I had 2 new Delta Shower Valves installed by my plumber and the darn things would to get hot enough. Yes there was plenty of hot water available in nearby faucets. The plumber told my client that there must be something wrong with the valve. On his return they told the client they had to put a part in backwards and that it was as good as it was going to get.
Well my friends, that is not good enough for me. The plumber was fired for being an idiot. I attacked the problem knowing that there was a solution and that I am not giving up until I figure it out.
I first called the Delta rep and asked his opinion. He said “it is a common problem because the plumbers put the rough in valve upside down (not paying attention) and are shocked when they put the guts of the valve in that the valve is screwed up”.
My Arrival
No one likes to take a lukewarm shower. Upon arriving I noticed that the temperature setting portion of the valve was in line with the on off part. This is not how it was supposed to look.
Upon further investigation I took the cap off and saw that the anti scald ring was in correctly, however the temperature regulating dial was 180 degrees off. I figured this out because the dial was in line with the on off ring when it should have been between 10 and 2 not at 5 (if you are looking at a clock face) (10 being hot, and 2 being cold).
The Fix
I will admit it took a few tries to get it right. First I shut the water off to the home and loosened the ring to allow me to rotate the guts of the valve 180Degrees. then tightened it solving the primary problem. Next, I got the temperature handle on correctly so that it wags left for hotter and right for colder and put the assembly back together making sure that the anti scald gears were where I felt it was safe. Ta Da! I got to be the hero again.
Follow Up
This is not the first time we have had issues with Delta valves. Most commonly a piece is left out of the rough-in valve that would normally stop mixing of the hot and cold. In this case the symptom is lukewarm water in the entire home. Familiarity with the valve is essential, for men especially, reading instructions is considered failure so naturally is not part of the process. The Delta Rep and I texted each other high fives and we called it a day.
One More Thing
This blog got me involved in a Bay Area situation where warm water was the symptom. Being the resident expert I did a Face Time with the plumber and discovered after some fiddling around that they had a bad batch of cartridges. This symptom went away once the new cartridge was installed. So there are a few ways to fail, In my case it was a misunderstanding about how the parts go together. In the second it was faulty parts.
The key is that once we did all the troubleshooting and it still did not work then we had ruled out the faulty installation and needed new parts. Happy ending
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I do these things during non-Levco time to be sure it doesn’t interfere with the Remodeling business. Repairing things and understanding homes is just another passion of mine.
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I paid for my bath to be completely redone, contractor finished installing new stem, shower rough and trim, he installed all my new tile. Today I turned the water on, ran it for 10 minutes and no hot water!. I am beyond worried as it cost me thousands of dollars and the walls are already installed.
Please tell me there is a way to get hot water without having all my tile torn out, concrete board torn out, and my bathroom a disaster again.
Yes, I have always had hot water in that bath and yes, there is hot water in the kitchen and my other bath.
Please help. I am so scared. Havent called the contractor yet.
Leah thanks for the note. I am not sure what state you are in but Plumbing In Idaho is a licensed trade and contractors should not be touching plumbing. It sounds frightening but honestly, it should be an easy fix. It is likely that the person typically the plumber either installed a part (the cartridge) upside down which happens all the time reversing the hot and cold in the valve. That or they set the anti-scald piece to the wrong place. Or they put the handle upside down. All are easily fixed and no need to tear out tile. It should be a 5-minute fix with simple hand tools. Best of luck. Tell the contractor right away, it is always best to give them a chance to fix it first before you call someone else to fix it. Joe