Bath Shower Mixer Problem

[djwheeler]

I hope that someone can help. We currently have a bath shower mixer and this has a little knob that is twisted left or right depending on whether you want the water to come out of the shower head or just the taps. In the past the pressure of the water coming out of the shower has been fine, you could hold the shower head up high and get a decent spray of water. Unfortunately just recently this has changed and the pressure of the water coming out of the shower seems to have dropped, it seems to be pretty piddly when the head is held low down and that changes to bearly coming out if you put the head at any kind of height. The shower head and tube are clear and the rate of water coming out if you switch to the tap is fine. Does anyone know what could have caused this?

Many thanks,

D

 

[Softus]

Remove the shower head and see how fast the water emerges from the open hose.

Good flow now? Then the shower head is scaled up inside. Usually cheap and easy to replace.

Flow still poor? This implies that either (a) the diverter valve is impeding the flow, or (b) the shower hose is closing up inside. Hoses are cheap and easy to replace.

 

[djwheeler]

I have taken the shower head off and the water coming out of the hose does not seem to be coming out at any great rate, in fact if I hold the hose up vertically the the water hardly manages to come out at all.

I presume the diverter valve is basically the knob that is moved depending on where the water needs to go (hence its name I suppose ). Are these easy enough to replace or would we have to replace the whole mixer?

Thanks

D

 

[Softus]

I have taken the shower head off and the water coming out of the hose does not seem to be coming out at any great rate, in fact if I hold the hose up vertically the the water hardly manages to come out at all.

It could be that the rubber hose inside the braided covering is collapsing. Try removing the hose and see if you can get the ceiling wet.

I presume the diverter valve is basically the knob that is moved depending on where the water needs to go (hence its name I suppose ).

Yes.

Are these easy enough to replace or would we have to replace the whole mixer?

You can replace the diverter valve, but you can't replace it per se. Whether it's simple/complicated and easy/hard depends on the brand and your degree of plumbing experience, but many are very simple and easy.

If you feel ready to tackle it then post a photo here for more advice.