The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Shower/Tub Hot Water Pressure?
Kamar
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey H/A, need a little help with my plumbing. For some reason, the hot water pressure of my tub/shower seems to have died. I can get a constant tiiiiiiiny trickle of hot water maxing it out, and if I turn the faucet on slowly, sometimes I start to get some flow, which disappears completely with a SHUNK sound when I continue to turn it or after a short period of time.
Hot water working at full power everywhere else. Cold water too, including the cold water for the shower. Don't THINK it's a frozen pipe, since I've been running that hot trickle for an hour or two now with no improvement. Ideas?
Hot water working at full power everywhere else. Cold water too, including the cold water for the shower. Don't THINK it's a frozen pipe, since I've been running that hot trickle for an hour or two now with no improvement. Ideas?
Kamar on
0
Posts
If it's a combi boiler, it's probably a problem with that, if you have an old-style water heater and hot water tank, then there might be a pump between the tank and your shower that could be failing or not working at all.
Do you have a single-handle valve or a dual-handle? Did you recently shut down the building's water at all? How old is said plumbing?
According to the sticker on the thing, it was made in 2005. Plumbing and such is probably new; the entire building was renovated just before I moved in; they're still redoing other apartments in the building. Don't think the plumbings been shut off lately.
And this may be a stupid question, but where should I check to see if it is single or dual-handle?
You could check the breakers and see if anything's tripped, since things like that tend to have their own circuit.
In the place I used to rent, any problems with the hot water had to be directed to the rental company, not my landlord.
Single handle like this
http://www.efaucets.com/MediaRich/HTML/zoom_sonic/zoom.asp?img=Delta Faucet/bs_T14178-LHP_H777_highres.jpg
or dual like this
http://www.efaucets.com/MediaRich/HTML/zoom_sonic/zoom.asp?img=American Standard/3275.305.002.jpg
either way your are probably going to need a plumber. Also, very few home have pumps for the showers in the US.
Call the landlord for fixes - may be required by your leasing agreement.
Or
Replace the valve yourself. If you head to any Lowes or Home depot, they sell replacement ones. Usually, in the box, instructions for removal and installation are included. Its easier than you think, and it'll usually only take a set of pliers and a screw driver.
If you can install a graphics card in a computer, you can change a tap valve. Without buying anything you can take it apart and see if that's where the problem lies. Identifying the cause of the problem will make it; a) easier to fix. or b) cheaper for a plumber to fix if they don't have to spend time diagnosing the problem and buying parts.
You also might want to consider liability and all that. if you take the initiative to repair, you are responsible for the outcome... and if god forbid something goes wrong, it's on your shoulders. Granted, replacing a stem isn't something that will destroy a fixture, but do know the risks involved.
Now as for the actual fix--the part that people here are referring to is the valve stem. And unfortunately, stems are not universal. What you could do is note the brand (usually printed somewhere on the faceplate escutcheons or the handles) and note the style--it sounds like you have three knobs in the wall, so you would go to Homo Depot and ask for a valve stem for a three-handle [brand] shower valve. This may or may not work--the guy might not know what you're talking about, or they might not even have stems--so your other option would be to remove the stem and take it to the store with you.
Stems can be notoriously tricky to remove, but take it slow. Do not force anything. And if you get stuck, just call the landlord.
Statement needs more Lime. And cowbell.
Funny you should mention that. Was doing a stem repair on a pair of showers that used the single-handle design (push-pull on-off, and turn for temp). Used a stem puller to try and pull the stem out, which were quite old, and because of a persistent and long-ignored leak, they'd corroded pretty badly. Stem puller worked great - pulled the stem right out of the middle of the cartridge, leaving the bad valve cartridge behind. With, as you might imagine, no way to remove the now stuck cartridge.
Call to plumer shortly ensues. Turns out there is another tool exactly for this circumstance that uses a sort of mushroom arrangement to wedge into the space the stem formerly occupied and extract stuck broken cartridges. And yes, you can do it yourself. Except it's a pretty touchy tool. Tighten the wedge too little, and you end up spinning the mushroom around, nicely reaming out the interior, and making it so smooth you can never gain purchase on the interior again. Too tight, and you mushroom out the entire cartridge, wedging it into the fixture, and then you're right screwed. My plumber has apparently dealt with both cases, and while he did say the tool was easy to find or rent from a plumbing shop, upon further consideration, he did admit, "well, actually, maybe you don't want to do that."
Fontunately, the bill wasn't outrageous, and the guy did the job quickly. I was also lucky that it wasn't a weekend, wasn't after hours, and didn't qualify as an "emergency" call.
Bu yeah, turns out you can damage the fixtures if you're not careful, and sometimes even when you are. If you're renting, the last thing you should want to do is mess with is the plumbing. In a lot of cases, you don't even want to do it yourself - depending on the fixture, even just simple parts can be an uneeded expense (the replacement valve cartridges in my story were $35 a piece). Let your landlord or rental company take the out-of-pocket and the risk.
But I should have qualified... replacing a stem usually isn't something that will destroy a fixture. Usually. And I've wrenched some incredibly old stems out of their housings before with no ill effects, besides the homeowner's children learning many new colorful words to share with grandma.