Help please, Hudson Reed Thermo cartridge, ongoing issue.

Hi,

I have a Hudson reed thermostatic shower mixer valve, with a faulty thermostatic cartridge. Initially it would not undo at all, but after receiving some great advice on here it loosened off. Great I thought, and ordered the replacement cartridge.

Upon completely unscrewing it I found only the front section came away, leaving the cartridge sleeve well and truly stuck in the valve body. Pics attached to show what came away vs the new valve, and showing the sleeve remaining in the recess of the valve.

It has hex keyway at the back, but the sleeve is so tight and the material so soft it has almost completely rounded off. I have tried WD40 in there to soften the O-rings, I have tried soaking in white vinegar in case it is a limescale issue. I have tried a puller, but there is little to hook on to, and it is too narrow to get the legs to the bottom.

Any suggestions please?

Many thanks

Jamie

 

If you get something roughly the same diameter as the inside of the cartridge you can force the cartridge from side to side, you only need to break the seal between the two metal surfaces.

 

If you file off all the thread near the top of the tap, the thread which originally screwed into the body of the valve, you should be able to screw the top of the valve back into the bottom part which is stuck in the valve. Keep turning it (in the tightening direction) it to break the lock between the O rings and the body, and you should be able to wangle it out. Don't use WD40, it more likely to swell the O rings.

 

This happened to me and I thought I'd document my issue (and solution).

The Hudson Reed valve SA30049 in my shower was stiff and the water was no longer hot. I decided to replace the valve.
First I undid the small thumb screw on the side of the unit.
However, it was almost impossible to unscrew the valve (I was worried about ripping the mounting out of the wall). I applied WD40 as recommended in some other forums but I doubt it did anything.
I used an adjustable wrench on the end and after several attempts (on different days) it finally came out. I applied a lot of force anti-clockwise.
The valve came out leaving the cartridge sleeve well and truly stuck in the valve body
The key piece of information is the valve is made up of segments which screw together, if the bottom rusts in place then the valve body unscrews and pieces are left inside the shower.
The hex hole at the bottom is imperial, it is 5/8ths. Do not use a 15mm hex bit it will round off the soft brass.
Using a 5/8ths hex and wrench I succeeded in turning the valve body (in turns either way). Again a reasonable amount of force but you can go clockwise and anti-clockwise.
It was still too difficult to pull out so (as Picasso above suggests) I screwed the unit back in...
And then unscrewing the valve pulled the whole unit out - as it had screwed back together inside but was now free to turn.
Success, after 3 weeks of weekend phaff, I can now fit the replacement.

Hope this info helps somebody...

 

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