new Shower issue

mohawk · 2 Sep 2019 at 14:13

Hi All,

We have recently renovated an old bungalow to live in. as part of this we built an ensuite. We finally moved in this weekend but we are having issues with the shower. for some reason its not getting hot the water only runs through cold regards of what we do with the controls (bar mixer shower) the hot taps for the same bathroom run hot its just this shower that is having problems.

any idea's on where to start to diagnose the problem?

Haze · 2 Sep 2019 at 14:15

So the hot taps run cold, as does the shower?

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 2 Sep 2019 at 14:15

Sounds like the thermo could be borked, or the hot isn't working at all as its blocked or something, can you check the flow of the hot is making it to the shower?

mohawk · 2 Sep 2019 at 14:34

Haze said:
So the hot taps run cold, as does the shower?

The taps are fine, they run hot just the shower that the issue

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Sounds like the thermo could be borked, or the hot isn't working at all as its blocked or something, can you check the flow of the hot is making it to the shower?

the hot tap in the ensuite is on the same line as the shower, i can go into the roof and try and feel the pipe later to see where it stops feeling hot. hopefully i dont need to replace the shower

Participant · 2 Sep 2019 at 14:38

What type of shower? Pumped, electric, unvented, gravity?

adidan · 2 Sep 2019 at 14:40

It may be an obvious question but have you switched the isolator switch on (presuming it's electric)?

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 2 Sep 2019 at 14:52

mohawk said:
The taps are fine, they run hot just the shower that the issue

the hot tap in the ensuite is on the same line as the shower, i can go into the roof and try and feel the pipe later to see where it stops feeling hot. hopefully i dont need to replace the shower

So whats the actual flow, hot to tap then on to shower? Is there an isolator or anything that could be off so no hot can get that far?

If the thermo is broken (actually check the shower is actually set to hot to start with!) then no hot will flow so the pipes wont warm up.
What I meant was can you get to the hot as it comes into the shower itself and test the water there is hot. Could be a pain, but if the water will flow to there hot then the issue is the shower.

Did you fit it, or did someone else fit it?

mohawk · 2 Sep 2019 at 15:03

This is the shower - https://victoriaplum.com/product/orchard-eden-round-thermostatic-exposed-mixer-shower

as far as i can see there is no isolater in the roof. our builder is in the roof and its a pretty simple setup. hot from the boiler splits goes down to 1 bathroom and from there to the kitchen and then from the boiler it goes to the ensuite.

i will feel to see if the pipes are getting hot later and see where its stopping, but i have a feeling its the thermostatic shower mixer that is broken

edit - our builder fitted the shower.

Participant · 2 Sep 2019 at 15:52

My best guess with us still not knowing what system the op has, is that the mixer is broken, but this is fairly unlikely. It's possible there's an isolation valve on the hot supply that's accidentally been left closed.

mohawk said:
This is the shower - https://victoriaplum.com/product/orchard-eden-round-thermostatic-exposed-mixer-shower

as far as i can see there is no isolater in the roof. our builder is in the roof and its a pretty simple setup. hot from the boiler splits goes down to 1 bathroom and from there to the kitchen and then from the boiler it goes to the ensuite.

i will feel to see if the pipes are getting hot later and see where its stopping, but i have a feeling its the thermostatic shower mixer that is broken

edit - our builder fitted the shower.

So do you have a combi boiler and the hot water all runs off the combi?

mohawk · 2 Sep 2019 at 16:15

Yes it's a combi boiler

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 2 Sep 2019 at 16:37

mohawk said:
Yes it's a combi boiler

In a way thats easier to start diagnosing, switch it fully to hot, turn on the shower, does the boiler kick in?, it should as it should sense demand for the hot water.

Pyr0m@nI@]{ · 2 Sep 2019 at 17:42

Sounds like a problem with the thermostatic control on the shower

Dis86 · 2 Sep 2019 at 17:50

Mercenary actually has a really good suggestion above. My guess would be it's been plumbed in incorrectly!

eviled · 3 Sep 2019 at 07:48

I had the same issue after my bathroom was done

I had to adjust the thermostatic mixer by taking the knob off and winding the cartridge back and forth so the 120deg or so twist moved it in the correct range.

Strangely enough this wasn’t in the instructions or easy to find about on google

Edit: this
https://youtu.be/baemm_xNaak

mohawk · 3 Sep 2019 at 09:06

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
In a way thats easier to start diagnosing, switch it fully to hot, turn on the shower, does the boiler kick in?, it should as it should sense demand for the hot water.

Dis86 said:
Mercenary actually has a really good suggestion above. My guess would be it's been plumbed in incorrectly!

eviled said:
I had the same issue after my bathroom was done

I had to adjust the thermostatic mixer by taking the knob off and winding the cartridge back and forth so the 120deg or so twist moved it in the correct range.

Strangely enough this wasn’t in the instructions or easy to find about on google

Edit: this
https://youtu.be/baemm_xNaak

Thanks for the idea's after spending some time in the roof shouting at the wife to turn various things on and off it looks like the builder as plumbed in the hot and cold the wrong way into the shower... will need need to swap them over, thankfully they are plastic push fittings so shouldnt be too hard to do.

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 3 Sep 2019 at 09:13

Good(ish) news

It annoys me that trades can mess this sort of thing up, an DIYer yeah sure, but someone who does this for a living shouldn't make schoolboy errors.
I would call them back personally, say you think this could be the issue as the shower isn't working and get them to fix their error
As soon as you start messing with it they will potentially wash their hands of any other issues.

mohawk · 3 Sep 2019 at 09:15

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Good(ish) news It annoys me that trades can mess this sort of thing up, an DIYer yeah sure, but someone who does this for a living shouldn't make schoolboy errors.
I would call them back personally, say you think this could be the issue as the shower isn't working and get them to fix their error
As soon as you start messing with it they will potentially wash their hands of any other issues.

yeah i have done, left them a couple messages last night and they are going to be sending someone over tomorrow to sort.

Thanks again for the help.

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 3 Sep 2019 at 09:18

No worries glad you got there, all we do round here in H&G is throw ideas etc, its the best section of the forum IMO

Haze · 3 Sep 2019 at 09:38

Cowboy builders ftw lol

eviled · 3 Sep 2019 at 13:19

mohawk said:
Thanks for the idea's after spending some time in the roof shouting at the wife to turn various things on and off it looks like the builder as plumbed in the hot and cold the wrong way into the shower... will need need to swap them over, thankfully they are plastic push fittings so shouldnt be too hard to do.

I thought the same, but until the thermostat was adjusted hot water was never being "asked for" by the shower - only took 10 mins