I have an old handheld shower that gives me a good bath on less than a gallon a minute. The shower is the best place to fill a bucket, but it's slow. Is there a handheld shower that can give a restricted flow for bathing and a full flow for filling buckets?
There are plenty of places selling hand held shower heads with "adjustable flow", but I'd bet that their flow rates are all capped at
2.5 gpm at normal water pressures to satisfy current code regulations.If you're really determined, here's how I'd approach it.
First, remove the shower head from the end of the hose and see if you get a satisfactory bucket fillin' flow through the hose alone.
If you don't, then disconnect the hose at its inlet end and see if there is any obvious restriction built into the coupling. If so remove it or enlarge it with a drill.
If you can get an adequate flow from the hose, start looking at the handpiece and see if there's a restriction built in which you can remove or enlarge by drilling.
If you are successful in increasing the flow through the hose and nozzle then you can go out and get one of those little chrome half-turn flow adjusting valves and install it at the inlet end of the hose to let you get the flows you want when you need them.
HTH,
Jeff
Things are better. I remembered wrong when I said the flow was less than 1 gpm. With a clean screen it used to be 1.25 gpm. Yesterday I replaced the cartridge in the mixing valve. Today the flow was 2 gpm with the restrictor. The old cartridge must have had mineral deposits in the channels.
If I want to fill buckets faster than 2 gpm, I think a diverter valve on the shower head is the answer. That could divert the flow to a hose with no restrictor or spray head.
Choose your pony and take your ride.
The essence of pragmatism is, "If it works, use it."
Happy Holidays!
Jeff
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