Hacking the Shower Head

One of the most irritating things of living in a nanny-state is the extent that the government interferes with the most picayune matters. Case in point is the requirement that shower heads restrict the flow of water.

Since I had the opportunity to replace an old shower head, I thought I would describe how to eliminate this small annoyance without resorting to "black market" shower heads as in the Seinfeld episode above.

Ball Joint -- Side View

The shower head I installed is one of those that is attached to a hose. The water flow reducer is in the part pictured above, which I will refer to as the ball joint. The grey portion on the right screws onto the water pipe projecting from the wall, while the rest of the shower head unit (a connector, hose, and shower head) screw into the chrome portion on the left.

Ball Joint -- Back View

In this view, you can see what appears to be a white plastic tab, and rubber washer. The "white tab" is actually part of a filter that strains the water going through the shower. It simply screws out. I used the needle-nose pliers to grip the "tab" and unscrew the filter.

Filter Removed

After removing the filter, if you look down into the ball joint, you should see another filter or aerator with a black rubber ring around it. This rubber ring is what is responsible for most of the reduction of water flow.

Looking inside at the rubber ring.

You need to remove the rubber ring. It may be possible to remove it simply by blowing through the other end. On this one, I had to push a wire (a paper-clip I had straightened) through one of the flow holes to loosen the ring, then blew through the other end to completely remove it.

Rubber ring removed

At this point, it is simply a matter of re-installing the filter and rubber washer, and finish the assembly of the shower assembly per the manufacturer's instructions.