Shower Head Washer keeps dislodging

[frank999]

I purchased a fixed shower head that screws onto a 15mm elbow.

It has been in service a few years, it is the dome type with a limited range swivel head.

Every six months tenants complain that water pressure in the head has gone, I go in and find the rubber washer that sits in the middle between head and the elbow from the wall - has disappeared.

This is the 3rd time this has happened since installing it.

Any idea's what would possibly be causing the washer to disappear, I have a number of these heads installed and this is the only one where this happens.

Any thoughts appreciated.

 

[Alec_t]

Three possibilities occur to me:
1) Tenants ar fiddling with the shower head, removing it and losing the washer,
2) The washer perishes, disintegrates, gets into the shower tray
3) Any backflow (there shoudn't be) and washer bits get back into the supply pipe.

Loss of shower presssure might trigger (1). or might be a symptom of (2) or (3).
Have you identified why there is a pressure loss?

 

[frank999]

Thank you, it appears not to be the washer this time, but scale build up blocking the rubber nipples on the head, a simple fix that the tenants have been shown how to do several times, a condition will be written into contracts and a charge made if I'm called out again.