Shower faucet low water pressure

[Imelda]

Hi all. I had discussed my problem of very low water pressure at my shower faucet even with the faucet head removed on an earlier post. No issues at kitchen, outside faucet or toilet. I decided to share this on a separate post on how I fixed the problem since others might have this problem sometime. I bought the vinegar (see pic) at Home Depot and was planning on pumping it though the fresh water tank (bypassing the water heater) and decalcifying before my next trip. But meanwhile I had the idea of removing the faucet head, turn of water or pump and drain as much of the water out of the shower water line as I could. Then I took a syringe - see pic (no needle) and slowly over 1 hr. injected about 2 cups of the vinegar down the faucet hose (see pic) . Be sure to wear gloves and eye protection as the vinegar will burn. I hung the shower hose to the shower holder so I got max amount of vinegar down the hose.  Pics need to be rotated 90 degrees. After 1 hr. I went back and turned on the water pump and water pressure is back to normal.  👍

 

 

Edited June 2, 2022 by topgun2
pic rotation

[topgun2]

Better on those pics?

Bill

[Imelda]

Thank you for rotating the pics. Looks better now!

[bhncb]

Good job Imelda. Sorry I missed your earlier question  about vinegar vs CLR but looks like you figured it out. I've never used CLR because white vinegar is always on hand and it works. It's also a lot cheaper with no worries about damaging seals.

[SeaDawg]

Ingenious,  @Imelda.  Great job.

[Trainman]

I had the same problem with my bath faucet and had to take the hoses loose and blow out the bath faucet and sure enough a small piece of plastic blew out the lime. I guess it had finally worked it's self down the line from construction.

trainman

[Geronimo John]

Trainman:  Good idea on blowing out the assembly for plastic shards removal.  Also, please update both your signature line and profile to include you hull number.  Thanks. 

Imelda!  Good post.  Thank you.   "Slowly over an hour":  What were your thoughts for the slow injection process?  I was thinking of just disconnecting the hose and dunk it and the faucet head into a small bucket of vinegar?  But then you are using industrial strength vinegar.....

All:  FYI COSTCO also sells 1.3 gallon jugs of 5% Vinegar. But it's no where as strong as  Imelda's 30% cleaning and industrial vinegar.  The PH scale is not linear!  The acetic acid in the industrial version literally will eat many metals.  If using this for decalcification the mixing ratios are drastically different than the 50/50 generally posted for run of the mill COSTCO or other commercial grocery store brands.  The 30% stuff will blind immediately and burn as well.  No kidding here.  

Specifically per OSHA:  "This material is considered hazardous by the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200). SIGNAL WORD: DANGER GHS HAZARD PICTOGRAMS: Hazard Statements: Causes severe skin burns and eye damage. Precautionary Statements: Do not breathe mists, vapors, spray."

GJ

On 6/2/2022 at 8:32 AM, Imelda said:

Be sure to wear gloves and eye protection as the vinegar will burn.

.    

 

[Mike and Carol]

5 hours ago, Geronimo John said:

Trainman:  Good idea on blowing out the assembly for plastic shards removal.  Also, please update both your signature line and profile to include you hull number.  Thanks. 

Trainman sold his trailer and hasn’t been active on the forum in a while.

[Geronimo John]

 

Yea my bad.   Was cleaning out my unread notifications and failed to check the date. Hope he is still lurking around. Handy guy for sure!

GJ

[thompsonkd]

We were trying to decalcify our system the other day and put the valves into the Winterization configuration, but when we turned on the pump to draw up vinegar from the rear boondocking port, suction would not develop and we were unable to get vinegar into the lines. We were able to draw water into the lines from the fresh water tank after switching the valves to the Normal configuration. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions regarding this? Thanks in advance. 

[T-Oliver]

Prime the boondocking port with garden hose, then try again.

[Geronimo John]

On 4/28/2025 at 7:19 PM, thompsonkd said:

but when we turned on the pump to draw up vinegar from the rear boondocking port, suction would not develop and we were unable to get vinegar into the lines. We were able to draw water into the lines from the fresh water tank after switching the valves to the Normal configuration. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions regarding this? Thanks in advance. 

Frustrating for sure.

Likely you have an air leak at the boondocking port.  Most likely the hose gasket is bad there. 

GJ