Thread: Plumbing Question

Originally Posted by BrokenApe

Also since I haven't mentioned it, only the shower has the f'd up pressure, sinks, etc are all same as before hence my theory of it being the faucet *shrugs*

You would barely notice a pressure drop out of a tap, even if the hot or cold dropped, you just instinctively adjust the hot and cold and re balance. Think about how many times you do this while doing dishes.

To test the theory, run the kitchen faucet luke warm. While its running go flush the toilet and turn the bathroom sink on cold. It be willing to bet when you return to the sink, it will be hot, or noticeably hotter than before your started drawing cold water off the system. You have just dropped the pressure on the cold allowing the hot to over come it. The shower valve prevents this by sensing the drop in cold, and dropping the hot to equalize it. Restricted flow in the pipes only amplify this effect when they have trouble delivering the GPM that the shower head is rated at. Perhaps if you put a 1 to 1.5 GPM shower head on, it will level out a bit more, but you will sacrifice performance, there's just no way around that.

Originally Posted by BrokenApe

The weird thing is, no pressure problems before they replaced the damn thing so I wasn't thinking it was that, when taking a shower, I can also see the pressure fluctuating as well up/down/up/down at times too the unit was so I'm told new, but I guess the cartridges can be f/d up out of the box just the same as anything *scratches head*

PS: Old single lever shower valves were NOT pressure balance, they are a safety measure that most local codes have adopted over the last 30 years. So if you had a 30 year old valve body in there, the odds are it wasn't pressure balance, and you just adjusted the hot and cold as you showered without feeling the effects of pressure drop.

Welcome to TPG HGTV DIY NETWORK.

Originally Posted by Guyver

Welcome to TPG HGTV DIY NETWORK.

Stay tuned for Flipping Guyver.

Originally Posted by dex71

Stay tuned for Flipping Guyver.

If a woman does it, I'm in like Flynn..

Originally Posted by Guyver

Welcome to TPG HGTV DIY NETWORK.

I have been a home owner for 11 years now and I can tell you fixing little things around the house isn't that hard...leaking running toilet, just need replacement kit and 10 minutes to swap out the internals...save you $100 + from a plumber call.

I just replaced the seals and 3 screws connecting the water tank to the toiler last week, kit cost ~7 bucks, plumber wanted ~120.

Youtube and the internet is changing the world. If you are smart enough to search out repair videos and have enough common sense to know the good ones from the bad (ie if a guy doing an electrical repair doesn't turn off the main before working with 240V find another repair video) you can expand your own knowledge and save lots of money in the meantime.

If sharing those tips with others makes their lives easier I am all for it.

I work with live voltage all the time however I would not recommend the novice try it.

P.S. If you're in an apt complex I wouldn't monkey with the valves even if you can access them, maintenance tends to frown on that.

This would be the next question, is you landlord slightly shady? Did he fiddle with the hot pressure?