Shower mixer disabled or faulty?

[scoobyd00]

Hi,

I've just moved into a new house and the previous owner mentioned that the concentric mixer shower has been disabled since there's an electric shower in the cubicle as well. Supposedly, the mixer shower still works - just that it's been disabled since it's not recommended to use both shower systems at the same time (we have a Vaillant combi boiler). He mentioned that the shower was disabled directly from the controls somehow.

I've just tried taking the mixer apart to see if I can get it going again as I don't like the electric shower. However, I'm a bit stuck as I don't know what could've possibly been done to disable the shower unless a vital part has been taken out. The other problem is that I have no idea who the manufacturer of the shower is so I cannot look up any manuals.

I've included several pictures with this post to see if anyone can point me in the right direction?

From messing about with it, it appears that the flow control lever isn't 'gripping' the cartidge vale properly as it just seems to spin around the valve part of the cartridge. With a sturdy pair of pliers, if I turn the part that the flow controller is supposed to be biting into, the shower will come on (a bit surprising at first!).

If I try to turn the large nut at the back (measures approw 55mm across), the shower again will start up so I haven't gone further than just turning it slightly as I don't know where the isolation valves are..! (I know I can turn off the water completely but my wife is cooking...)

The temperature control is gripping ok as far as I can see but I don't know if it controls the temperature.

The only slight identifying marks are that the flow control lever has a very faint On/Off on it and also on the inside of it, it has a small red arrow at the bottom. The temperature control lever has some faint writing indicating 38C with some dots.

If anyone can help or suggest what to try to get it going again it would be much appreciated!

Many thanks in advance!

Pics:

 

[Madrab]

Are there isolators that shut the wtaer off?

The only other thing that could be done is to physically block up the inlet or outlets. There's no screw or anything that just turns down to stop it. It's just a manual mixer, basically 2 taps, one inside another. They could have capped off inside the rigid riser where it connects to the body. They could have capped the inlets, where the shower boss is connected to the pipes. Shut off the water and take the whole mixer off and check if they've capped in there.

Is that date underneath correct, looks a lot older than just 2 years?

 

[scoobyd00]

Thanks for the reply.

I can't seem to find any obvious isolators unfortunately. I guess I can turn the main water supply stop off.

Would any of the suggestions you've made about capping off the inlets or rigid riser cause the flow controller to not be able to seemingly bite into and turn the valve to start/adjust/stop flow of water? As mentioned, if I grab a pair of pliers and grip and turn the valve part of the cartridge, the shower will start (i.e. water flows). It seems that the flow controller's inside 'ring teeth' just aren't gripping onto the valve as it just spins when attempting to turn. The valve seems to be very stiff to turn though which may or may not be a factor.

That is a date underneath and I haven't messaed about with it in any way - I guess we must live in an extremely hard water area and coupled with the fact that the previous owners of the house didn't seem to be the cleanest of people...

 

[Madrab]

Apologies, complete brain hiccup there and didn't even read that part... doh!!

The notches cut into the centre control that grips the splines on the valve will be worn flat then if there's no more grip, probably as the flow control valve got tighter with age, the centre valve is the temperature control it take it? The large outside nut usually locks the valves into the brass body, loosening that will give you, in effect, 2 open ended pipes, if the water isn't off

 

[Madrab]

If the pipes are 150mm centre's then I'd get a cheap bar mixer and pop that in, flogging a dead horse with that one I'd say, has had it's day
May even be able to use the rigid riser if you get the right mixer

 

[scoobyd00]

No problem, I'm very grateful for your suggestions in any case.

I believe that the centre valve is for temperature as the smaller lever has a series of dots on it and ends up with the number 38C on it. The splines on that are fine and that part is easy enough to turn even without the lever on it and just using my fingers.

I tried to loosen the large outside nut as when I took the two controllers off, the nut had some indentations on it as if though it had been opened before. However, as soon as I turned it just a little bit anti-clockwise, the shower started to flow - so I just turned it back.

I do vaguely understand how a shower mixer is supposed to work and I'm thinking in this case I'll most likely need a new cartridge and possible also a new flow controller handle as both the splines on the cartridge look quite worn and the corresponding splines on the flow controller also look very worn too.

The problem is how I go about identifying the make of the shower as there's nothing on there to indicate make or model of it.

 

[Madrab]

That's why I mention checking the dimensions and if 150mm it will be much quicker and can be cheap enough just swapping it for a new one.