Handheld shower that works?

C

Chevelle3221

Joined
Nov 23, 2021
Messages
392
Wife needed a handhald shower unit due to some surgery. All the models I have found at the local Home Depot / Lowes are plastic junk and even with the water miser removed have crappy pressure. The old Moen (metal head) single unit I took off worked fine. Any recommendations?
 
I've been giving thought to replacing the ones in the house with the same one I have in the camper.


They're designed to work with lower water pressure and are really good with less pressure, with regular household pressure they should be very very good.

1710082800961.jpg
 
Unfortunately, crappy junk with crappy pressure is going to be the norm, thanks to you know who.
However, there are a few that seem to be decent.
My MIL was in the same boat, and I helped him in selecting a Moen from Menards. They have been happy with it.
On the other hand, I decided that it was time to replace our Waterpic branded unit that we purchased from Costco, that we were extremely happy with.
Purchased a Kohler from Costco. That lasted about five minutes before I took it down, and reinstalled the old one back. I then proceeded to reinstall the old one, which we have decided we are going to stick with, as long as possible.
We have had a variety of brands, and the Waterpic has always been our favorite. I would recommend looking at the Waterpic units for options.
 
Chevelle3221 said:
Wife needed a handhald shower unit due to some surgery. All the models I have found at the local Home Depot / Lowes are plastic junk and even with the water miser removed have crappy pressure. The old Moen (metal head) single unit I took off worked fine. Any recommendations?
Click to expand...
You answered your question. I happen to have two new Cheap Home Depot brand ones, one super cheap, the other cheap, recently purchased for our new home. Its wasnt the "cheap" that we bought for it was for another reason.

1. they all are chromed plastic, if they weren't they would be uncomfortably heavy.
2. The last few years even the better ones have gone from stainless steel wrapped hoses to plastic hoses that are stupid stiff. They even make the hoses in the photos and packaging look like stainless steel by printing silver on them.

Which brings me to #3. Since the hose bothers me way more than the spray the spray will all be similar but not to say you wont find something you like better. Anyway, the Home Depo branded types still have a nice flexible stainless wrapped hose. Very impressive to me at stupid cheap price. As far as water flow, Im not sure any of them are the way they used to be, EPA or whatever but the hose bothers me more, anyway, if you find a good combination of what you like with the spray and hose let us know.

A perfect example of fake stainless hose is a photo in post #2 by @ctechbob the hose is made to look stainless but its printed plastic hose. Dont get me wrong, this is my pet peeve, some might prefer the spray over the hose, it does look nice for those who dont care about the hose.
 
Last edited:
ctechbob said:
I've been giving thought to replacing the ones in the house with the same one I have in the camper.


They're designed to work with lower water pressure and are really good with less pressure, with regular household pressure they should be very very good.

View attachment 207659
Click to expand...
I looked at the reviews for this but none related to in home use. Will give them a call tomorrow
 
Chevelle3221 said:
Wife needed a handhald shower unit due to some surgery. All the models I have found at the local Home Depot / Lowes are plastic junk and even with the water miser removed have crappy pressure. The old Moen (metal head) single unit I took off worked fine. Any recommendations?
Click to expand...
Do you have a local home supply place, or a commercial hardware place? I'd definitely look to see as that would be your best bet.
 
I don't understand the savings, so it uses half the amount water, but it takes twice as long to take a shower.
I gut and drill the new ones, but only then you find out you're restricted by the flexible hose I.D. for volume.
 
TCL said:
I don't understand the savings, so it uses half the amount water, but it takes twice as long to take a shower.
I gut and drill the new ones, but only then you find out you're restricted by the flexible hose I.D. for volume.
Click to expand...
Drilled my water saver out but it just may be the small line for the head like you mentioned. Thanks
 
I
Chevelle3221 said:
Glad to head as my Moen stinks!
Click to expand...
I removed the flow restricter by using a punch to tap it out. My water pressure is 75 psi. I know that if the on/off switch on the hand held shower piece is in the half way position, not totally on or off, the water flow is low.
Just tested water amounts...hand held shower head took 30 seconds to fill a one gallon container. Both shower heads together took 18 seconds to fill that gallon container.
 
Well, after dealing with the crap made by Moen and Delta I tried Waterpik. The quality is just so much better and its easy to remove all the water saving stuff. No leaks, wife is happy and so am I. Lesson learned! Even the customer service from Moen and Delta was subpar. Waterpik surprised me!!
 
We have a recent Moen and a Grohe and they both work very well (with the constrictors removed).

We bought them at a plumbing supply house. I think the stuff they sell there may be better than what you get at Home Depot, etc. More expensive for sure.
 
Waterpix worked for us so I am good. Plumbing supply house stuff was no better in quality as we looked there first at least in our case. Thanks for everyones input.
 
They're all reduced to no more than 2.5 gallons per minute by federal law. And the limit is in the design of the pattern. Most of what's available is 1.5 gallons per minute.

I wouldn't recommend a real metal handheld because they get dropped and can hurt like heck if they were that heavy. That being said, my parents installed some Niagara Conservation handhelds and I've tried them out. They have really good pressure even with lower water. The design is really good. I think it's something in the Earth Spa series.
 
Bought ours at Costco and it has the off-on lever too.
You won't totally hate plastic, should you let the shower-head slip in your hands and drop the metallic unit on your toes.
 
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