These days the quality of tap water isn’t precisely the best. Tap water is filled with rust and limescale residue that tends to accumulate inside pipes and shower heads. Most of people don’t do periodical maintenance to their shower heads. Therefore, they tend to clog and lose water pressure with time.
When this happens, maintenance is no longer an option. You must replace your shower head immediately. But sometimes, replacing an old and rusty shower head isn’t as simple as it seems. You may need to apply some special techniques to remove the old one.
In this article, you’ll learn how to install a new shower head like a pro and remove your old shower arm and shower head without trouble.
What is the Importance to Install A Shower Head?
Showering must be a comfortable experience. But, when your shower head starts losing water flow and pressure, showering isn’t comfortable anymore. Therefore, it’s important to install a new shower head when the old one starts giving trouble.
Basically, a shower head is a plastic or metal casing with small holes on its surface to let escape water. When water gets out trough those holes, the shape of the water string changes. Also, shower heads allow an even distribution of water over your body and reduce water consumption.
With time, rust and limescale tend to accumulate inside the shower head, clogging those small holes. Therefore, it’s also important to make a deep cleaning of your shower head if the water pressure decreases. Unfortunately, most people don’t do that and wait until it’s too late.
If the actual conditions of your shower head demand a replacement, don’t worry. Installing a new shower head is the simplest thing to do. Below, you’ll learn how to do it in simple and easy to understand steps.
Step by Step Guide to Install A Shower Head
Installing a shower head is quite simple and you don’t require previous experience to do it. First of all, you’ll need some tools and materials. Here’s a list of what you’ll need:
- Plumbing pliers
- Dry cloth
- Teflon tape
- Rust remover (optional)
- Shower arm (optional)
Once you have what you need to get the job done, its time to get down to work. This is what you have to do:
- First of all, turn off the water supply.
- Then, remove the old shower head with your bare hands. If the shower head is stuck, maybe there’s rust and limescale buildup around the connecting nut. To fix this, apply enough rust remover around the nut and leave the product to take effect for 20 minutes.
- Then, wrap the connecting nut with a dry cloth and grab it with a pair of plumbing pliers. After that, unscrew the connecting nut to remove the shower head.
- Check out the actual state of the shower arm. If it seems too rusty, it’s better to replace it. To do this, wrap the shower arm with a dry cloth, then grab it with the plumbing pliers and unscrew.
- After that, wrap both extremes of the new shower arm with Teflon tape in clockwise direction. Then, install the shower arm with your hands. Don’t apply too much pressure at this point.
- Finally, install the new shower head using your hands.
- After that, turn on the water supply and check out for water leaks. In case of any leak, uninstall the shower head or the shower arm and reapply Teflon tape. Then, install again. If the problem is fixed, apply pressure on the threads using the plumbing pliers.
Conclusion
Certainly, it’s very important to install a new shower head when it’s necessary. Rust and limescale aren’t the only things that accumulate inside a shower head. Virus, bacteria and fungi may also be present. These pathogenic agents land up in your skin every time you turn on your shower. They may cause serious diseases or make worse some skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis and other.
If the quality of water on your neighborhood isn’t the best, it’s recommended that you install shower head filters in all your bathrooms. These gadgets eliminate rust, limescale and toxic substances like chorine, mercury, lead, phosphorus and pesticides. Also, shower head filters prevent clogging and increase water pressure.
Certainly, if you carefully follow each of these steps, you won’t need to call a plumber or a contractor anymore to replace your old shower heads. That means more money in your pockets to spend on other things.
You can learn more can you how to make water come out of shower head.
