Shower Heads

Is there actually a shower head that will increase water pressure & volume. I see some advertised. Anyone have any input?

kimsandyb said:

Is there actually a shower head that will increase water pressure & volume. I see some advertised. Anyone have any input?

Click to expand...

Usually with increased volume, you would see a loss in what you might call pressure. So really, no, not that I can think of. But! There is one out there that everyone is pleased with and it's the Oxygenics Shower head. I don't have one yet but from the reports here, they work very well.

I recommend the Oxygenics RV Shower Head - it feels great and feels like more water than it really is, I have the Sharper Image version which is identical to the Oxygenics version sold by Camping World. It is a patented design that gives a strong spray even with low water pressure some how.

This the only head I know if that seems to still work well with low water pressure. I don't know of anything to "increase water pressure" that is what it is. To "increase volume" if you have good water pressure then you can buy a shower head that uses more water at a home improvement store or hardware store.

The Oxygenics shower head is better than the standard. But you should see if you can increase the water flow to the shower.

Water Pressure and Water Flow are not the same. Most inexpensive pressure regulators have very low water flow (1/2 to 1 gal/min). Here's an explanation.

I've been using 2 types that both regulate pressure while allowing good flow.
One is the Watts 263A. which allows 4-5 gal/min. High quality and pricey.
The other is used for irrigation and allows up to 7 gal/min. 40 PSI Sen Hose Reg (FHxMH) part number: PRSG40. Inexpensive but seems to work.

Both improve flow which gets more water to the shower head.

We have used the Oxygenics on our past two trailers. It does not deliver more water but it feels like it does.
Don

> I've been using 2 types that both regulate pressure while allowing good flow.
One is the Watts 263A. which allows 4-5 gal/min. High quality and pricey.
The other is used for irrigation and allows up to 7 gal/min. 40 PSI Sen Hose Reg (FHxMH) part number: PRSG40. Inexpensive but seems to work.

If you ever use your RV without hooking up to pressurized water thru a pressure regulator, then you have to also consider the 12 Volt demand pump use case, too. That is the nice thing about the Oxygenics solution it will fell good when running off your fresh water tank and 12 volt pump, too, and the shower won't completely give out the ghost on you if someone else is in the RV and starts using water somewhere else at the same time.

In my RV, I found the pressure setting on the 12 Volt SHURflow demand pump was set quite low and I increased it which made the pump output a few PSI more pressure which did several things, made the shower work better with more flow and made the kitchen faucet flow better and stop pulsng fast/slow flow due to the pump cycling on and off with the faucet wide open. The pressure adjustment screw is the one inside the big black round area in the middle of the other four screws on the end of the pump.

I finally broke down and purchased an Oxygenics. It does increase the intensity of the water but you still have to have good water pressure from the shore.

Now I know I am the odd ball here but I really don't like the Oxygenics shower head. I find it to hard and if you turn the head upward and you miss the part your trying to rinse you will have to wipe off the ceiling. I like a bigger head with a softer flow of water. Also the Oxygenics is pretty expensive.

I would check for restricters and water pressure. You can have fair water pressure but if it drops real low when you turn the water on it also will be bad.

BC

> I would check for restrictors...

Amen! If a shower head was made to sell in California it will have a restrictor some where that limits it to puny flow, something like 2 gal per min, per California state water use regulations. Usually it can be removed. Some shower head information even document where it is and how to remove it.

donr827 said:

We have used the Oxygenics on our past two trailers. It does not deliver more water but it feels like it does.
Don

Click to expand...

evolvingpowercat said:

I recommend the Oxygenics RV Shower Head - it feels great and feels like more water than it really is, I have the Sharper Image version which is identical to the Oxygenics version sold by Camping World. It is a patented design that gives a strong spray even with low water pressure some how.

This the only head I know if that seems to still work well with low water pressure. I don't know of anything to "increase water pressure" that is what it is. To "increase volume" if you have good water pressure then you can buy a shower head that uses more water at a home improvement store or hardware store.

Click to expand...

We use the Oxygenics shower head too. We like them so much we even put them in the house. It feels it increased water flow and lowers the water usage.

So where did the pressure go?

Okay, I am not a plumber but had to deal with friction loss. But did you know that:

using 1/2 inch pex there is 12.2 psi lost per 100 feet at 3 gal flow rate per minute

using 1/2 inch pex there is 5.8 psi lost per 100feet at 2 gal flow rate per minute

using 1 coupling = 2 feet of pex

using 1 90 degree fitting = 9.4 feet of pex

using 1 T-branch fitting = 10.4 feet of per

using 1 t run = 2.5 feet of pex

So if you have ever wondered what happened to that 40 psi you had at the entrance to your piping system just add the number of feet per fitting to the number of feet of your pex to come up with your total psi lost per line. Hoping this makes sense to some of y'all.

For example to figure out why you don't have much pressure in your kitchen sink faucet count the number of 90 fittings X 9.4 feet and then add that number to the number of feet of pex to the faucet and then multiply that by psi lost per hundred feet pex and you should find your answer.

so lets assume that there are 15 each of 90 degree fittings and 25 feet of pex to that faucet. 15 x 9.4 = 141 feet of pex. 141 + 25 = 1.66 ( that stands for 166 feet of pex) multiply 1.66 x 5.8 at 2 gal per minute you get 9.62 psi lost. At 1.66 x 12.2 psi (3 gal flow per minute) you get about 20.25 psi lost.

These are just my interpretations of facts I just looked up.

Geeeze... Talk about technical,,,, OK... now I do not run full hot water,,, but I have 45# pressure on hot and cold... so ,,, I run about 50% hot and 75% cold... that gives me 22.5# hot,,,and 33.75# cold water pressure...which will give me a total of 56.25# pressure at the hose going to the shower head. Now,,,depending on the length of the hose I will loose some due to friction and if there is a re-stricter in the head,,,how do I know how much more I should open the valves to get a good rinse after using a HD body wash/with a dehydrator in it or using Dial soap in the bar form??

Can someone help me here??? I need to know how far to open the valves????

Jim

Oh,,, bye the way... I have Oxygenics in the house..about 9--10 years and also in the Bighorn,,,4+ years.. I love them.

jimtoo said:

Geeeze... Talk about technical,,,, OK... now I do not run full hot water,,, but I have 45# pressure on hot and cold... so ,,, I run about 50% hot and 75% cold... that gives me 22.5# hot,,,and 33.75# cold water pressure...which will give me a total of 56.25# pressure at the hose going to the shower head. Now,,,depending on the length of the hose I will loose some due to friction and if there is a re-stricter in the head,,,how do I know how much more I should open the valves to get a good rinse after using a HD body wash/with a dehydrator in it or using Dial soap in the bar form??

Can someone help me here??? I need to know how far to open the valves????

Jim

Click to expand...

Jim, it all depends on if you are using soft water or hard water! If you are using hard water you will need lots more hot hard water than if you was using soft water. You see the soap acts is a surfactant and the softer the water the better the surfactant works and less of the surfactant you have to use which also means less soft water you have to use. Now there is also pressure loss depending on how high you are above the height of the supply bib you are and also if you put the pressure regulator on the female end or the male end of the hose. If you put the pressure regulator on the female end of the hose you will have more pressure loss because of the length of the hose versus putting it on the male end of the hose.

i

Love the Oxygenics Shower head! My DW and myself can back to back shower and still have pressure and hot water. I put a bracket on the shower wall to lower ours from spraying over my head and I'm 5'11.

mikeandconnie said:

Love the Oxygenics Shower head! My DW and myself can back to back shower and still have pressure and hot water. I put a bracket on the shower wall to lower ours from spraying over my head and I'm 5'11.View attachment 20851

Click to expand...

Mike, is that picture from the RV or home shower? I noticed where the hose is from the wall above the fixture.

jimtoo said:

Geeeze... Talk about technical,,,, OK... now I do not run full hot water,,, but I have 45# pressure on hot and cold... so ,,, I run about 50% hot and 75% cold... that gives me 22.5# hot,,,and 33.75# cold water pressure...which will give me a total of 56.25# pressure at the hose going to the shower head. Now,,,depending on the length of the hose I will loose some due to friction and if there is a re-stricter in the head,,,how do I know how much more I should open the valves to get a good rinse after using a HD body wash/with a dehydrator in it or using Dial soap in the bar form??

Can someone help me here??? I need to know how far to open the valves????

Jim

Oh,,, bye the way... I have Oxygenics in the house..about 9--10 years and also in the Bighorn,,,4+ years.. I love them.

Click to expand...

I'm really surprised someone hasn't said you should just jump in a creek!

Thanks guys for all the info. I've seen the oxygenics and wondered how they worked. And Mike, if I lowered the shower head it would hit me in the bellybutton. I'm 6'5". My head sticks up in plastic roof bubble above the shower.

From the RV in our Key Largo. The Factory install will work well for someone 6'5...

Sometimes I hate reading these threads, I ordered one of these shower heads yesterday!
I did find the kit for $35 tho.

This is easy fill the water tank and use the hookup. With the pump and the camp water ours will make you move away from the shower head.
Pete

My experience with the Oxygenics shower head is not as glowing as others. I found it to be too heavy for for the shower head mount in the trailer to support. And yes, I tightened the mount. So I took it home and put it in our shower stall. The plastic holder for it broke after two months, but fortunately the original one I had in there has held it for a couple of years now. In the trailer, I installed the older Teledyne Water Miser I had in the house and it works fine and is lighter weight.

I read later, in other forums, that the white shower head that I had purchased was a problem child. Other models seem to have better luck.

On a positive note, the spray from the Oxygenics is very good.