Low water pressure in your shower can be extremely frustrating and completely ruin your shower experience. There could be several things causing a drop in pressure, from limescale build-up to the type of shower you have. Luckily, this blog post will address what can cause low water pressure in your shower and what you can do to increase it.
What Is Water Pressure?
Water Pressure is measured in "Bar" and is a measurement of how much force is exerted on the water in your pipes. In other words, water pressure is the force that pushes water through your pipework. A high water pressure in your shower will result in a strong, consistent and powerful flow of water.
How To Measure Water Pressure
Before taking any steps to resolve the issue, it’s important to identify that you do actually have low water pressure in your shower. You can test your water pressure without any specialist equipment by placing a one-litre measuring jug under the affected tap or shower and running the water. If it takes longer than six seconds to fill the jug, you have low water pressure.
What Causes Low Water Pressure?
So, you’ve identified that you have low water pressure, now it’s time to find a cause. The most common cause of low shower pressure is a blocked shower head caused by limescale build up and dirt. These blockages block the water flow which leads to reduced pressure over time. Showers today are fitted with a filter to prevent any contaminants getting into the water we use. However, over time, these can get clogged up. It’s worth checking and changing this every few years.
Another common cause is gravity systems which are traditional in the UK. This is because they rely on gravity power from a cold water storage tank in your home to push the water through your pipes. However, typically there isn't much gravity on hand to do this, which results in low pressure.
We wrote a more detailed article here on understanding low water pressure.
Steps To Increase Water Pressure In Shower
The solution to increasing water pressure in your shower will depend on the cause. For example, if you have identified that your shower head is damaged by limescale and dirt, you may need to buy a new one. However, if the cause is unclear, you may want to explore the following:
Check in with your neighbours
A first step would be to check the issue isn’t affecting your local area. If your neighbours' water pressure is also low, it could be a problem with your water supply and not anything in your particular home. In which case you will need to notify your water supplier to see if they can fix any wider problems in the public system.
Install a shower pump and power shower
Oftentimes, the simplest solution can be to install a shower pump. Pumps can be used to boost your entire home, or if there is only one or two outlets that are underperforming, they can be installed nearer these outlets instead. We have a range of different shower pumps suitable for increasing water pressure.
Move your water tank to a different location
If you have a gravity system, one solution is to move your water tanks. This is a natural way to increase your system's pressure. The higher your water storage is, the more gravity "power", or potential energy there is on hand to push water around your system. However, this can be quite costly due to it requiring a lot of manual work.