There’s literally nothing more frustrating than bad water pressure from a shower head. Especially when you have long flowing locks or you’re desperate for a nice hot shower after a cold day outside.
According to Which, checking the water pressure in a property is one of the top things to look at when going through a bathroom in a home you’re considering buting. But it’s also important to note the condition of the shower head, sometimes all it needs is a little TLC after a long battle with limescale.
That means fewer chemicals. We’ll show you how in this article how to prevent, clean and protect your shower head from limescale build-up so that you’re washing your hair, not tearing it out.
If your bathroom has been neglected for a long time or you’ve purchased one that has been, the first thing to look at is where in your home the water pressure is bad. If it’s only your shower i.e your bath taps, all sinks and toilet have good pressure then the likelihood is that the pressure is down to the condition of your shower.
That doesn’t mean it’s always in the shower head, but it’s the cheapest and easiest fix of them all. So, instead of calling a plumber right away. Try this simple method to remove limescale build-up.
Baking soda is the perfect natural product for this. It’s relatively inexpensive and no doubt you already have some laying around in your home.
You’ll need a bucket for this one, and potentially something to sit the bucket up high on inside the area if your hose is a little short. Fill the bucket up with hot water so that when you place the head in it, it is submerged.
Now, you’ll want to add a little bit of white vinegar to this mixture. The acidity of the vinegar will help to dissolve the limescale, however, this could take a white. So before popping your shower head into the vinegar and water mixture. Get it wet and rub it with baking soda.
You’ll notice a paste starts to form. With the baking soda paste, use an old toothbrush and get into all the little spout grooves. You’re going to want to give this a fair bit of effort to get the best results. The baking soda will help lift off the majority of the limescale, meaning that when you pop it into the water and vinegar mixture there’s no need to wait too long.
After your scrub, dunk the shower head in the bucket. Leave it for a min of 30 minutes or ideally for a couple of hours and then run the shower as hot as you can while it’s still in the bucket.
This will leave you with far less build-up and potentially better water pressure for your shower.
This is important, as limescale build-up is natural, regularly cleaning your shower head will prevent you from spending a couple of hours tackling the issue. Fortunately, a top-up is relatively simple. All you need is baking soda and some warm water.
Remember that paste from the first method? You’re going to create a similar one but this time in a separate bowl. Scrub it directly onto the shower head once every few weeks and this will help remove any interim limescale. Of course, staying on top of cleaning is easier said than done, hence why we combine our use of both methods depending on how much time we have.
There’s not much you can do for limescale build-up. If you live in a soft water area your build-up will be less but ultimately it is the calcium naturally found in tap water that causes limescale. It’s natural and common.
It doesn’t mean your cleaning techniques are bad, that you don’t clean enough or that you have a poor performing shower. We all have to deal with this, so don’t worry about preventing limescale from occurring, just prioritising its build-up so you can keep your water pressure powerful.
If you notice that is it becoming more and more difficult to rid your shower head from limescale. It might be time to upgrade. As we mentioned previously, limescale naturally builds up wherever water is - which means it can do inside your shower head.
If you’ve taken your shower head apart to clean it and you’ve scrubbed all you can but yet your water pressure is still poor. It might be time to call the plumber. The best case scenario is that you simply need to replace the shower head and hose, but there could also be an issue further up the chain with your plumbing.
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