Not enough water from shower head - most of it coming from the faucet

[azavery]

When I turn the water on in my shower it works just fine coming out of the faucet, however when I turn the diverter to bring it through the shower head, most of the water still drains from the faucet and there is not enough water from the shower head.

Any suggestions about fixing this problem? I am thinking this is a shower diverter issue but wondering what is the easiest way to fix it.

Thanks

[roger61611]

Could be a couple things. First if the house and pipes are old you may have galvanized steel pipes, which corrode etc. These after a few decades can have just a tiny stream of water able to pass thru. SOlution is to rip them out and go pvc (or copper $$).

Also could be the shower head. Take it off and se ehow much water comes out. Should be about the same as the faucet.

Also could be a bad valve.

If the house is old I bet on #1.

[Joey]

On the right track, but first if you're losing water out the faucet you need to replace that first. Next take the shower head off and two things there could be slowing the water down. First, the back side screen area could have debris that is clogging it up. Next, calcium buildup on the shower head could be causing a restriction. Best solution there is just to put a new shower head on but you could clean the old one by soaking it in something like CLR cleaner. Once you replace the faucet/diverter turn on the water, pull the valve up and see how much water comes out the shower with the head off. I'd bet there will probably be plenty. If low water pressure is a problem in your area buy one of the shower heads made for low pressure. I use on that Lowes sells that is fairly small and looks cheap, but it does a good job. It has a wire type lever on it so you can cut the water down or completely off at the shower head. Good luck.

J

[nicksanspam]

I replaced a pull-up faucet diverter with a new one after measuring 8% of the water coming out of the faucet in shower mode. The new one leaked 6%, so I replaced it with a brass quarter-turn valve. No leakage now.

Nick

[jimmiedee]

You.ve still got problems, Sounds like clogged plumbing to me. New fuacet could have been bad too or you may not have enough water pressure to make the pull up valve work.