Mixer tap shower problem. Cold tap too sensitive

[Scott1433]

I wonder if anybody could help me. If it was my own house I would just pay a plumber to come and sort it out but because I am a tenant I have to go through the landlord but I am not satisfied with what I have been told. I have recently moved into a new house and we cannot have a shower unless we want to be burnt alive or froze to death. The bath has the standard mixer taps and shower where you pull the knob up and the water comes through the shower head. If you want a bath everything is fine, hot flows and cold flows with no problem. However as soon as you want a shower it becomes a problem. If you put the hot tap on its own hot water comes from the shower but as soon as you apply any cold, even if you turn the cold tap just 1mm, the hot is overpowered by the cold. Even though the hot tap is turned as far as it will go and the cold tap is turned hardly at all. Infact when i switch the shower off and go back to running a bath the cold tap only drips out because so little turn has been applied, but even that is enough to overwhelm the hot whilst running a shower. I have reported it to the landlord who has sent a plumber round who says it can't be sorted out. Well I find that impossible to believe, there are 62 million people enjoying nice warm showers all over the country but my house is different? I have used mixer taps hundreds of times before and had them in my previous home and everything was fine. When I questioned the landlord he said he is not a plumber and can only go by what the plumber tells him. Any suggestions on what I should do next? I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to have a warm shower in a house that I am paying good money to rent, we are not in victorian times anymore

 

[kevplumb]

what sort of water system do you have

 

[Scott1433]

hiya

The cold feed comes straight in from the mains. I have a water boiler downstairs in the kitchen that provides hot water for the central heating as well as the bathroom. I do live in a hard water area and somebody has suggested maybe limescale could be causing the problem, but I really don't know

 

[JohnD]

and does the hot water come from a cylinder supplied from a tank in the loft?

what you are describing is typical of an unbalanced supply where cold is high pressure and hot is low pressure.

 

[Scott1433]

Hi I do not believe there is a cylinder in the loft. It comes from the combi boiler in the kitchen

 

[kevplumb]

first get the boiler checked

you could fit

pressure reducing valve

• kevplumb
• 20 Aug 2010
• 1

pressure reducing valve on the cold inlet

or
View media item 17114
pressure balancing valve

but as above get the boiler checked first

 

[mysteryman]

The problem is caused by the installation you have described. A pressure reducing valve could help. This installation is probably strictly illegal.

These manual mixers are never any good unless both cold and hot are gravity tank fed. There are combi-compatible bath shower mixers available, or a separate compatible wall mounted mixer could be cheaper to fit.