Like most of the Midwest, tap water here is pressurized by being stored in water towers rather than water tanks up on hills like they do in CA. This means the pressure is lower here - maybe 50 psi. (I can’t find my pressure gauge)

In CA the focus is on water saving and there are a number of clever designs that make you think you’re using more water than you are. No one cares about water saving here and the shower head we bought uses lots of water but there isn’t enough pressure to feel invigorating.

My camper uses an on board water pump that makes about 30 psi and the water tank limits the available capacity. I found a special shower head that’s both water saving and pressure increasing at the same time. That shower head is made by “Oxygenics” and it truly is a marvel. It’s a shame they don’t make them for home use.

Amazon sells dozens - maybe hundreds - of shower heads that claim to increase pressure, all made by companies I’ve never heard of. The major brands don’t seem to have anything to address the issue. Moen does have something called “immersion technology” but reviews are mixed.

Your thoughts?

The smaller the shower head diameter, the better the pressure, it seems to me. When we did one of our upgrades we dropped coin on one of those big plate-sized "rain" shower heads, and we both hated it. It was more like "drizzle." I'm partial to the hand-held ones because they are generally smaller and you can direct them to specific areas (like your head when shampooing), which seems to reduce the need for high pressure, at least psychologically. It also makes cleaning the shower/tub a breeze.

As a bonus, it works great for washing dogs or grandkids in the tub as well... especially the ones that have a quick on/off switch on the hand-held gizmo, so you can stop the flow without having to turn the spigot off.

We definitely want a hand held component so we can wash the dog.

Waterpik and others make a pulse shower deal that might work but they make a ton of noise. Surely someone has addressed this issue

We've gone through a bunch... I bet you already know how to remove the restrictor washer!

We use the thundershower (big pan showerhead) in our main bath, but I remember searching for a smaller shower head with a higher flow rate. Still nothing to get too excited about...

I confess, based on the thread title, that I thought this thread was going to be a more "adult" subject.

Capitalization and spacing are so important!



Looked around online and Merriam Webster and American Heritage spell it "Showerhead" But not all!!

DAMN! Rontuner beat me to removing the restrictor mechanism.

We have one handheld we use as the main showerhead and a second one attached between the showerhead and supply pipe that goes up to a bracket on the ceiling with an on/off on the supply pipe that does the mist -- not unlike the "spot-free rinse" at the car wash.

All have the restrictors removed -- two washers, a spacer, two rubber grommets and a spring usually. much more than just the water saver part.

Next time I'll tell you about my original 1953 toilet tank! WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!!!! We can hear the water meter spinning every time we flush it!!!

My spouse and I love water pressure this one. We redid all of the pipes in our house and brought in a new water line from the street to improve the pressure. It wasn't cheap. We also did a lot of homework on showerheads and chose this one.

We did remove the water save feature as well. It's a powerful shower now.

quote:

Originally posted by kluurs:
My spouse and I love water pressure this one. We redid all of the pipes in our house and brought in a new water line from the street to improve the pressure. It wasn't cheap.

I'm on a newer side of town so no lead and pretty good street-side water pressure but all galvanized inside so lots of PUR water filters and stuff on anything I drink from.

Gonna go to copper one of these days. Pretty happy with the pressure though.

quote:

Originally posted by kluurs:
My spouse and I love water pressure this one. We redid all of the pipes in our house and brought in a new water line from the street to improve the pressure. It wasn't cheap. We also did a lot of homework on showerheads and chose this one.

We did remove the water save feature as well. It's a powerful shower now.

I had forgotten about Speakman. Their products have always been pretty good from what I can remember. I bought one.

Thanks!

We tried a speakman when we remodeled our master bath but found it disappointing. It was one of the cheaper models however - maybe the fancier ones are better. We have a well tank that doesn't give much pressure so finding a good showerhead has been an issue for us as well.

Honestly, the thing we like best is in our hall bathroom - it's one of those handheld waterpik models from Costco - probably cost us like $25. It does have the loud pulsing setting, but it also has like 10 other ones and there are a few with a narrow enough jet pattern that the pressure is decent. It's ugly and when we bought it on a lark to try, Costco only had it in satin nickel which doesn't match the chrome in the rest of the bathroom so I've been waiting for it to die so I can replace it with a chrome one - alas 15ish years later it's still going strong! At this point, I expect it will outlast the bathroom which is way overdue for a remodel!

We shared Lisa's disappointment with the Speakman. We bought the Anystream on the recommendation of the plumbing supply guy. We've just been suffering with it, though I admit we haven't taken out the water saving feature.

Maybe I'll try the waterpik.

Lisa, is it either of these?

https://www.costco.com/waterpi...oduct.100534866.html

https://www.costco.com/waterpi...oduct.100714344.html

Also, I remember reading somewhere that some of the shower faucet valves are made to be water-saving. If that is the case, no showerhead will have a lot of flow.

The key with the Speakman is to remove the water saver part from it. Having all new copper from the street to the house was also a big deal.

We got turned onto the Speakman at our health club where they used Speakman.