shower modification

Joined: 05 Aug 2005 Posts: 1554 Location: jacksonville, fl

it seems that all shower mfgs have had to comply with low flow regulation for a while now, but my shower was choked down too low to be enjoyable. so what to do? modify it of course!

first i took the whole thing apart, and looked for the areas with the lowest flow. upon inspection, it turned out to be several places. i have one of those "head on a hose" shower heads, and there were restrictors on the ends of the hose, in the swivel mount, and in the head itself.

the first and easiest place to start was by taking a drill with a bit about twice as large as the current 1/4" hole and enlarging the holes in the head and swivel (the part that connects to the top of the shower stall) be careful to not get the shavings into the head, or they could get stuck in the nozels and mess them up

next, i decided to go after the hose itself. the connectors on the hose were made of a peice held in the hose with a crimp connector and a screw on ring. the peices in the hose itself also had very small holes for water to enter the hose (why have a 3/4" hose if the water can only get in via a 1/4" hole. first i tried to drill out these holes like the other parts, but the plastic was too weak and broke.

after messing up the stock hose connectors i decided to make my own. i went to the garage and see what brass and copper fittings i had, and as it happens i didn't have anything to use off hand, but i did have a couple screw on connectors and a couple copper reducers. i could make what i needed if i could solder the two parts together, but my soldering iron is MIA and i don't think it would have been strong enough to heat all that metal anyway. so looking around, i thought "why not use the stove?".

my new connector and the core of the old one

i set the reducer on the threaded peice how i wanted and turned the stove on high until the stove was red hot. then i just put some solder to it, and went all the way around the two fittings. after that, i turned off the stove, and let it cool for about 10 min to make sure the solder was cooled. i still picked it up with a screwdriver and put it in running water to cool it for sure.

i repeated the process to make another connector, and then polished them both with a dremil, and attached them to the hose. i then attached them with hose clamps, held one end shut, and blew in the other to make sure it held pressure, which it did.

after that, i just reassembled the whole thing and replaced it in the shower.
when it turned it on, the streams from the head feel stronger, though i think i got some shavings in the head when i drilled it out (my own dumb fault, i didn't hold it so the trash could fall out).

so there you have it, if you've read down this far, you've probably got as much free time as i had, and as a reward, here's some pics:

left to right: original screw on ring, copper reducer, brass screw on peice, finshed and polished adapter, original hose peice, and rubber washer. in back are the handle/head, and swivel mount

the original screw on setup, when you try to widen the hole, a sealed area with a rubber washer covering several holes breaks open. the only reason ican see this being is to make the hose useless and leaky if you try to widen it

my final setup on one end of the hose

Joined: 04 Aug 2005 Posts: 236

Oh the shame of it!!!!

You are not using your PV2 camera to take the pictures!!!

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 9:49 pm

Nice hack! I eagerly await your turbo crapper mod! Laughing

Joined: 05 Aug 2005 Posts: 1554 Location: jacksonville, fl

BillW wrote:

Nice hack! I eagerly await your turbo crapper mod! Laughing

(a sneak peek)

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:50 am

I was hoping more for a model that could be used in the great outdoors, causes "self assurance", and is frequented by ghosts. Like this one: http://www.washlet.com/quicktime1.html

A model prime for hacking if ever I saw one.

Joined: 05 Aug 2005 Posts: 1554 Location: jacksonville, fl

maybe i'll just forego all of that and make those seashells from demolition man

Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 90

BillW wrote:

I was hoping more for a model that could be used in the great outdoors, causes "self assurance", and is frequented by ghosts. Like this one: http://www.washlet.com/quicktime1.html

A model prime for hacking if ever I saw one.

Just had to delurk for this one, why not add a camcorder with an extended screen and a joystick so you can aim the spicket, add the night vision mod to that also for us big guys we tend to eclipse the service port might get a little dark in there, ah hell screw that spicket swap it out for something with a little more firepower a couple of hundred psi ought to do, that will get you clean. Laughing

Joined: 10 Sep 2005 Posts: 1119

Also beware of lurkers hiding down INSIDE of your port-o-potties in national parks... they've caught two of them down there so far with camcorders. You have to take your perversions seriously to do that...

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:13 pm

you should definately submit this to hackaday!

Joined: 05 Aug 2005 Posts: 1554 Location: jacksonville, fl

done and done.

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 1:56 am

i just drilled out my old plasic restrictor, it broke the end of it so i had to do some serious electirical tapeing but now i gots me a beautiful showerhead. fight the "man"!

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2006 2:14 am

Saw this on Make soon after I saw your CRT mod.

Joined: 05 Aug 2005 Posts: 1554 Location: jacksonville, fl

bobbarker wrote:

Saw this on Make soon after I saw your CRT mod.

ahh cool, i didn't even submit the shower thing to Make Smile