Recently I traipsed to Bed, Bath and Beyond, the Nirvana for bathroom lovers, and bought a new showerhead. It’s the kind that’s supposed to be more like a rain forest, with 100 spray channels.
Trouble is, I’m having no luck connecting it. None! It should be so simple; you’d think you just need to screw the new head onto the shower pipe.
Has anyone done this? Here is what the thing looks like.
Basically, a flexible pipe connects to the shower pipe, and then the showerhead itself connects to the pipe. I can connect the head to the flexible pipe - they screw together easily. The trouble is with the flexible pipe-shower pipe connection. For the life of me, I can’t get it to go on there.
You’re supposed to align the threads (which is tough, since they’re on the inside!), then hold onto the nut and shower pipe while turning the flexible pipe, screwing it in. But I can’t get it to catch. I wonder if I’m just all thumbs here or if there’s a trick I’m missing.
Oh yes. Yes, indeedy. I had the distinct pleasure of spending an ENTIRE DAY trying to attach this damn thing in our bathroom. The trick is in the plastic accordion thing - it has to be bunched up really tightly, and you have to get the threads to connect to the pipe from the wall while pushing and turning with all your might. You also have to turn the entire thing right at the wall and worry about the position of the shower head later. You may also want to consider getting some of that sealing tape, although that gave me a different set of problems. Good luck.
An aside: even after removing the washer in the shower head, the thing didn’t feel like it put out much water pressure due to the spray channels. So you may not want to even consider it if you don’t have very good water pressure in there.
The sealing tape is called ‘teflon tape’ and can be found in the plumbing section of the hardware store. You wrap it around the threads to provide a tighter seal.
um… the shower pipe threads should be on the outside of the pipe, not the inside. That is, the pipe coming out of your wall should terminate in external threads, and the nut on your flexible pipe should just screw right on. I MUST be missing something here.
You should NOT need teflon tape for that connection, the nut on your fixture should have a rubber washer to seal the connection.
The only thing I can think is to compare what you intend to put on with what you just took off. Take a good long look at the threads from the old showerhead and the threads on the new one and see if they look the same. Maybe you have it turned around???
If you still have trouble, make sure to get right up there at the pipe to watch what’s going on closely. Stand on a stepladder if you have to, and watch the two halves meet.
Don’t twist the flexible gooseneck… Straighten it out, and twist the entire thing…gently… I screwed this up when I first bought one…
Also, for some models, there will be a little plastic flow-restriction device. Now, if you just want a piddly little trickle, leave it in. Me, I wanted a high-pressure fire-hose shower, dadgummit, so I pried the restrictor out.
The other end of the flexible hose attaches to the showerhead itself. The showerhead can attach only to this end. So that means I do have the right end for the shower pipe.
The trick seems to be to make sure the threads line up. It’ll take trial and error, though.
I’ll have to look for that flow-restriction device - I think I read in the directions that it was in there.
Trinopus, what happened when you screwed up the gooseneck?
It got kinked up inside. When I finally realized what I’d done wrong, I un-twisted it, which mostly reversed the harm. The thing still doesn’t bend in some directions…
The thing I like most about it is that, since I’m kinda tall, I can twist it way up high, so I don’t have to stoop to wash my hair.
What Trinopus said - don’t twist the gooseneck thing - straighten it out, then push it all up towards the screw-on end. The problem is that plastic piece that’s in there - once the gooseneck is all pushed up, the threads are easier to reach with the plastic thing, then you have a few hours to kill trying to blindly get the threads to connect. Without stripping the plastic threads off.
Ok, another question. I see that you can push the neck up, but on mine it doesn’t stay up on its own. Do you mean I should push it up and then screw it on, in one fell swoop?
Finally got it to work. I brought it to my dad. He took a new piece of shower piping and screwed the shower head onto it (using teflon tape as a buffer), then gave the setup to me. When I got home, I unscrewed the old piping from the wall and connected the new one.
The thing works perfectly. It gives me plenty of water, too - just the right amount of pressure.