How to Fix a Leaking Shower Head
Two kinds of drip come out of a shower, and sorting one from the other is most of the diagnosis. Some water always empties from the fitting after use, while a leak that continues hours later lives in the mixer built into the wall. How to fix a leaking shower head depends on which of those two you have.
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The housing stock here dates largely from the 1970s through the 1990s, so plenty of bathrooms still run on their original wall mixers. Area-level figures show 93 dwellings approved in 2021-22, so a handful of bathrooms are new, but the bulk are decades old. We work across Bray Park and the suburbs around it, and this is the check we run on every call.
The drain-down side needs no one. The mixer side needs a licensed plumber, and that is where most of these calls end up.
Normal Drips Versus a Failing Seal
A brief trickle after the taps shut is normal; a drip still going an hour later is a fault. The difference is where the water comes from.
The arm and head trap a little water every wash, and that water empties out over the next minute or so. The trickle ends on its own and needs nothing from you.
A drip that continues well past that point reads differently. Water is squeezing past a worn seal within the mixer, and the head simply delivers the bad news.
Signs Pointing to the Shower Mixer
Three spots produce a dripping shower: the connection between arm and head, the mixer in the wall, and on a bath-shower combo the spout with its diverter. Each has its own giveaway.
Arm-to-head connection
Seepage there while water is flowing means the joint has loosened or the seal at that joint has perished.
The wall mixer
A drip with the taps off means the fault sits inside the mixer, where an ageing washer or a tired cartridge is letting water escape.
Bath spout and diverter
Water falling from the shower while the bath is filling, or the spout losing water during a shower, blames a worn diverter.
Scale is the fourth suspect. Mineral crust blocks spray holes and forces water out of every other opening, which reads as an odd leak. A handle that fights you, or water at the wrong temperature, also points at the cartridge, which controls the flow and the hot-cold blend.
At the last census, 41.7 per cent of dwellings here had four or more bedrooms, so main bathrooms in this suburb work hard and small faults get noticed fast.
What Counts as Unregulated Plumbing Work
Yes, the QBCC puts a shower head swap on its unregulated list, so no plumbing licence applies. Anyone with the know-how and skill for the job may do it.
No approval from the QBCC or the local council is required, and nothing has to be reported. Whoever does the swap, the result still has to comply with the minimum standards in the plumbing code.
Two further points are worth knowing:
- Look for the label from the national Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) scheme on any replacement head, showing its stars and how much water it uses.
- Under that scheme, a shower head sold in or into Australia carries WELS registration, and the rating appears wherever the head is sold or advertised, online included.
The head is where the freedom ends. Cartridges and valves within the mixer are licensed territory, because the QBCC's list of unregulated work names only the head.
When a New Part Does Not Stop the Drip
If new parts go in and the drip continues, the sealing surface rather than the part is at fault. Usually the seat the washer closes against has worn, or the body of the mixer is damaged, and a licensed plumber confirms which.
A washer closes onto the valve seat, and a cartridge closes inside the mixer body. Wear or damage on either surface leaves nothing for the new part to seal against, so the drip carries on.
Work on fittings within the mixer is classed as minor work, and a licensee handles it; no permit applies and no Form 4 is lodged. We assess the mixer, confirm which surface has failed, and quote the repair from there. Guessing with another part just burns money.
When to Call a Plumber
Ring once the drip has outlived the drain-down, or the moment water shows at the arm connection during a shower. Bathrooms from the 1970s and 1980s building waves often hide the mixer behind original tiles, so a proper diagnosis beats trial and error.
Cost comes down to three things: whether the head or the wall mixer is at fault, the part required, and how easily the mixer can be reached. The price lands in a fixed quote before work begins.
Our shower repairs page walks through the deeper mixer, diverter and arm jobs.
Shower Head Questions From Bray Park
Call (07) 3524 7163Why won't my shower head stop dripping after I switch it off?
A short trickle is just leftover water draining out of the fitting, and it stops by itself. If the drip continues, the wall mixer is at fault, because an ageing washer or a worn cartridge is letting water slip past the seal. The head is simply where the leak becomes visible.
Who can replace a shower cartridge in a Bray Park home?
Only a QBCC licensee. The unregulated list stops at the head, so the cartridge sits on the licensed side as minor work: no permit applies and no Form 4 is lodged.
Who do I call about a dripping shower in a Bray Park rental?
Tell the owner or property manager straight away, because keeping the rental in good repair is their job. Swapping the head is one of the few jobs an unlicensed hand may do on a rental; the mixer itself stays with a licensee.
What should the label on a new shower head show?
The WELS stars and the water-use figures. Under the national scheme, every shower head sold in or into Australia carries WELS registration, and the rating appears wherever the head is sold or advertised, online included.
Ring Us About the Dripping HeadWe'll call you back.
Ring (07) 3524 7163 and tell us what's wrong. You get $0 call-out fees, a fixed quote before any work starts and same-day where we can, 7 days a week.
To claim your $0 call-out fee, call (07) 3524 7163 today.