Shower Faults - cartridge fail...

[steved101]

with manual shower mixers, you know if the cartridge needs replacing as the dial is stiff/stiffer to turn. are there any other symptoms that cause the cartridge to fail/that you know it is needing replacing? obviously on a thermostatic type the hot water will get increasingly hot but what about for normal manual shower mixers?

i have an aqualisa and i have noticed it is getting stiffer to turn recently. it is over 10 years old but looks clean and new still! but i have never thought too much of it. of course i will need to order another cartridge from a plumbers merchant or direct from aqualisa, but i would like to know if there is likely to be any other faults developing with it as it seems it is starting to fail ....

 

[Softus]

with manual shower mixers, you know if the cartridge needs replacing as the dial is stiff/stiffer to turn. are there any other symptoms that cause the cartridge to fail/that you know it is needing replacing?

Yes:

1. They don't work properly;
2. They leak.

obviously on a thermostatic type the hot water will get increasingly hot but what about for normal manual shower mixers?

What?

i have an aqualisa and i have noticed it is getting stiffer to turn recently. it is over 10 years old but looks clean and new still! but i have never thought too much of it. of course i will need to order another cartridge from a plumbers merchant or direct from aqualisa, but i would like to know if there is likely to be any other faults developing with it as it seems it is starting to fail ....

If you have an Aqualisa valve with replaceable cartidge, i.e. not an electric shower or a Quartz modem, then there are no other components to go wrong.

 

[steved101]

thanks softus, i'll have to order up a new cartridge i guess.

what's a quartz modem btw?

what i meant about a thermostatic mixer shower is that if the thermostat fails the water can get excessively hot i suppose?

 

[Softus]

thanks softus, i'll have to order up a new cartridge i guess.

If I were you I'd phone Aqualisa customer service and ask their advice. They will talk you through some steps to confirm the diagnosis, before you spend money, and if you order the part from them they will probably agree to take it back if it doesn't fix the problem. This is because they are an excellent company.

what's a quartz modem btw?

It's a misspelling of Quartz model.

what i meant about a thermostatic mixer shower is that if the thermostat fails the water can get excessively hot i suppose?

If it's faulty then all bets are off. Having said that, all the faulty valves I've ever seen seem to get too cold rather than too hot, so perhaps they're designed to fail safe.

 

[steved101]

yep i may have to do this. Just thought a straight forward cartridge swap would be easy to do though...

Is a Quartz model one with like two handles that you turn (sort of like a tap) each side? I have seen some showers like this that have not cartridges but kind of like tap headgear assemblies inside (both hot and cold)!....