The Showerhead Fiasco

My apologies to the people of California

Our showerhead broke.

First, it only leaked at the connection. Not a problem. Get a wrench and tighten it.

Oops. It came apart.

Now, it’s officially broke.

It was a cheapie - like twenty bucks from Walmart - and it lasted a few years.

As in 3 or 4.

We decided we could live with that rate of return again, so we went to Walmart to get another. We chose one a little bit bigger – it was $46 – but still a price we could live with. The luxury of the daily shower is one I’m not ready to live without.

It’s a simple job.

Unscrew the old one and screw on the new one. (add some plumber’s tape if you’re fancy and don’t like it to drip from the connection)

Done.

Turn on the water.

No water.

It’s a straight hose – water goes in one end and comes out the other.

We took it off, turned on the water and confirmed that water does actually come up and out of the pipe to the shower. Technically, this alone is a working shower, if you don’t mind a full force straight line water blaster in your face kind of shower.

Turn off the water.

Screw the showerhead back on again. (we prefer the softer, subtler kind of shower)

Turn on water.

Dribble

Dribble

It’s trying to work, but why isn’t it?

Why is the water not coming through the shower head?

After eliminating all the possibilities (well, all the ones we could think of), we put it back in the package and planned to return it.

Clearly it’s a dud.

But, why?

It’s a hose.

A straight shot from one end to the other.

Make it make sense.

So, my husband (a very smart man) set out to figure out WHY it was failing.

Enter Reddit threads – everyone, everywhere seems to be having this same problem.

Enter YouTube videos – men everywhere have lots of ideas on how to solve the problem.

Solution? Remove the flow restrictor. (For those who see the solution and stop here – Item #1 in the instruction sheet says if you mess with the flow restrictor, you may damage the showerhead and your warranty will be void.) Consider yourself warned.

The potential benefit (not having to return to Walmart) outweighed the risks, so we went for it.

But, why is there a flow restrictor?

This low flow adaptor is inserted into the valve and restricts the flow of water, because California law requires it. (CalGreen and Title 20)

Now, I don’t know about your house, but the ancient pipes at my old house restrict the water flow as it is. Add a flow restrictor and we get dribbles instead of a shower. I do not live in California so I am not legally obligated to suffer this kind of torture.

If you live in California and this is the shower you have to deal with every day, I am sorry.

I would say you’d be better off taking a bar of soap into the ocean, but I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to do that either.

If you’re a Subscriber, this is not part of my weekly Common Place Book posts, but is a BONUS post because I just couldn’t resist sharing today’s little adventure. If you’re not a Subscriber, I invite you into my world of chaotic ramblings on all things life, but mostly, generally, and more often than not, it’s all about books. And, it’s FREE!