bathtub water pressure issues -- long post

17 years ago

I live in a condo. When I moved in three years ago the bathtub was old and not in good shape. Neither was the faucet. AAMOF, the faucet had to be replaced pretty much right away because it wouldn't shut off all the way (it was a very strange faucet, but it was a plastic gizmo inside the handle that broke). The person who replaced it was a friend of a friend who was studying to become a journeyman plumber, while working new construction plumbing as a day job and moonlighting doing things like replacing peoples' faucets on the weekends. A couple of friends had had him do work and were satisfied, and he was reasonable on a financial level, which was important at the time. He accidentally melted a small hole in a piece of the plastic piping about six inches above the faucet (where it can't be reached from the faucet hole) while doing the replacement, but he fixed it by cutting the melted piece out and inserting a new piece in.

About a year ago I had Bathfitters replace the bathtub and shower surround, which, I didn't realize until now, doesn't leave me with a way to get into the wall where the faucet is, because what's on the other side of the wall is the sink vanity (it's a compartmentalized bathroom), and the faucet is about counter level. The vanity would have to be taken out to get at it from that side. The surround would have to be removed from that wall on the bathtub side.

So. This brings me to the current problem. I've never had great water pressure in this tub, for the tub itself or the shower head. But a couple of weeks ago the pressure dropped suddenly by about a quarter.

I had a different plumber in to look at it. He didn't remove the faucet or anything, just turned the water off and on a couple of times and asked me some questions. He doesn't think it's a leak. He tells me I have very hard water (judging, I gather, mostly from the corrosion on my toilet tank bolts, the leak from which was the main reason he was there), and that the faucet is probably getting a lot of deposits on the inside which is what's slowing the pressure.

The thing is, the faucet's only three years old. It has a ceramic water valve thingy (sorry, I don't have a technical term at my disposal), if that makes any difference. Is this logical?

I am currently waking up in the middle of the night terrified that the repair the first plumber made is leaking and that's the reason for the water pressure drop. I'm not seeing any water anywhere (the toilet issue is moot now that it's got new bolts), but would I?

Am I just being paranoid or do I need a second opinion? One perhaps where the guy actually takes the faucet off the wall and really looks at it?

If you've read this far, I really appreciate it.

BTW, there are no water pressure issues anywhere else in the two-story (the bathtub is upstairs) condo.

Thanks for any and all advice. I really don't want to tear up my bathroom, but I also really don't want to have to worry about this...

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Comments (3)

coolvt
17 years ago
If the drop in water pressure is as great as you say, any leak causing that kind of a drop would result in a flood of water somewhere. What is under your bathroom? Can you check for water? Really, there should be a flood if there is a leak.
It sounds like someone could turn the water off, disassemble your faucet and try cleaning it out to get a good flow to return.
castoff
17 years ago
Yep, I agree with coolvt. Buy a jug of CLR at the hardware store. Shut the water down and remove the ceramic cartridge from the tub/shower valve. Soak the cartridge in the CLR for about an hour, rinse off and reinstall after inspecting the interior of the valve for any calcium/lime buld-up.

As for the leak.....forget about it. You don't have one. If you did have a leak, either you or your neighbours would know it.

And it's not a water pressure problem, it's a water volume problem. Something is restricting the flow of water to the tub. Take your shower head off and soak it in the CLR too. Showerheads are notorious for lime/calcium deposits clogging them up.
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mmegaera
Original Author
17 years ago
When the pipe got damaged the water came out downstairs around the kitchen window, of all places. Very little, not enough to do any damage. So I know where the water would come out, and it isn't now. So no leak [g]. You don't know how happy that makes me.

I've never actually taken a faucet apart before. I guess I'll see if I can...

Thank you so much for the reassurance. Now I can stop having nightmares about it [wry g].

bathtub water pressure issues -- long post

Comments (3)

coolvt

castoff

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mmegaera
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bathtub water pressure issues -- long post

Comments (3)

coolvt

castoff

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mmegaeraOriginal Author

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mmegaera
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