Delayed Hot Water Flow In Shower?

Question

Hi,

I have a problem with the Hot water flow in my shower. All other water flow/pressure is fine throughout the house including the bathroom basin and cold water flow in the shower.

When I turn on the hot water tap in the shower, there is no water flow for about 30secs-3minutes, then it starts running and is fine.

Can anyone help diagnose what the problem might be?

Thanks.

Thanks Dragon. Where is the shower valve/cartrige unit located in the scheme of things?

Thanks Dragon.

I actually have 2 standard taps and a shower head. So, would I be looking behind the hot water tap?

Answer 1

This is a pretty wierd problem: Since the only place where there is a problem, is the hot water part of that one shower, I think you need to look at the shower valve/cartrige unit. Some of the showers have a sliding piston in the valve unit that is supposed to compensate for variations in water presure to keep temperature constant, maybe that thing is sticking then breaking loose? Also some of the newer showers and water fawcets have a way to set the maximum temperature of water that will come out (to avoid burns) maybe this controll could get messed up and cause this problem? Just a couple of suggestions.

Since your problem involves NO hot water flow, not, water flowing but taking a long time to get hot, I don't think it has anything to do with location of water tank or pipe size.

Added:

First turn off the water! Have some rags handy, as some water will run out during dissassembly!

If your shower is one of the ones that has a single knob or lever the pulls out/turns to activate the shower, you need to remove the knob (there is usually a plastic insert that must be carefully popped out to reveal the screw, or some times an allen head set screw on the bottom of lever handles) once the handle is off there are usually 1 or 2 screws that hold the dish-like backing plate in position, remove these, (the plate is often stuck on the wall with putty, silicone, or the like), so you might need to work it off carefully with a knife. razor blade, etc. Once this is off, you'll see the valve assembly. At this point you are going the have to do some detective work: look for a place on the valve unit that looks like where it might come apart to gain acess to the compensation unit (it might be an internal snap ring in a recess or a hex nut somewhere). The compensator is usually a separate unit from the actual cartridge and generally doesn't require removing the cartridge to get at it. Be careful when dismantling that springs and other parts do not go flying! I would suggest that if you are unfamiliar with taking these apart, first determine the brand/model of your valve, then go the a decent hardware/ plumbing place and see if they have the exploded diagram of your valve in their reference books (every place I have gone to was glad to make a copy of the diagram for me) its a big help during diamantling/reassembly!

I hope you get your problem fixed with as little hassle as possible.

I'm at work right now, so I can't stay on long!

The kind of arrangement you have might not even have the compensating unit (I have usually only seen that in the single handle style valves)

If you only have the hot and cold valves and a shower head, try dismantling the hot assembly first and see if there are foregin object(s) lodged in the assembly or parts binding due to mineral build up. (Sometimes bits of crud and fragments of washers from valves further down the pipeline are carried with water flow until they get trapped at the constriction of another valve/fawcet). Also, sometimes the screw that holds the washer onto the valve stem comes loose and gets lost somewhere in the pipe/valve. Although the washer is not attached to the stem anymore, it can't get lost, because it is still trapped within the valve chamber, this can lead to all kinds of wierd plumbing effects, chattering, machinegun like hammering, and possibly getting temporarily stuck in the seat even when pressure of valve stem is released. Maybe this explains the delayed hot water flow?

If your setup has a lever or central valve handle that directs between shower or bath tub fawcet that would be the next place to investigate if you couldn't find anything amiss with the hot fawcet.

I hope you find the problem, we are running out of possibilities, except for demonic possession of plumbing; in which case you should contact the Weekly World News!

Answer 2

Triton Pressure Compensating Shower

Answer 3

you might have a 3/4 inch line feeding your shower. if so, the hot water has to push out a larger volume of cold, or luke warm water before the hot water reaches the faucet. is it a tub/shower? if only a shower, the hot water travels further up the riser to the showerhead. there's a number of possibilities.

Answer 4

Your water heater is positioned farther away. It takes time to reach the shower. Put insulation around your hot supply line.

Answer 5

Water in pipes goes cold. You need to get hot water along the pipes. Your basin supply probably tee's off the supply to the bath (different pipe sizes). You could just run the bath hot tap first to get hot through.

Answer 6

complicated issue. seek over a search engine. just that can assist!