How To Fix a Leaking Shower Filter In 3 Easy Steps With Pictures and VideosWhenever we buy a new shower head, shower filter, taps or any other new type of plumbing equipment in our bathrooms or showers - it's always vital that we install them in a way which makes sure that there are no leaks between the joins of the old tap work and the new shower head filter or new in line shower filter. In this article we're going to discuss how to fix any leaks we might have in our existing shower filters or shower head filters and what we should do when we're installing a new shower filter to make sure that we don't get any leaks.

So you've got your new shower filter and you're ready to install it and start showering in crystal clear, healthy filtered water, congrats! There are basically three types of shower filters:

1) Hand Held Shower Filters - these types of shower filters are really easy to install and they just fit onto your existing shower hose. So you just basically remove the existing shower head from the metal (usually) hose and screw this one on.

Here are some examples of some hand held shower filters:

PARAGON LUXURY HAND-HELD SHOWER FILTER HEAD
VITAMIN C IONIC HAND HELD SHOWER FILTER
EXTRA LARGE HEAD HAND HELD SHOWER FILTER

 

2) In Line Shower Filters - this type of shower filter is also quite easy to install, but with this one, you have to install it either between where your shower hose meets the shower water pipe or between your fixed shower pipe (which might come from the wall or from the ceiling) and the fixed shower head.

2) Fixed head shower filters - this type of shower filter is about as easy to install as the hand held shower filters but is installed in shower situations where people want to replace their entire fixed shower head with a fixed shower head which has a filter inside it. Such as showers with a rainfall shower head or a rose type fixed shower head.

Here are some examples of in line shower filters and fixed shower head filters and how they can be installed:

SLIM LINE SHOWER FILTER
PARAGON LUXURY FIXED SHOWER FILTER HEAD
CLEAR TINTED DECHLORINATING 4 STAGE SHOWER FILTER

Now that we understand the different types of shower filters, we can go on to how to fix a leaking shower filter - depending upon the type of shower filter or shower head filter you have.

Step 1 in Fixing a Leaking Shower Filter - Leaking Joints

This is probably the most common leak when installing a new shower filter. It's basically the leak between where the shower filter is connected to either the shower pipe (for in line shower filters or fixed shower head shower filters) or where the shower filter connects to the hose.

This also is the easiest to fix! So if you've got this type of leak, then lucky you - you can fix it really easily.

Generally all shower filters have the same thread size (basically the size of the pipe that you're fitting the shower filter onto) and that size is 1/2 inch BSP (British Standard Pipe). But even though the majority of showers are the same thread size, because of wear and tear sometimes when you fit a new shower filter onto your pipe - there might be a small variance in the size of your old pipe and the new shower filter. Because of this water can sometimes leak through the connection between the two.

The easiest way to fix this is to just wrap a bit of plumbers tape around the male threads of the pipe that you are attaching the shower filter head onto or in the case of a hand held shower filter - wrap some plumbers tape onto the male threads of the hand held shower filter before attaching it onto the hose. The plumbers tape (also known as teflon tape) makes a seal between the threads of the pipe and the shower filter, so that when you screw the shower filter onto the pipe or hose - no water can leak between the actual threads themselves. Thus fixing your leaky shower filter!

Here's a picture of some plumbers tape which you can just buy at any supermarket:

plumbers tape

And here's a small video on youtube about how to use plumbers tape:

Step 2 in Fixing a Leaky Shower Filter - Pipe Just Not Long Enough

This one usually only happens with in line shower filters or fixed head shower filters, so if you've got a hand held shower filter, then you probably won't have this problem.
Sometimes when you're installing a new shower filter and it leaks at the joint and you have already used plumbers tape around the male threads of the join, yet it is still leaking - then it might be that the pipe is not going deep enough into the cavity of the shower filter to create a tight fit.

In this case, all you need to do is add an extra one or two washers inside the cavity of the shower filter before screwing it onto the shower pipe.

Here's what the washers look like:

plumbers washers

Most of our hand held shower filters and shower filters come with a couple of spare washers and usually you just need to install a shower filter with a single washer. In the case of fixed shower heads or in line shower filters, just pop one into the female thread section and screw the shower filter onto the pipe. In the case of the hand held shower filter, just pop the washer into the female threaded part of the shower hose and then screw up.

Step 3 in How To Fix a Leaking Shower Filter - Gasket Readjustment

If your shower filter is leaking on the body of the shower filter itself and not at the join, then this is less common and is usually due to a gasket inside the shower filter actually not being positioned properly.

Inside every shower filter where there are two joins, there also will be a little rubber gasket that will make sure that no water leaks from the two joins.

Sometimes during transport these gaskets can move out of place. So when you install your shower filter, water might leak out of the join and then you know for sure you just need to open up the shower filter and reposition the gasket.

For example with the Slim Line Shower Filter, if water is coming out of the middle, then you can easily just open up the shower filter and reposition the gasket like in these pictures:

how to fix middle leak of shower filter

So there you have it - three easy steps to fix your leaking shower filter. If you are still having trouble after reading this article and need a little more help. Please do not hesitate to just contact us by email or by phone and we'll be more than happy to help you. Even if you don't have one of our shower filters, we've been in the business for over 10 years so we know how to fix any leaking shower filter model!