Why Does Flushing the Toilet Affect Shower Temperature?

This is an interesting question that impacts a lot of people, but they’re not really sure why. Your wife or husband is in the shower and they always tell you not to flush, but have you ever wondered why? It’s really not that complicated, just some simple supply and demand. When you flush your toilet, it needs to fill itself back up with cold water once the flush is complete. It gets that water from your plumbing system and that means your shower is going to have less cold water to use. When the hot water has no cold water to mix with, it’s going to come out hotter and the person in the shower is going to get burnt. Maybe you did it on purpose, but if you want to stop this problem from happening to you, here are some things to try»

Reducing Toilet Water
As we said earlier, your water is going to fill up with cold water once the toilet is flushed fully. All you have to do is limit the amount of water going to your toilet so that it is available for the shower. You can call on a professional to help you close the supply valve slightly and limit the water going to your toilet. This will cause the bowl to fill up more slowly and reduce the drastic temperature fluctuation.

Better Mixing
Plumbing technology has advanced so much in the past 10-15 years that they now make a device to deal with this problem. You can have a mixing valve installed in your shower to help maintain the balance of hot and cold water in the shower. When the toilet is flushed, the pressure of the water will decrease, but the temperature will remain the same.

Increasing Capacity
This is definitely the most expensive fix of the three and it is going to require the most labor as well. Your plumbing system likely resembles that of a truck and a branch. The water will flow down the main pipe, and then off to the separate branches like your kitchen and bathroom. To combat these temperature fluctuations, you can increase the size of those pipes to allow for a higher volume of water.

Here at Levine & Sons, we like to think of ourselves as somewhat of a plumbing encyclopedia. Our technicians are always willing to answer any of your questions and get the job done at the same time!

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