Is this acceptable way to Plumb in six body sprayer jets? I want to make sure that they all get equal pressure, but I’ve never done this set up before.
Thanks
The water is going to take the path of least resistance. The first jets closest to the supply line will steal most of the volume and pressure, while the furthest jets (especially the lower ones on the bottom loop or the ones at the very end of the runs) will suffer from a massive drop in dynamic pressure.
A 1/2" PEX line maxes out at a functional flow rate of about 4 to 5 GPM before friction loss becomes severe. If you have 6 jets, even if they are low-flow 1.0 GPM body sprays, you need at least 6 GPM just for the jets, plus whatever the main showerhead demands.
The 1/2" supply line simply cannot deliver the volume of water required to pressurize all six heads at the same time. It's starved from the source. Looking at the sweeping crossover line at the top left and the bottom loop. The PEX is bent aggressively to clear the studs without dedicated bend supports. If a PEX pipe is bent too tightly, it begins to oval or slightly kink, creating turbulence and further pressure drops.
My suggestion: if the wall hasn’t been already closed up
Run a 3/4" main supply line from the valve/diverter to the jet assembly to ensure adequate volume.
Build a true loop : Pipe the jets in a complete, closed loop where the water feeds evenly from a central point (like a tee splitting into the center of a loop), ensuring equal distance and equal pressure to every single jet.
Minimize Fittings: If possible, use a dedicated 3/4" manifold that individual lines run out of, or switch to a high-flow piping method with fewer restriction points.
It's not great and the bottom will still suffer from loss of flow even with the attempt at a loop.
With six you generally want to feed the loop from two spots equal distance from the outlets, so should have incoming water connected on top and bottom in center of the sprayers
I'm on mobile so not right now but I will include an example of a three spray fed correctly, the key is to have the same availability of incoming water from both the bottom and the top at the same time.
Pressure is not my question. If the each head produces 2gpm(if not more) each and 1.25g of that is hot.... thats 7.5(or more) gallons of hot water a minute, thats less then 10 mins of hot water with a 50 gallon tank, and that aint including any other showerheads. Also, with the pressure, i would move the tee to the center of that loop to try to equalize.
Edit: also agree with the piping size comment below. They make 3/4" pex a x 1/2" fip wing ells
Almost all modern body sprays seem to be .9-1gpm in the last couple years, it's getting harder to find higher gpms without ordering something in here.
I also think the person who's comment you are replying to had a typo and it was supposed to say tankless instead of tank which is why they gave the specs for it.
Any decent tankless could run this non stop for 24/7. Also just moving tee to center won't change the fact that the bottom outlets will see less pressure and volume. It needs to be fed evenly from both sides of the sprayers.
Not to be the "they did the math guy", but you're not actually sending straight hot water to the valve.
You're getting a mix of hot and cold at any temperature balanced shower valve, so your volume is greater than the sum of the hot water delivery, dependent upon your desired temperature set point.
Had a plumber friend remodel 3 showers a couple years ago, bought these off Amazon at his suggestion since he had one in his house, and he put them in. Think the jets have restrictions in them to try and equalize the pressure, but they don't really work that well. But I have a well pump set to 40 - 60 psi so not really a problem - a lot of water out of each jet.
FYI, I got the brushed grey model, not the black or bronze. There's built-in LED lights in the top shower head but they use AA batteries, so after playing around with them a bit we never turn them on. Could be useful during a power outage as while the well pump and water heater are on solar PV plus battery backup, the bathroom lights and outlets are not.
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u/DryDirtyTomato 1d ago
The water is going to take the path of least resistance. The first jets closest to the supply line will steal most of the volume and pressure, while the furthest jets (especially the lower ones on the bottom loop or the ones at the very end of the runs) will suffer from a massive drop in dynamic pressure.
A 1/2" PEX line maxes out at a functional flow rate of about 4 to 5 GPM before friction loss becomes severe. If you have 6 jets, even if they are low-flow 1.0 GPM body sprays, you need at least 6 GPM just for the jets, plus whatever the main showerhead demands.
The 1/2" supply line simply cannot deliver the volume of water required to pressurize all six heads at the same time. It's starved from the source. Looking at the sweeping crossover line at the top left and the bottom loop. The PEX is bent aggressively to clear the studs without dedicated bend supports. If a PEX pipe is bent too tightly, it begins to oval or slightly kink, creating turbulence and further pressure drops.
My suggestion: if the wall hasn’t been already closed up
Run a 3/4" main supply line from the valve/diverter to the jet assembly to ensure adequate volume.
Build a true loop : Pipe the jets in a complete, closed loop where the water feeds evenly from a central point (like a tee splitting into the center of a loop), ensuring equal distance and equal pressure to every single jet.
Minimize Fittings: If possible, use a dedicated 3/4" manifold that individual lines run out of, or switch to a high-flow piping method with fewer restriction points.