Single handle shower

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house92

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I have a single handle water valve in the shower that blends the hot and cold water. It has worked fine until recently I have to have it turned all the way to the hot side just to have warm water. Previously, the handle was in the middle for warm water. There are no water heater issues, and all the other sinks in the house have normal hot water.

The only change is that I recently had city water installed as opposed to a well. However, there were no major plumbing changes. The hook up was very minor.

Does anyone know what the issue could be? Is there some minor adjustment I can do to return it to normal?
 
I would doubt very highly that you have an issue with the shower valve itself (at their core there just isn't a lot to them) and mineral deposits that cause this kind of issue generally develop slowly.

I would guess that the issue is you now have a higher pressure from the street than you had from the pressure tank with the well. This is causing the rate of cold water to flow faster than the relative rate of the hot water.

Additionally there could be a number of different issues, including (but not limited to); Source water being colder than the well and it taxing your water heater, issues with the water heater not being able to sufficiently heat the water.

Some questions;

1. What type of hot water heater do you have (this answer will help get us to better questions)?
2. Does this issue correspond to changes in weather, i.e. is it now cold outside when previously it wasn't (this generally doesn't make much difference for well water).

Many faucets allow for adjustments that may allow you to address this at the faucet there is indeed no real issue with the supply.
 
I’ll get back on the type of water heater. I can’t recall, so I’ll have to wait until I get home to see.
 
Analytic trouble shooting is often based around changes. If the shower quit working in close proximity to changing the water service logic says to look for the cause related to that. aNYCdb points out a few my mind having replaced services a few times leads me to something being dislodged with the change. Pipes build up stuff over the years and new pipes coming to the house could have dirt or something inside. My guess is something is in the valve preventing its free movement. These valves have features to prevent getting burned if there is a sudden change in the cold flow etc.

There is no real way for us to know your problem we are only guessing.

Where would I start? I would shut off the shower at the shutoff and take the valve apart. Every one is different and they sell replacement cartridges for them. first I would pull it apart clean it up and put it back together. That could fix it at zero cost. you might see damage and then you can replace the cartridge.
 
I’ll get back on the type of water heater. I can’t recall, so I’ll have to wait until I get home to see.

To be clear I don't need the brand. Is it stand alone tanked (gas/electric), tankless (gas/electric), or is it integrated into your heating system in a combined boiler (oil/gas)?

The reason I ask is that these will all have different things you can look at. For example a Tankless will restrict water flow based on how it heats which if the source water is colder may mean that you get less pressure on the hot water side, an integrated boiler will have a mixing valve that adds back cold water into the hot so that it isn't 180 degrees (which is what you want in your radiators).
 
Your shower valve may have an internal temp. control, which can be reset.
 
To be clear I don't need the brand. Is it stand alone tanked (gas/electric), tankless (gas/electric), or is it integrated into your heating system in a combined boiler (oil/gas)?

The reason I ask is that these will all have different things you can look at. For example a Tankless will restrict water flow based on how it heats which if the source water is colder may mean that you get less pressure on the hot water side, an integrated boiler will have a mixing valve that adds back cold water into the hot so that it isn't 180 degrees (which is what you want in your radiators).

It is a 50 gallon stand alone tank powered by electric. It appears several things could be the issue, but after reading your other post, I’m thinking it may be the change in water pressure. It has more pressure now, which I like. How can i adjust the flow of water to it?

I assume it boils down to something being readjusted somewhere.


Someone mentioned adjusting something within the valve. Are these valves more common located than the two knob deaos? Would I know what to look for if I took it off? From looking at the instructions, it looks like something that could fall out to a thousand pieces, or something difficult to get back correctly. I certainly don’t want to make it worse. I’m not totally ignorant of handy-man skills, but I e just never dealt with a single handle before.
 
Is this something that will be obvious and simple if I take it off to look at the situation?

They are fairly strait forward.

You said you have the instructions. What is the make and model #?

So a PDF can be pulled up and we can assist you.
 
They are fairly strait forward.

You said you have the instructions. What is the make and model #?

So a PDF can be pulled up and we can assist you.

Ok. I will have to wait until I get home later tonight for the model number.
 
D says adjustable temp. stop.

That's the adjustment and there should be a paragraph addressing the process.
 
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