Removing the flow restrictor valve on your shower head takes less than 60 seconds of work and can drastically improve the water pressure from your shower head.
All you need is a screw, a screwdriver and probably a pair of pliers. Typically it’ll be a small blue or other colored valve inside the shower head, and sometimes has a small aerator mesh or ring in front of it than can easily be pulled out. You can screw into the valve, pull it out with a pair of pliers, put the shower head back on and you’re done!
Side note, depending on your water pressure, this may seem very powerful at first! But if you have long or curly hair, this is wonderful for helping get more soap out of your hair more quickly. This also will use more water, but if you’re like me I end up taking shorter showers since it takes a shorter time to rinse off.
Whether higher pressure is an improvement or not depends on your goals. It uses a lot more water, which has an impact on your water bill and also the environment.
What are the potential downsides to this? In other words, why isn’t it like this stock?
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The water restrictor is there because it’s purpose is to save water. There are really no downsides to removing it if your pressure is low.
The downside is water bill consumption and an increase in your hot water bill, whether that’s NG or electric
Don’t forget too, depending on water tank size and people in the household you will run out of hot water faster. If this is normally 1.5 gpm or 2.5 gpm and you remove it it might make it 3-4 gpm or more. That will mean a 50 gallon tank would run out of hot water in about 12-15 minutes,(it will heat up some so you might get a few more gallons and minutes. So let’s say 20 minutes. If it is just you, no problem. If you have a family/roommates it might be a problem if they are all getting ready around the same time.
