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If it is only the shower, it is almost always a clogged showerhead or a failing pressure-balance cartridge in the valve — not your house supply. Soak the head in vinegar first, because that is the free half of the diagnosis.

Hexagon mosaic tile shower pan set on a mortar bed in a Pinellas County bathroom
Hexagon mosaic tile shower pan set on a mortar bed in a Pinellas County bathroom. Photographed on one of our own jobs.

Do the free test first

Unscrew the showerhead and run the valve with the head off, into a bucket. If the flow is strong, the problem is the head and nothing else. Florida water is hard, and mineral scale closes those little nozzles steadily over a couple of years.

Soak the head overnight in white vinegar — a sandwich bag rubber-banded over it works if you cannot get it off — then poke the nozzles through with a pin and rinse. That fixes most cases for the cost of a bottle of vinegar.

If the flow was weak with the head off

Then it is the valve. In a modern shower that means the pressure-balancing cartridge, a plastic and rubber insert inside the mixing valve whose whole job is to stop you being scalded when someone flushes a toilet. They scale up and stiffen with age, and the symptom is reduced flow, sometimes with temperature that wanders.

Cartridges are inexpensive — typically twenty to sixty dollars — and are a genuine DIY job if you can identify the brand and shut the water off. Moen, Delta and Kohler cartridges all pull differently and some need a puller tool. Take a photo of the trim before you start; the brand is usually stamped on the escutcheon or the cartridge itself.

If pressure dropped everywhere, not just the shower

Different problem, and worth taking more seriously:

  • Check the main shutoff and the meter valve are fully open — a partly-closed valve after other work is common
  • If you are on a well, check the pressure tank and switch
  • Galvanised supply pipe in an older home closes up internally with corrosion over decades
  • A sudden whole-house drop with no obvious cause, plus a higher water bill, can mean a slab leak

The one that should get your attention

Pressure loss combined with a warm spot on the floor, the sound of running water when nothing is on, or an unexplained jump in the water bill points at a slab leak. In a Pinellas County home on a concrete slab that is worth a leak-detection call quickly, because the water is going somewhere and it is usually under your foundation.

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