for us was removing the restrictors in the new energy efficient faucets. Made a very noticeable difference.

[@danieldawson222]

Really liked how Quickly you found the problem and came up with a solution, you are truly a professional Rodger, keep up the good work!

[@JB-jk3ow]

The building standards these days are trash. Feel sorry for the person buying that junk as their home. You can tell the low build quality alone just by the install of the water heater and how they finished the drywall. Shamefull

[@danieldawson222]

Jo Bo,Damn shameful indeed!

[@mr.deveaux2671]

Great insight!

[@bufflowsouljah2256]

thanks big time

[@jacksplumbingvideos7147]

There is alot of galvanized pipe in my area I usually see galvanized pipe and it’s packed with rust causing the low pressure.

[@charlesschluessler546]

Pressure is fine at the tub faucet, it is only low at the shower head, even after soaking the head in CLR for a few days. This is a new issue in a 20 year old home. Would you suggest a cartridge change?

[@ritzevespa]

Iam normally checking pressure drop after taps And yeah the pex is so tiny 😂 like 8mm, iam running 22mil copper with a bypas valve on my water heater, got 2 times 8mm intake and that works great

[@ScullyPopASMR]

It seems like the pressure gets lower sometimes. I know the fire station cleans out the pipes periodically.

[@1010109999999]

Don't even care about the pressure issue no more he put on foot booties love it when the repairman does that hate the ones that come to my house and wants to walk on my nice carpets with big dirty boots👍

[@geralyngoss5905]

I am looking for information on how to decrease the pressure in the shower. any advice on that?

[@ntag121193]

If you live in an apartment complex....should you still try and fix water pressure?

[@thereefaholic]

Up-size yes but most of the fixtures and rough ins only have 1/2 inlets.

[@JLitt-us4vs]

Great video👍 i just did the plumbing in my mothers bathroom shower and i ran everythjng 1/2” copper to a kohler 3way diverter and temp valve at the instruction of kohler and now i have low water pressure in the raindrop showerhead and the wall showerhead… any ideas? Also i spoke to kohler and already took out the flow restrictor in the temp valve at their instructions…

[@nasiarena5208]

I think I'm experiencing this issue right now

[@uaintplumbinguaintnothing4692]

I disagree that it's just that pex valve being the issue. My question is, is that house on a home run system? ( headers) or is it just teeing off from a branch line? My guess is that fixtures are just teeing off a main line instead of a dedicated line to each fixture. I also would of check the size of line coming in after the meter. Maybe it got reduced down to ½

[@JB-jk3ow]

Code minimum is 3/4" no way main was down sized.

[@danieldawson222]

What we have here is a failure to communicate!

[@tdtfear6515]

I have a ceiling leak what should i do

[@benweaver7455]

So would you replace it with copper?

[@RogerWakefield]

Ben we actually upsized the PEX piping and fittings on the manifold and piping to and from the water heater. It worked well.

[@privatename3447]

I've seen guys put left over paint down them tubs

[@say_goodnight7342]

Love your vids but that one pex ball valve isn't the in any way close to the low flow problem, and even then the water heater itself acts as a reservoir to keep adequate volume on the hot side. More than likely they have undersized hot trunk, or there branches run way to far from the trunk if there isn't any scale problems at the fixtures

[@MikeSmith-er7sz]

Those corrugated flex connectors at the water is not a professional install, although very common

[@RogerWakefield]

I agree. We hard pipe with soldered copper. I still love that.

[@MikeSmith-er7sz]

Roger Wakefield I’m old school as well, still lug my torch around

[@robertmartinez1228]

Huh! interesting.

[@mobile507]

Almost 50k subscribers Roger congrats

[@YaBoyLucario]

So that means her went up like 70k subscribers in a month

[@madmonkey8141]

186k

[@superduper6123]

Hard to believe one PEX fitting was the cause of the low pressure here. Certainly, what you showed isn't good practice, but the pressure loss on one fitting shouldn't be too much for a shower (2 gal/min -- maybe only 1g/m of hot water). I agree with the change out recommendation on a new build, but likely there are other issues besides this one valve. Is a water softener or filter installed? that would be much worse than a PEX ball valve -- even a non full-port version. Are the lines serving the shower undersized, or with lots of fittings? Beauty of PEX is to make runs with very few fittings; unfortunately this isn't always done that way.

[@clarksolis1150]

Can a good shower head help at all I have the worst pressure ever

[@JB-jk3ow]

Where's the thermal expansion tank designated mandatory by IPC??

[@joshm5816]

Maybe is in a different location. It can be anywhere on the cold side as long as it's in the water distribution system and not being stopped by a check valve. His diagnosis is spot on. Crimp pex restricts flow. I lose a lot of jobs due to the under bidder using under sized crimp pex.

[@RogerWakefield]

Not a closed loop system. It would then be required.

[@joshm5816]

@@RogerWakefield So no check valves at the meter?

[@JB-jk3ow]

@@RogerWakefield Okay Mr. plumbing guru I know the code inside and out been doing this 40+ years.. ahem.. might want to re-read paragraph 607.3 and tell me what that means.. "where a storage water heater is supplied with cold water that passes through a check valve, PRV or BFP a thermal expansion tank shall be connected to the water heater cold water supply pipe at a point that that is downstream of all check valves, PRVs and BFPs. Doesn't say squat about closed loop systems either.. Make it a wonderful day 👍

[@boby115]

@@JB-jk3ow , you are correct, especially nowadays. The municipal water companies are getting very strict about regulators and meters. The days of putting expanded water back on the water mains is coming to an end ( if it enters your house they don't want it back) . Install the expansion tank, especially on newbuilds. I installed mine ( tee, shut off, dielectric union and expansion tank) now if the diaphragm goes I can change it out in about 5 minutes.

[@realityblooms]

Wow look at that truck. Can’t believe they make American cars that big. It’s a house, then they complain about gas lol.

[@GH-wt7ww]

Big fan here. I get so angry at new home builds today. I feel project managers and code inspectors are on the take. My daughter built a new home a year ago. Moved in all the toilets, sinks, tubs backed up. Family had to live with it for a few days until someone took responsibility. Come to find out they never connected sewage pipe to the street. They finally came out to dig up and destroy the the yard while the city blamed the builder, builder blamed the city. Thanks for great video.

[@ItchyKneeSon]

What's a pahhhp? OPE!!! Sorry. I'm from the mid-west. :D

[@zackw5769]

People love how easy pex is but I think it's trash.

[@mmabasa26]

That's why you don't buy cookie cutter homes. Pretty exterior. Horribly built internally.

[@Moment2Forever]

These new construction track houses are pure garbage

[@STREAMERNEWS_2024]

Jesus that brick work is terrible

[@kamron_thurmond]

(cough)water saver(cough)

[@knotkool1]

pretty limited on you problem. the title is misleading.

[@michohrizzo3824]

Plumbers are such scammers

[@williamking8085]

As soon as I saw you standing there wearing a mask, I shut it off.

[@RogerWakefield]

Just trying to protect ourselves and others

[@julianmaymon5862]

Look at this man child.