temp regulator / scalding protector.. - DIY Chatroom

windowguy · 10-12-2009, 02:01 PM

My shower doesnt get hot enough to take a good hot bath. The water comes out of my sink hot enough to burn your hands.. but i can't get it hot enough in the shower to take a good bath. (think muscle relaxing).

If i turn up hot water heater "dial" to make it hotter, then yes, i can get the water in the shower to be hotter, but now its ridiculously hot burning fingers out of the sink.

I understand the function of the scald protection, but i thought scald protection monitored the MIX of the water, not the absolute temperature. If technically i can raise the temp of the shower by just turning up the hot water heater then the divertor really isn't a scald protector.

And yes, i took apart my divertor and set it to the MAX hot water adjustment. still not hot enough.

I just want my shower hotter without turning up the heat on my water heater. what i've actually done is took buckets of hot water from my sink and poured it in the tub to take a bath.

Thurman · 10-12-2009, 03:10 PM

IF I understand your problem, you have a tub/shower diverter valve with built-in scald protection. And, you have adjusted the scald protection device to give you more hot water, but are not getting water as hot as you would like it. Question here--Would you by any chance have an additional thermal mixing valve in the piping to you tub/shower that may be controlling the water temp? I recently ran across this very issue and it drove us almost nuts (I'm close anyway), until we found this additional thermal control valve within an interior wall. OR- are you trying to exceed the manufacturers maximum setting for hot water at your tub/shower valve? Just a couple of thoughts there. Thanks and Good Luck, David

windowguy · 10-12-2009, 05:16 PM

the way you described my problem is 100% correct. i cannot tell you if i'm trying to exceed the manufacturers temp control because i havent put a thermometer to it to test how high i got it.

I'm just using my own skin as a gauge.

I don't know if there is another controller somewhere in the wall..i'm pretty sure there is not.

Back to trying to exceed the manufacturers max. It doesnt make any sense that i can exceed it if i turn the boiler temp gauge up higher, then effectively there is no "control" in the divertor because i can override it at the boiler. There is really just a "maximum mix" of hot water, not absolute temperature allowed to flow through.

So right now i think this is just a design issue with the divertor that i'm not happy with the maximum MIX between hot and cold, even though i have more than enough hot coming out of the sink.

Very inefficient that i have to make the entire house water supply hotter (and maintain wasting energy) just because i want the shower hotter.

jhao · 10-25-2009, 09:43 AM

install thermostatic mixing valve and adjust the temperature from there..