1-800-4-KOHLER will answer all your questions. Some heads have a tab you can pull out where it screws to the shower arm. Others you have to drill out. Not sure on the valve having a restrictor.

Take Care,

Dan

Thanks! I did just call and they werent really able to help. They told me to measure the amount of water coming out per minute with a bucket, and if it's about 2 gallons there is nothing they can do except help me find a new shower head. Frustrating!

So... did you do that?

Thant was my question also. Is the issue that there is a malfunction such as a clogged valve or shower head or is it that it's not delivering as much water or pressure as you would like.

That question can be answered by measuring the water delivered in a minute. If it's not ~2 gpm, then you have a problem.

It turned out to be both. We ended up taking the shower head off over the weekend, and there was some gunk all stuck in the screen. It didnÂt even occur to us that that could be a possibility because all the plumbing was replaced, but I guess they stirred up some stuff from somewhere else in the renovation. We didnÂt see a flow restrictor though, not sure if it was behind the screen but we couldnÂt see a way to remove the screen without damaging it so we just left it. Once we cleaned all the gunk out it worked much better, but still not up to our standards. I totally forgot to do the bucket test though, because at this point IÂm sure itÂs just my own personal preference.

We didnÂt really pick this showerhead though, just used the one that matched the style we picked, so weÂve now decided that weÂre going to look for something else. Maybe the Kohler Forte multifunction, but not sure yet.

Thanks for the replies!

Please, before you replace it... try the bucket test.

All showerheads are limited to 2.5 gpm. Besides, if there's a problem, you want to find it now - while your plumber is still engaged with the job.

Why are you sticking with a Kohler where you might not again be able to remove the restrictor? Pick a brand where the manufacturer confirms on the phone that you can remove it in the shower head. I doubt you can remove any restrictor in Kohler's.

some time ago big brother passed a law that forbid the sale of shower heads that could deliver more than 2 1/2 gal per minut. most manufacturers just put an extra disk in thier assembly with a small hole in it. This restricted flow to the legal limit if you had the highest water pressure commonly available in homes. If you had lower water pressure, tough luck.

If manufacturers "Design a showerhead to be convertable to high flow, or advertise or advise customers how to make their showerheads high flow" then they could be considered in violation of this law. I would not count on the manufacturers giving advice on how to modify their shower heads.

Regardless of the law, most showerheads continue to be made so that they can be easily modified. Just take it apart carefully and look for the smallest hole in the flow path. Some can just be removed and some will have to be drilled out.

One additional note: in order to parialy compensate for the low flow rate, the actualy nozzels that the water sprays out of are sometimes made smaller to produce a high velocity very fine stream of water. This is supposed to give the illusion of higher flow rates. I had to drill out some of these jets to 1/16" to get a reasonable flow rate without the water drilling holes through me. This may not be necessary on all showerheads.

Has anyone used Speakman showerheads? Is so, what model?

"They told me to measure the amount of water coming out per minute with a bucket, and if it's about 2 gallons there is nothing they can do except help me find a new shower head."

They are not going to tell you how to remove the REQUIRED restrictor for fear of governess penalties.

They have been making them harder to remove to try and limit everyone from pulling them out.

The old plastic washer with a hole ones were a joke.

You are not going to find anything without the restrictor since it is required to limit the flow (even in places with more than adequate water supplies).

It is true that they are required and that a manufacturer isn't going to tell you how to remove it.

They are also commons sense... dumping more than 2.5 gpm of hot water down the drain is just stupid.

test it to be sure it's working at 2 gpm or better. Find a head that gives you a different spray pattern if you don't like the one that you have.

Some, if not all, of the new shower valves have restrictions built into them. You could remove the restrictor in the shower head only to be impeded by the restrictor in the valve. I believe the pair of Moens I purchased a while back are like this.

Some posters on this forum don't realize that well pumps are sometimes inadequate for providing adequate pressure to the bathroom on an upper floor and far away. The restricter that is supposed to lower pressure to 2.5 gpm then lowers it much further, leaving one shivering under a trickle. Removing the restricter does not lead to eco-sin! What I need to know is whether a Moen Posi-temp valve is inherently restricted and cannot be modified, so that taking out the hand held shower restricter won't do me any good. I just had a remodel and I shiver in a truly beautiful bathroom.

Thanks a whole lot, stash-hdy! Easy fix that solved my problem! You are the man!

Thanks! I would add that the black rubber o-ring is tricky to get out. I found using the tiny screwdriver that comes with an eyeglass repair kit finally did the trick.

Hello,

I am having the same issue with a similar setup. Shower with 3-way transfer valve (shower-head, rain-head and hand-shower, and the hot/cold main valve. I am getting low pressure on all modes.

Other showers in the house have good pressure, and they use the same hand-shower.

Any advice? Is there anything to adjust on the transfer valve?

Kohler Awaken Rainhead: Pop out particulate screen, remove wee rubber o-ring, put screen back in.

I just got water restricter out of my kohler rain shower head and the hand shower head! yea!!! I think when you have water pressure you take shorter showers!

The directions that came with my Kohler fixtures said to take out the restrictors and remove the shower head, and then run the shower for several minutes to ensure all the junk was out of the plumbing lines. I put the restrictors back in, and all the shower heads seem to work really well. The Kohler faucets seem to be another story, since I followed the same process and they flow quite a bit less than my other faucets. YMMV

Bruce

So would you advice to buy Kohler and remove the restrictor valve or buy Grohe . I liked the Gold brass color of Kohler better than brushed call sunrise of Grohe

Hi Bruce - we are having the same issue with needing to clean junk out of the plumbing lines. Can you please share how you took the restrictors out and put them back for Kohler shower heads? Thank you!

Kohler maxton - it's a o-ring and piece of yellow plastic just inside where the head connects to the shower arm - behind the screen/seal. Big difference

That's great but I'm looking to remove flow restrictor in a brand new build TUB faucet. Not a lavatory or shower. Our new spa tub takes about 30 minutes to fill enough to cover the jets. Any help?

Tub faucets don't have flow restrictors. If you have a flow restrictor, you don't have a tub faucet.