Hi Guys
I have a new shower, but it only runs extremely warm or extremely cold.
Background:
- We have a Vaillant VCW 242E combi boiler
- The shower is completely new, it's an exposed thermostatic mixer with a large pan head.
- The shower has not worked properly since it was first installed a week ago.
We've had the bathroom re-done by builders who knocked out walls between the old toilet and bathroom to create one big bathroom, which enabled us to build a new stand-in shower away from the bath. They did all the new piping, but left the pipes for the shower capped off so I could finish the shower tiling before i connected the exposed thermostatic mixer shower tap.
When the shower turns on, it takes a while to warm up as the gas boiler starts up (nothing unusual there, takes about 30 seconds at most). However, the shower seems to be overcompensating with the thermostatic valves inside. It gets to the point where i can have the shower set to the coldest setting, but only boiling hot water comes through. Also i could have it set to the warmest setting, but only cold water comes out. it's like, once the shower gets going, it decides by chance whether it'll be cold or warm, then sticks to that no matter what you change the temperature setting to. turning the temp dial has no effect on the temperature or on the pressure/flow of the water coming out, but you can tell that the dial is not broken. it is moving something inside as there is resistance to the dial when the shower is turned on.
It's like it has a mind of it's own.
if i touch the water pipes coming out of the wall, i can feel that water is only travelling through one of the pipes, the other will only have a trickle. This doesn't happen until the water gets hot. e.g. turn on the shower, and both cold and luke warm water enter the mixer unit from both pipes. however, as the water gets hotter, it will either start to cut off the cold supply, or the hot supply will dwindle to nothing.
I wanted to rule everything out before i take the shower apart and send the mixer back to the shop where i bought it.
is it likely that the shower unit could be broken? is it likely that the thermostatic valves in a mixer unit can get stuck. i can't think of anything else which could cause this problem.
we have a mixer tap on the bathroom sink and bath, which both work fine. it doesn't look like we have any pressure problems with our hot water, as i've always thought it was quite constant before, and the amount of hot water is sufficient to get a good flow.
does anyone have any suggestions? it's driving me mad! i can manage not being able to have a shower, but the wifes nagging at me every day is starting to get tiring. she seems to think that just because i have the skills to connect a shower, that i'm a fully qualified corgi plumber! To be honest, i'm absolutely fine with basic or even advanced diy skills, but i'm beginning to feel out of my depth now.
I need help or suggestions as to the cause of the problem.
If you require more information to diagnose the problem, give us a shout. I'll come back to this topic regularly for the next few days so it doesn't die a death.
Oh, and thanks for any help you can provide!
I have a new shower, but it only runs extremely warm or extremely cold.
Background:
- We have a Vaillant VCW 242E combi boiler
- The shower is completely new, it's an exposed thermostatic mixer with a large pan head.
- The shower has not worked properly since it was first installed a week ago.
We've had the bathroom re-done by builders who knocked out walls between the old toilet and bathroom to create one big bathroom, which enabled us to build a new stand-in shower away from the bath. They did all the new piping, but left the pipes for the shower capped off so I could finish the shower tiling before i connected the exposed thermostatic mixer shower tap.
When the shower turns on, it takes a while to warm up as the gas boiler starts up (nothing unusual there, takes about 30 seconds at most). However, the shower seems to be overcompensating with the thermostatic valves inside. It gets to the point where i can have the shower set to the coldest setting, but only boiling hot water comes through. Also i could have it set to the warmest setting, but only cold water comes out. it's like, once the shower gets going, it decides by chance whether it'll be cold or warm, then sticks to that no matter what you change the temperature setting to. turning the temp dial has no effect on the temperature or on the pressure/flow of the water coming out, but you can tell that the dial is not broken. it is moving something inside as there is resistance to the dial when the shower is turned on.
It's like it has a mind of it's own.
if i touch the water pipes coming out of the wall, i can feel that water is only travelling through one of the pipes, the other will only have a trickle. This doesn't happen until the water gets hot. e.g. turn on the shower, and both cold and luke warm water enter the mixer unit from both pipes. however, as the water gets hotter, it will either start to cut off the cold supply, or the hot supply will dwindle to nothing.
I wanted to rule everything out before i take the shower apart and send the mixer back to the shop where i bought it.
is it likely that the shower unit could be broken? is it likely that the thermostatic valves in a mixer unit can get stuck. i can't think of anything else which could cause this problem.
we have a mixer tap on the bathroom sink and bath, which both work fine. it doesn't look like we have any pressure problems with our hot water, as i've always thought it was quite constant before, and the amount of hot water is sufficient to get a good flow.
does anyone have any suggestions? it's driving me mad! i can manage not being able to have a shower, but the wifes nagging at me every day is starting to get tiring. she seems to think that just because i have the skills to connect a shower, that i'm a fully qualified corgi plumber! To be honest, i'm absolutely fine with basic or even advanced diy skills, but i'm beginning to feel out of my depth now.
I need help or suggestions as to the cause of the problem.
If you require more information to diagnose the problem, give us a shout. I'll come back to this topic regularly for the next few days so it doesn't die a death.
Oh, and thanks for any help you can provide!