Mixer shower inlets leaking - a lot!

[Mikew5163]

Hi,

I have an Aqualisa mixer bar shower in a house I bought last summer. I've been aware that it's been leaking very slightly from the hot inlet for a while - nothing major so I hadn't got round to doing anything. Then the other morning I found that it was leaking quite badly all of a sudden. I took the bar off the wall and changed the washers, firstly with fibre ones then rubber. All to no avail as the leak seemed to just get worse with everything I tried.

I took the thing off the wall and capped off the pipes with screw on caps - no leaks at all.

I convinced myself that the mixer itself must be leaking as I've read that they do when the cartridge inside fails. So I bought a new Mira bar mixer with the same inlet spacing and fittings (3/4") but when I fitted that I found it too leaks from the same inlet. Not just a little drip now and then - water pours out of it!

So now I think I am losing my marbles. How can a joint not leak when it's capped off but leak (a lot!) when I attach either of two shower mixers to it?

I'm wondering if my water pressure has suddenly increased and this has caused this - is this likely? Nothing else in the house seems to be suffering - water pressure is very adequate and I wouldn't say it was high (I've lived somewhere where a pressure reducing valve was necessary else the taps were hard to turn off!).

I'm hoping the nice people at Screwfix will take the new shower back and am thinking of trying some Loctite 55 on the offending joint with the original shower, which is obviously not faulty after all. Does that sound a reasonable plan, or should I look at installing a pressure reducing valve too?

Thanks in advance!

 

[muggles]

It's the faces that form the seal, not the threads, so I'd doubt that trying to seal the threads would help. At a guess I'd say you're trying to do it up too tight and knackering the new washers

 

[Mikew5163]

It's the faces that form the seal, not the threads, so I'd doubt that trying to seal the threads would help. At a guess I'd say you're trying to do it up too tight and knackering the new washers

Hi,

Thanks - yes I know not to overtighten these kinds of joints. I did inspect the face of the offending inlet pipe and I can't see anything amiss with it. And popping a cap on to the pipe seals it no problem. This is why I am so confused. I've tried two showers and they can't both have a defective face at their end of the connection!

 

[rules&rulers]

The left/hot connection is always the first to leak.
Have quoted for a hotel which has 22 of these leaking,some dripping some with corrosion keeping it from leaking.

In the past have found some of the wall 3/4" connecting threaded stubs to have a slight conical face so reducing the surface area to sandwich the washer. so used a file to file them flat and perfect seal first time.
Other leaks were caused by incorrect sealing washers,under tightening,over tightening, 3/4" connecting stubs out of alignment so it feels like it has tightened up but tightened to soon so not sandwiching the washer enough.

Sometimes there are non return valves and or filters in the shower connections,make sure these dont interfere with the washers.

I always (now) use fibre washers and a dab of silicone lube/vaseline ! on the threads. Washer example https://www.showerspares.com/search/grohe_inlet_filter_strainer_x2_07264_00m/

This is the type of job which should just take a few minutes, BUTT.

 

[Mikew5163]

Many thanks rules&rulers. I seem to have solved the problem for now by employing Loctite 55 on the offending joint. As muggles says above, I should not have to seal the threads as the faces themselves should do the job! But in this instance it looks like there is an issue with the face of my inlet pipe. I did run my finger round and there's a bit of a 'flat' on one side, but there was an identical feature on the other inlet, which doesn't leak. So either this is normal or the original fitter was doing something odd to the pipes:/

Anyway, a big thumbs up from me for Loctite 55 which has given me a £4.99 fix which I hope lasts!

 

[Mikew5163]

I just thought I'd update this post for the benefit of anyone stumbling upon it in the future. I've now realised what the underlying cause of my problem was.

The left hand (hot) supply pipe looks like it's not properly supported behind the tiles, so it has dropped forward. It's no longer in the same plane of alignment as the other pipe, so there's no way both can form flat seals against the inlets on the mixer bar. The bar doesn't even sit horizontally (and possibly never did). This also explains why capping the pipes off worked without any issue, of course.

So the moral of the story is to follow the installation instructions and ensure shower pipework is properly supported. It's just a shame that my national house builder (name begins with a 'B') didn't follow this simple instruction. It's by no means the only corner they cut, though....

 

[stormyuk]

Apologies for resurrection this old thread but, I've recently come across a very similar issue with our Hansgrohe Ecostat Universal bar shower mixer (13122000) which uses the washers quoted by rules above.

When I took the bar off these were buried in the nut mashed up as though they had been put on with way too much force. I've just ordered some new ones before I fish them out as don't want to do that while the shower is already dripping.

Interestingly the cold washer was more mashed but, it's the hot side which is leaking. Started slow and is now a steady drip.

The thread on the hot side looks a bit mashed although the nut does seem to fit on ok.

I'll check how the front is when I offer the new washer but, the faces looked ok.

These washes should seal on the face?

How much force should be used to tighten the nuts. The manual says 17nm but, I don't have a torque spanner and don't want to mash the new washes like what already appears the builder did.

Edit: I should mention this has been fitted just over 2 years and has just started leaking now.

Thanks.