Help needed - new house - shower problem

lulu1212

Hi all,

I just moved into a new house. Everything suppose to be brand new, including the shower. i have a problem with my HOT water...they are not hot...the sink water right next to the shower are extreamly hot. i dont know what the problem is...also if i take a shower over 20-25 minutes water are starting to get colder. please help me with what are my possible problems. could it be just replacing the faucet? or is it a more serious issue. i do have plastic pipes running to the shower.

Tnx for your help !

mj12

Their maybe a safety device installed in your shower valve. Is the shower hot in the beginning and then gets cold later on? House have a warranty? What is your location

lulu1212

Pittsburgh. I do have a warranty but from what I understood that won't be covered. Or at least that's what the plumber who came to check the problem said.
The main problem is that the water don't get as hot as anywhere else in the house. Even the sink right next to it. And after 25 min of shower the water get colder but the sink water are still very hot. Thoughts?
I think the plumber did try to adjust something in the faucet... But I still have the issue. U think changing the faucet to a better quality one will help?

PoleCat

Big Brother decided a while back that we are all too stupid to avoid cooking ourselves like a lobster in our own showers. Thus the anti-scald shower valve. These things have a barrel in them that slides in a sleeve to admit hot water. They are activated by cold water pressure. The idea is that without the cold water you can't run straight hot water all over yourself. Since your home is new I would bet that some small scraps of plumbing material have found there way into this delicate valve and are interfering with its proper operation. Could also be it was defective out of the box though. The long shot is that your water quality is extremely poor and has already managed to gum up the works.

Dierte

You can adjust the anti scald setting on your valve by typically removing the handle and cover.

lulu1212

In case I adjust the valve to the full extent and still having just warm water what else can be the problem?

md2lgyk

Bad faucet? Obviously, cold water is somehow mixing with hot water in that fixture.

PoleCat

Providing the valve is not defective from the factory, Debris has entered the mixer. This could be grit from emery cloth used to clean copper before sweating joints, tiny pieces of plastic from the connection of plastic pipes, sediment from your water supply, just about any foreign material will interfere with the operation of the brass barrel that needs to slide freely inside its sleeve. If you remove the guts from the valve body and shake it longitudinally you should hear the piece slide back and forth inside. You will not or it will not slide very well. Open it up and clean it out - spotless. Flush out the pipe before reinstalling. I recommend a whole house filter to keep new junk from fouling it up again.

lulu1212

Ok sounds good! Thank you for the replies!