How do you adjust the pressure for a shower enema

I've ordered an enema nozzle that should attach to hand-held shower hose and I want to know how to adjust the pressure for safety and pleasure. My first thought is to hold the nozzle straight up and see how high the water squirts. My thinking is 3 or 4 inches straight up is probably a safe starting point. I'm looking for a quick, safe, and easy way to clean-out.

What do you think?

YOU CANNOT ADJUST THE PRESSURE FOR A SHOWER ENEMA.

You can only adjust the flow rate. PERIOD.

You would need special pressure reducing valves.

How high the water shoots up is of no consequence.

I have one. It has a valve to switch from my shower massage to the nozzle. I usually use the shower knobs (hot and cold) to adjust the pressure. I like low pressure. Be careful because if it is really high it can cut the tissue. What you can do it have your enema bag full next to it and adjust the shower nozzle to come out with the same pressure as your enema bag.

^^^^ That ONLY reduces the flow rate.

DON'T confuse the two.

The pressure remains the same (40-60 PSI in most systems) whether the flow rate is one teaspoon or one gallon per minute.

Maybe I'm not understanding, but my shower head has a valve that allows switching from the regular head to the hand-held. The difference is the valve allows any combination. I think if I leave flow going to both, then the pressure is reduced due to having two outlets flowing from one single input. In other words the input is constant but with the water split between the two outlets is feels like the pressure is reduced.

Maybe the correct question is if the flow rate is fairly low am I at risk to causing damage to myself?

OK ........ let's try and explain pressure vs. volume.

Take a balloon ....... or even a condom ........ and secure it to your nozzle on your sink.

Now let the water just trickle into the balloon. Eventually, it will burst ......... even though the water coming out wasn't very much volume at all. It was pressure that did the work (or damage) even though the flow was low. But the high pressure was persistent and eventually fatal to the balloon.

Also, let the water just trickle out of the faucet and try to stop it by covering it with your hand. Not so easy ...... is it?

I generally use a 4 quart bag with a large diameter hose and a check valve hung about 3 feet above me as I'm prone in bed. Initially, it pours in rapidly ........ but as it continues the water encounters a blockage and stops because there isn't very much pressure. Waiting patiently, it starts to flow again as the blockage surrenders. This may happen a few times. Usually, I don't finish the bag, but I do manage to at least take more than 3 quarts.

Take into consideration that although the height of the water was originally 3 feet above me, it is now somewhere just over 2 feet because of the emptying of the bag ......... and now the pressure is less than at the start of the enema. For my age, I consider this the safe way to take a large enema.

Does any of this make sense to you now?

Play safe!!!!

^^^^^ Thank you for explaining the difference yet again over the years between flow rate and pressure.

hgmudd, let me first say that I use a shower enema without any pressure controls. I know, I know, that isn't the safe way to do it, but I have done enemas for a few decades and I know when I have reached my limits. OK, so now you at least know I am not being a "do what I say, not what I do" hypocrite. I'm just stating the facts.

Now, if you want constant filling, just use an open top bag and let your shower head or hand held head fill it as you take your extended enemas.

Thank you both! I will proceed with caution and post how it goes.

Excellent points regarding volume and pressure. On a few occasions I have used the shower hose to shoot water up my ass but I am very careful to withdraw after only a few seconds and I just let the water run out of me even as it is going in- I never try to retain the water. It does clear your rectum and can be useful to get ready for anal play but as others have said be careful. I think quick shots of just a few seconds is best. I cringe when I have seen some videos of people filling the colon and extending their bellies using this method. That really seems dangerous to me.

Another serious consideration is a water temperature fluctuation in the diverter system. I have taken showers and had the temperature become hotter than I had adjusted it to. This might cause scalding or some serious problems within the rectum or colon.

Switchablesusie’s comments aside, actually the pressure is indeed being reduced when the flow is reduced in a common two handled shower. A single handled shower is a different device, although the same physics still apply there are just not controllable in the same discrete manner.

The pressure that you have from the street main can be up to 95 psi in some parts of the county and generally is above 65psi, depending upon how your water supply had been designed their system and how all the various components are working at any given time. Now the reason that you don’t knock yourself to the floor of the shower when bathing is the handles are valves and every valve has a Cv factor that determines how much flow and pressure it will allow in a particular setting. There are people in the world who actually test such things as valves. They are called engineers. I happened to be an engineer and I’ve tested equipment like this for that very characteristic.

Now all that said, I have indeed seen these shower head enema systems and I will agree with Switchablesusie and Tabitha32’s comments regarding safety. I frankly think that they are dangerous the way they are set up. That said, I would also say that hgmudd is on the right track when he observes the height of the resulting column of water. That height of the water column is indeed the single indicator of pressure. In physics and engineering, the height of that column is measured and referred to as Pressure Head. The dimensions used to quantify that, in the US are typically, feet of head or PSI (Pounds per Square Inch of pressure). For those of you who are sincerely “Anal” enough to want to know…if that water column were to be 1 foot height the corresponding pressure is 0.42 PSI.

If you’ve ever looked at the instructions on an new drug store enema bag you will see that they typically instruct you not to raise the bag above something around 2 feet. Whether the water is coming out of nozzle upward or dropping out of an enema bag makes no different. The safe pressure is in that range of 2 to 3 feet (hence the short hoses. I suspect there are a lot of folks on the site who violate that pressure rule routinely, as Ido, but that’s certainly increasing the risks as described by Tabitha32 as well.

The other problem that I had with the shower enema is that I find it very hard to start the enema with the right water temperature and the pressure. To be safe and sane with this, you really need to look at the height of that water column and feel the temperature that you want to get that correct. The only problem now is that you have a flowing enema nozzle that you have to insert live into your Anus. This can be dangerous.

To further complicate things, if you do successfully get the nozzle in you without damaging anal tissue, you now have the temperature set to something that is potentially not the “ideal” temperature, and you have no way to adjust it safely. Any adjustment of the shower faucets will result in changes to pressure, temperature and volume…and you can’t observe the change you are making. A bad plan…don’t touch those faucets.

I don’t want to rain on potentially anyone’s new Christmas gift, but these devices are most asurradly dangerous.

There are work arounds that can be made to make a system like this safe but you will find that before you are done you will lose interest in this method of cleansing yourself. To that end anyone who want to discuss that alternate piping required for safety is welcome to contact me individually.

Sorry to barge into the Enema Forum and talk Engineering and Physics, but I’m personally and professionally tired of people making hockey stick diagrams and mis-quoting science and then having their junk science lead to years of stupid rules based upon fiction. Once again sorry to barge into the Enema forum…but if you like you are more than welcome to come to my Engineering office and I’ll take enemas and the like, all day long.

Jagkar, I couldn't have said it batter myself. It is absolutely foolish for one to inject water into their rectum with such force. The smooth muscle and digestive tract epithelial tissue will stretch some, but like a balloon has been known to rupture, so will tissue. Even a small tear will result in bad infection. I agree I like the feeling that warm water entering my colon from 5 feet... But, is it worth a possible tear?

Please be careful folks. Everyone has done a great job explaining the physics of it. The temperature fluctuation could be a real problem. When I was a student we saw a woman who had burned her colon with too hot an enema. She died. Apparently it wasn't uncommon. I also saw a death in a man who perforated his colon while disimpacting himself with a wooden spoon. Be careful with those rectal foreign bodies!

I know of a person whose bladder was removed due to cancer. They fixed him a bladder out of colon tissue. The problem he said is the colon does not have the elasticity of bladder tissue. The colon tissue does not recover so well from stretching, which is bourn out also by us old timers having a larger capacity for enema waters com paired to when we were younger.

The other note, concerning water pressure mixed up with flow rate. With a lower flow rate the city water pressure is being overcome at the valves, up until you start getting full. Then some of that pressure will be more applied gradually in intensity. But look, if you only rub your anus with the sure shot, the city water pressure will cause some of it to zip inside you, even if the flow rate is adjusted way, way down. However as "mudd" pointed out, running both shower head and sure shot, will definitely defeat most of the city water pressure. The shower head being the path of least resistance will divert that pressure, as it takes on the majority of the flow. It will no longer zip inside you, just by rubbing the tip on your anus. You should determine these facts experimentally, for yourself. I have never played with a sure shot, but have messed around with a hand held shower massage. So, in this case, what you want to do is to fine tune your shower head diverter valve on the shower neck, after your hot/cold valves are set to the desired temperature flow. Also why not start with a half inch straight up stream, rather than 3 inches. Think enema, not water cannon, OK?

With all the water going to the sure shot, and only half an inch rise water output, snap your thumb over the orifice. You will experience the city water pressure. Now half cock the diverter valve in the shower head neck and then snap your thumb over the SS orifice. This is what Switch-able is telling you about. Pressure vs latent pressure is experienced in this experiment. Don't just take our word, your hiney don't know us. So you have now to explain things in such a way that your secret friend really gets it too. And don't tease it. It might bite you and take over.

. . . . I would also say that hgmudd is on the right track when he observes the height of the resulting column of water. That height of the water column is indeed the single indicator of pressure. . . . .

Absolutely, positively WRONG.

The height of the upward flowing water is only a result of the flow rate. If the orifice of the nozzle or hose was 1 or 2 mm the water might shoot up a few feet while the same flow rate (volume flow) with a 20 mm wide orifice, the water would just dribble over the top of the hose and not shoot up at all. How high the water shoots up has ZERO bearing on the pressure.

Go back and real jonormal's post he explains it. If his explanation isn't good enough, go find your Halliday and Resnick.

Actually, the height of the water column does create pressure, 14.7 psi per 33 feet (1 atmosphere) less friction loss. Basically, while there is an effect, it's so small as to me ignored unless you're talking about scientific measurement or fire fighting. ?

Yes, and if you were fire-fighting, you would use a nozzle orifice commensurate with the volume-flow rate available at the hydrant so you could stand a distance away from the fire while spraying water in it. 😁

It's still a valid calculation. Inconsequential with an enema tube maybe 3 feet long but not zero. ?

Shower enema sets are designed to allow only a certain amount of pressure to keep someone from injuring themselves with a full pressure enema!

Sorry, Barry, but shower enema sets only restrict the flow. Designing in a pressure regulator would be bulky and expensive. And we've been all over that discussion of flow and pressure.

I tried to explain flow and pressure in post #6 in its simplest form, but it's really more complicated than what I stated.

It is indeed possible that a diverter valve can lower the amount of pressure to the hose side if there is reduced back pressure from the shower head itself ........ like when water comes out in flood mode (loose pattern). But when the shower head is adjusted for fine spray, there's going to be more pressure for the diversion to the enema hose.

And it also depends a lot on the shower head you're using. I've had shower heads that gave such a fine spray with a lot of velocity that the water almost stung when it hit your skin. This head would definitely keep the pressure way high for the water that was diverted. The fine spray on other heads I've used ........ not as much.

So many variables really enter into this ......... such as how much volume you're flowing from the faucet, the shower head you're using, the setting of the spray (fine or loose), and the volume of the diverted water .......... but it's pretty clear that in most cases your going to get enough pressure to do some serious or fatal damage.

The really safe way? If you're handy and creative, you can find a small pressure gage that you plumb in right after the diverter valve. And it may take some searching, but you'll need to find one that will max out somewhere around 4 or 5 psi. If you use one that goes to 75 or 100, the needle will hardly move because it doesn't have low pressure sensitivity. And there may also be some difficulty finding all the correct fittings you'll need to make this possible.

But then you would really know for sure ......... wouldn't you?

Susie,

In 1738, Daniel Bernoulli developed a rather eloquent equation for the behavior of fluids and laid the ground work for the science of hydrodynamics. They eventually named the principle and the resulting equation after him. It's not even a very involved equation. I'm done trying to teach hydraulics in an enema forum, but at least the thread did seem to generate a fair amount of interest for an odd topic. I think it underscores the willingness of the community to try to prevent a fellow member from getting into trouble.

Jag

Jonormal ^^^ addressed this in plain simple terms...Thanks for again taking that time !

An update.

I received the Clean Stream silicone nozzle and had to try it out. The nozzle replaced the hand-held unit of my dual head shower - i.e. it has both a rain bird shower head and a variable stream hand held head on a long steel hose. The unit has a valve allowing me to switch from shower only, to both, and to just the hand-held. The reason this is important is it allows me to infinitely vary the water flow between the two options.

In my first use, I adjusted the output of the enema nozzle to about 1 inch when the nozzle was pointed straight up. After applying some water soluble lube to the nozzle, I turned and inserted. I felt no discomfort and just stood until I could feel some fullness and I withdrew the nozzle, dried off and sat on the toilet. Based on the time it took to empty, I got a pretty good fill.

Put an open-top bag between the shower and your rectum!!

Susie is right on track! Whereas a bag hung no more than 3 feet above your "entry point" will slow and eventually stop flowing due to back pressure from a full colon, a shower nozzle retains the full pressure of your city water supply pumps. So, when you reach the elastic limits of your colon, rather than stopping, the flow will continue until you burst your colon. Showershot nozzles are VERY dangerous! Be careful!

Another element in this equation is the knowledge of the time element in rate of flow. When I first got my shower attachment, I ran tests on flow rate over time. At my preferred settings for temperature and rise, the flow rate is about one quart per 12 seconds. Your belly will tell you when it's full. I'm perfectly happy starting with a quart and increasing volumes as the cleansing progresses. Also there is no such thing as a perfect seal around the nozzle. So unless one inserts the nozzle and clamps ones anal muscles down hard, over-pressure seems unlikely, and if it occurs, is probably self inflicted.

Like sportslover I control the enema from the shower hose by setting the flow rate first. I measure it by timing the flow into a litre jug and adjust the flow to 1 litre/minute. I then fill myself for about a half a minute at a time, or less if there is any significant discomfort. I then wait a minute and repeat this usually 4 or 5 times.

There is such a thing as flow rate monitors specifically designed for fluid flow that do have various bore diameters ..Shall elaborate further with available time.

I bought my flow meter from Klystra and I would not do an enema without it and a variable hose clamp so that I can control how fast the water flows in.

hankb

That sounds like a good idea to me. I stick the shower hose up my ass in the shower with more flow than you describe. Then i just stand there and let it out over and over. I use more pressure than 3 or 4 in up but probably not much more.