Cost to Fix Low Water Pressure

Low water pressure is one of those things we think we can live with, but day by day it slowly wears away at our patience until it HAS to be dealt with. Ready to take the plunge to resolve low water pressure – find out the costs below.

	Low	Average	High
Faulty Shower/Appliances	£230	£300	£650
Blocked/Clogged Pipes	£100	£150	£300
Leaky Pipes	£90	£140	£300*
Mains Pipe Replacement	£500	£1,000	£3,000

Low water pressure can be difficult to identify the cause, but here are some of the most common, and yes, the type of problem can impact the cost to fix it!

• Faulty Shower/Appliances
• Blocked/Clogged Pipes
• Leaky Pipes
• Mains Pipe Issue

Cost to fix low water pressure caused by a faulty shower/appliance

First things first, you should check if the low water pressure is specific to a shower or appliance, if the water is running fine elsewhere in the house but your shower appears to be dribbling water out, the likely cause is a broken pump or just an old shower.

If it is just the shower then consider replacing the pump – the cost of a replacement pump can be around £150 depending on which brand it is. Some of the upper end shower pumps can set you back around £500! Don’t forget the labour for a plumber is likely to be around 2 hours (between £80-£150) so in total, just to replace the pump you should be prepared to pay anywhere from £230-£300.

However, if you’re not too precious about your shower, a whole new shower can cost as little as £70 to buy yourself – and again likely 2 hours for a plumber to replace it like for like, assuming no added complexities involving moving pipework around. For a potential minimum of £150-£220 it’s worth considering replacing the shower unit itself rather than just the pump.

It’s worth noting though, that sometimes, even a dirty/clogged shower head could be causing the issue. So before you go about replacing the entire thing, if you haven’t already, give the shower head a good scrub and limescale clean – inside & out to see if that solves the issue.

Cost to fix low water pressure caused by blocked/clogged pipes

If the problem lies outside the shower/appliance world, you could have some clogged/blocked pipes. Pipes can become clogged or blocked by any number of things, most commonly in the UK, it’s a build-up of limescale. If you notice a sudden drop in pressure after a spell of cold you might have a frozen pipe which can be devastating if not dealt with properly & urgently.

The cost & time to fix a blocked pipe is going to vary depending on things such as where the pipe is, what kind of pipe it is, and whether it’s an emergency job to fix it.

You can use the drain unblocking costs article to get more detail on the costs, but generally, you could be looking at anything from £100-£300. This includes the labour and call-out fees, but any replacement materials will naturally add to the overall cost.

Cost to fix low water pressure caused by a leaky pipe

It can, and does happen, that occasionally a pipe will begin to leak and that might be the cause of any sudden/new low water pressure issues.

Similarly to the cost of unblocking a pipe, the cost to replace a leaky pipe has varying factors like the location and type of pipe. We cover this in more depth in the Leaky Pipe Repair Cost article. Typically, you could be looking anywhere between £90-£300 to replace a leaky pipe – assuming you only need a cheap piece of PVC pipe and you buy it yourself, the bulk of the cost here comes from the labour.

Of course, with bigger or more difficult-to-access pipes, the cost will escalate. Unless you are doing it yourself, in which case, you could only be spending as little as £10 and an afternoon of your time if you have the bravery to attempt repairs yourself. (Check to see if you have accidental damage covered by your home insurance first – just in case. I’ve had my fair share of DIY disasters!)

Cost to fix mains water pipe low water pressure

If everything in the house is ok, and there’s absolutely no other potential cause, you might be facing a mains water pipe issue causing your low water pressure.

The difficulty here is that these are typically very expensive to replace – if it’s even your cost to bear. In some cases, the mains water pipe is managed by your local water company, and they are only obligated to provide “seven metres static head” which translates to 0.7 bar.

That might not be enough for your liking, but you’ll need to take that up with the supplier as you won’t be able to do anything.

If the mains water pipe is your responsibility then you should of course be able to replace it. For this, you’ll be looking at anywhere between £500-£3,000 at a minimum.

There are of course many other potential causes of low water pressure, but without writing a novel that you don’t want to read – we can’t cover them all. But now you know, the likely cost of resolving the issue can range between £90-£3,000, but on average it is likely to cost between £140-£300.