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Shower heads and hoses: descaling and replacing them
How to descale or replace a UK shower head and hose, what a standard screw fitting means in practice, and the limits on electric showers and gravity-fed systems.
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A shower that spits or dribbles is often the head or the hose, not the boiler and not the mains. Scale blocks the nozzles. A twisted hose kinks. A restrictor sold around a high-pressure test can make a weak shower worse. Clean or replace the parts you can undo by hand before you blame the valve. If the valve drips or the temperature wanders, see shower valve cartridges.
Descale the head
The wider notes, including aerators, are in limescale. For the head and hose:
- Run the shower and rub rubber nozzles with a thumb. Many heads are sold as rub-clean for this.
- Turn the shower off and unscrew the head by hand. Pliers on a chrome nut that will still turn are how the next joint weeps.
- Check the washer. A flat or missing washer is a drip at the joint, not a blocked nozzle.
- Soak the nozzle face in a descaler made for it, following the bottle, or follow the limescale page if the maker allows a household method. Some plated finishes are damaged by acids. If the instructions say not to soak the whole head, do not.
- Rinse, then refit the washer and the head. Hand tight is enough.
On an electric shower, stop at the head and the hose. Do not open the unit. The inside is electrical. See electric showers and mixer showers. We do not give wiring instructions. If it cuts out, runs cold, or the cable or casing is damaged, that is a qualified electrician.
A clear head, a hose that is not kinked, and a shower that is still feeble, is a supply or valve question. See low water pressure. A tray that fills while the head is fine is the waste. See blocked shower drain.
Replacing the head or the hose
In general, a UK shower head screws onto the hose, and the hose screws onto the outlet on the mixer, the rail or the electric shower. The joint is a screw thread and a washer. Many replacements are sold as fitting most heads. That is a claim to check.
Before you throw the old hose away, offer the new nuts up to the outlet and the head, check there is a washer in each end, and compare the length. A longer hose reaches further and is also easier to leave kinked in the bath.
Wickes's hose listings, opened on 14 November 2026, say the hose fits most standard shower heads and showers, and that you screw it on. They do not name a thread in the features we read. We are not inventing one. If the new nut will not start by hand, stop. Take the old hose to the shop, or ask the shower maker. A fixed head on a loose arm is a plumber's joint, not a new nozzle.
Electric showers and low pressure
Electric showers. The flow is already limited by the heater. A saving disc in the hose restricts it further. The Wickes single-function head below includes one. Wickes says it saves 50% of water usage, calculated by comparing flow with and without the regulator at 3 bar. That 3 bar comparison is not a gravity cistern. The same line reads "DO NOT not use the water saving device with electric showers." The double negative is ambiguous, so do not treat it as permission. Do not fit that disc to an electric shower unless the shower maker says it is suitable, and do not open the unit to find out.
Gravity-fed showers. Pressure comes from the height of the cistern above the head. Small nozzles, or a regulator described at 3 bar, can flatten a shower that was already modest. A head sold for a combi is not automatically right under a loft tank. If the old head worked and the new one does not, refit the old one and read what the listing assumed.
Heads and hoses at Wickes
We haven't tested this. Figures are as the maker states them (checked 13 November 2026).
Triton 3 function chrome shower head, 230 x 84 mm. Wickes says it suits most shower systems and hoses, has three patterns, screws onto the hose, and has rub-clean nozzles. "Most" is Wickes's word. The features we read do not state a minimum pressure, so we are not inventing one. On a weak gravity system, check with Triton or a plumber before you rely on every pattern.
Wickes 1 function shower head and bracket, chrome. A single-function handset with rub-clean nozzles, a bracket, and a 1.5 m stainless steel hose with two conical fitments. The optional saving device is the one with the 50% figure at 3 bar, and with the ambiguous electric-shower line above. The 1.5 m hose may be shorter than the one you have.
Wickes chrome shower hose, 1.75 m. Wickes says it fits most standard heads and showers, screws on, and is anti-twist. This listing is 1.75 m. A 1.5 m hose with the same wording was opened too. Choose the length that reaches without a loop sitting in the bath.
Run the shower and look at both nuts. A drip there is a washer or a crossed thread. If the hose splits, replace it. A split hose can overwhelm a trap that is already full of hair.
Do not leave a shower hose filling a bucket that sits below the waterline of a bath. That is a backflow question, not a new-head question. Ask a plumber what protection that use needs.
Can I descale an electric shower head myself?
The head and the hose, from outside the unit, yes. Do not open the casing. If the fault is inside, use a qualified electrician.
Are heads and hoses one standard size?
In general they screw together, and many listings say they fit most standard heads. The Wickes hose pages we opened do not name a thread. Try the nuts before you discard the old hose. If they will not start by hand, they do not match.
Will a new head fix a weak gravity shower?
A blocked head might be the whole problem, and cleaning restores it. A head or a restrictor meant for higher pressure can make a gravity shower worse. The 50% figure quoted above was calculated at 3 bar. If a clear head is still poor, look at the supply and the valve.