Not enough pressure to my 6 body sprays. Bay shower valve?

[alexzan]

Hey guys,

This is my first plumbing project ever so I am sure I have made many mistakes.

I tried to buy a very cheap shower kit off ebay. I've spent a good deal amount of time trying to get this to work, but now that I have it all setup, it seems the body shower is very weak, only the lower 2 have a decent amount of pressure.

I made a quick video explaining the situation, in order to get some help with this or to help others thinking of buying the same unit.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7eH1x0adro[/ame]

Any feedback is appreciated!

 

[phishfood]

Too many body sprays on a 1/2" line. I will put 4 on a 3/4" line, but you have 6 on a 1/2". The pressure balancing loop is wrong, it needs to make the circuit of all the body sprays,.

No offense intended, but a big shower with multiple outlets is not the place to learn plumbing.

 

[Matt30]

Not so much pressure issue....but water volume. Your 1/2" copper loops serving the body sprays should be 3/4" copper.

Ahh phish beat me to it

 

[alexzan]

Too many body sprays on a 1/2" line. I will put 4 on a 3/4" line, but you have 6 on a 1/2". The pressure balancing loop is wrong, it needs to make the circuit of all the body sprays,.

No offense intended, but a big shower with multiple outlets is not the place to learn plumbing.

Thanks for the reply. I would like to fix it but im not sure what "it needs to make the circuit of all the body sprays" means. Could you please provide more detail?

Also if the diverter in the shower valve has 1/4 inch connections/holes, will switching my loop to 3/4 make a difference?

Thanks!

 

[frodo]

volume volume volume VOLUME!!!!




1/2'' pex pipe is 3/8 id

you need 3/4 copper it is 3/4 id

3/4 pex is 5/8 id


with the 1/4'' orafice you need the bigger pipe for what?

VOLUME


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9gOQgfPW4Y"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9gOQgfPW4Y[/ame]

 

[ExtraMilePlumbing]

Frodo that's a funny video

 

[alexzan]

volume volume volume VOLUME!!!!




1/2'' pex pipe is 3/8 id

you need 3/4 copper it is 3/4 id

3/4 pex is 5/8 id


with the 1/4'' orafice you need the bigger pipe for what?

VOLUME


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9gOQgfPW4Y

So you are saying there is not much to do because the shower valve is the main limiting factor?

I am already looking for sources to replace the shower valve, with a 3/4 valve. I just wanted to see if there were any other options before I purchased another one.

 

[alexzan]

Should I hire a plumber to come look at it and give them their opinions? How much would something like that cost?

 

[frodo]

the main limiting factor is the way you piped it and the under sized piping you used

you cant use pex because of the ID of the pipe...you need to use COPPER it is a full 3/4

 

[Matt30]

You could use a shower valve with 1" ports, you will still get the same result because you are starving the body sprays of water using 1/2" pipe. Too many hungry mouths, not enough food.

 

[alexzan]

One important point i did not mention, is that when I switch the shower valve diverter to another setting, so that the water comes out from another pipe, it is still very weak, so the volume of water coming from the diverter itself is little.

I did mention that the diverter is a 1/4 ID, and that is probably limiting the whole system. Yes, no?