Why is my apartment shower too hot and low pressure?
Apartment residents often lack access to main water heaters and plumbing controls, leaving them unable to fix showers that run too hot or lack proper pressure. This prevents renters from correcting faulty installations or balancing temperature discrepancies between the shower and kitchen sinks.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Turning off the hot water supply completely to test if the water goes cold.Did this help you?
- 2Pull out on the light gray collar and turn it counter clockwiseDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“The new one however won't go cold, on the coldest setting it is slightly hotter that what I would use normally.”source ↗
“With the hot water turned off it goes fully cold and the lowest temperature gets lower throughout the day as the hot water tank cools down.”source ↗
“Is this fitted correctly and is it fixable? It is still within 30 days of purchase so could be returned as faulty but unsure if it's a fault with the shower or myself installing it incorrectly.”source ↗
“is there any way to make my apartment's shower water come out hotter? mine isn't matching videos/photos that i'm seeing online.”source ↗
“The water in the kitchen sink feels significantly hotter than the shower so I’m wondering if it’s possible to adjust the shower.”source ↗
“Also would love any info on water pressure.”source ↗
“We do not have access to the inner workings such as the water heater”source ↗
“Whenever someone uses hot or cold water elsewhere in the house, my shower temperature swings drastically.”source ↗
“I want to convert this to an exposed thermostatic shower valve (or pressure-balanced valve) to keep the water temperature constant, without breaking or tearing up the bathroom tiles.”source ↗
“I'm trying to adjust my shower valve to get hotter but this one does not seem to have a limiter.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 7Why does water pressure keep creeping up with a new PRV?
- 8Low hot water pressure at only one faucet
- 31How to fix a stripped or jammed shower handle
- 5How do you switch a shower to the overhead head?
- 3How to clear a slow draining shower without taking off the P-trap
- 12Why is there no water pressure after changing a faucet?