The hot water pressure in every other faucet in the house is fine, but in the shower it's a little more than a trickle. I removed the shower head and pulled out the cartridge (it looks kind of like this). The water was only coming out of the left hole and it was hot water. There was no cold water coming out. It's a single handle shower and if I turn it toward cold there is plenty of pressure, but then if I move it back toward hot then at a certain point it kind of jumps a little and then loses all pressure. I would first check the valve's anti-scalding setting. You have to take off trim and this is usually a setting on the valve outer stem. Make sure this is set to as hot as possible. This could have slipped. Next I would check the filters inside your valve cartridge. There is usually a filter for cold and another for hot. The hot filter could be clogged and need cleaning (very seldom do these need replacing except the rings). Lastly you might need a new cartridge or to have yours rebuilt.

If you know the model this might actually be easier than all of the other troubleshooting but often isn't needed. The cartridges can cost as little as $10 and up to a couple hundred. As described, there is a restriction in the hot water line going only to the shower. This wasn't a complete blockage and some flow existed. When the shower valve was shut off, the slowed flow had time to build up pressure resulting in the "jump" described as the pressure build up was released and not supported by enough flow. If the cartridge was removed as indicated, somehow the water had been shut off. Based on the description of water coming out of the hot side (no indication of how much) it would indicate the shut-off valves leading to the shower were used. If in fact the hot water flow indicated was restricted with the cartridge removed, this would indicate the restriction was at the shut-off valve or in the pipe leading to the shower valve assembly. This would indicate either the shut-off valve was defective or something was restricting the flow to the shut-off valve or shower valve assembly.

If this occurred after years of trouble-free operation, the most likely problem would be the failure of the shut-off valve (mineral deposit build up would show at other hot water outlets as well and therefore not likely the problem). Hot Tubs For Sale In Ocala FlRepair or replace the valve.Toy Yorkie Puppies For Sale San Diego If this occurred right away or a short time after installation, it might be a defective shut-off valve or what I call sloppy plumbing and the plumber got something in the pipe during installation. How To Change Headlight Bulb Buick EnclaveI have encountered this when repairing a similar problem. It turned out that the plumber wasn’t careful to cover an open pipe when drilling a hole to run another pipe.

The result was chunks of wood that finally plugged the shower valve. Another possibility is that excess solder from the sweating process somehow got stuck in the valve opening. Depending on the type of valves, it might be possible to open them up and use compressed air to clear the lines. Most likely the pipes/valves would need to be removed and cleaned or replaced. The process for doing this should be from the shower first and going toward the water source, checking the flow after each part of the line is removed if the blockage is found. I'm not an expert and I'm only guessing based on too many hours of This Old House, but the fact that it "jumps" suggests that there's a mechanical issue. Inside that thing is a pressure balancing valve that keeps you from getting scalded when someone causes cold water pressure to drop by flushing a toilet or something similar. My guess is that the do-hickey that is supposed to equalize the pressure is instead cutting off all the pressure on the hot side.

According to Wikipedia, the thing has a diaphragm or piston to balance the pressures. My guess is yours is broken. I would suspect that one or both of the water shutoff valves are closed. There is a mechanism inside of the valve cartridge which will close when there is no water pressure in either the hot or cold water supply. This is there to prevent someone from being scalded when there is a sudden drop in water pressure. If the cold, or hot is shutoff then it will reduce the pressure down to nothing, or a slight trickle. This is normal, as there is nothing wrong with the valve itself.If you want a powerful shower, experts say, don’t get an air-injected showerhead. When low-flow showerheads were mandated by the government in the 1990s, they became the butt of jokes–notably in a Seinfeld episode in which Kramer and Jerry, frustrated that the new showerheads couldn’t rinse out shampoo, arrange to buy banned showerheads from the back of a van.When showerheads first went from a flow rate of as much as 5.5 gallons a minute to the current limit of 2.5, a morning shower sometimes felt like a drizzle.

Two decades later, some heads deliver an adequate stream at 1.75 or 1.5 gallons a minute. Still, water pressure is something bathroom designers often hear about, particularly from male clients who like a strong shower. Several factors affect the pressure you get in your shower–some you can change, some you can’t. One outside your control is the volume of water coming into your house. Falls Church bathroom designer Dee David says that the closer a house is to a water-pumping station or water tower, the better the water pressure likely will be. And because water flows downhill, houses at the bottom of hills tend to have better pressure. “There’s nothing a plumber can do if you don’t have adequate pressure coming into your house,” says Carolyn Thomas of Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen & Bath. Another factor is the piping in your house. Most houses have standard half-inch pipe. That almost always gets widened to three-quarter-inch pipe during bathroom renovation if a homeowner is installing multiple showerheads and body sprays–or else the water volume won’t be adequate.

If water pressure is an issue, some plumbers recommend installing three-quarter-inch pipe even if you’re not putting in multiple showerheads. “More volume gives you more pressure,” says Thomas Wood, owner of Woodbridge Plumbing. Dee David says that in her experience putting in three-quarter-inch pipe when it’s not needed seems to make little difference in pressure. But if you live in an older home with galvanized pipe, replacing that during renovation with new pipe, even with half-inch, is smart. “If you have a house that’s more than 50 years old, chances are that galvanized pipe is full of crud,” she says. “Changing the pipe could make a big difference.” If changing pipes is more than you’re ready to do to get a forceful flow, the next step is to analyze your showerhead–as well as a plumbing part many overlook: the shower valve. “The valve that goes into your wall is the most important part of your shower,” says Mark Watson, general manager of Tunis Kitchen & Bath Showroom in Chevy Chase.

The valve is behind the knob or handle that you use to turn on the water. It’s where the hot and cold water mix together, and it regulates the temperature that comes out of the faucet. Valves come in two basic types: a pressure-balance valve, which maintains a constant temperature as well as a steady pressure in the shower even if, say, a toilet is flushed somewhere else in the house, and a thermostatic valve, which allows you to preset the water temperature. A better valve can push more water into a showerhead. You can look at a valve’s specifications to see its gallons-per-minute capacity. David recommends Kohler’s HiFlow Rite-Temp Pressure Balancing Valve, which pushes up to 13 gallons a minute. “Other valves are only five gallons per minute,” she says. Adding More Storage Space High-Tech Toilets and Steam Showers Compromising Between Husband and Wife Carolyn Thomas also recommends valves by Kohler as well as ones by Hansgrohe and Grohe. Those three brands make her favorite showerheads, too–her top choice being Hansgrohe: “As far as I’m concerned, they’ve engineered the best showerheads.”