Shower Shutoff

davelinde

Well-known member
When I shut off my shower at the spray head (to save water) I get a rude shock when I turn it on. The hot/cold mix is NOT maintained so I get a slug of cold water, followed by a slug of hot and then the temp is OK again.

I'm thinking of swapping the shower head out for the design in my old RV - but I'm not sure the problem is in the spray head.

Anyone else have this problem?
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Dave,

This is a normal, yet undesirable occurrence. When the water is shut-off at the mix point, the cold water easily cools down the hot water and keeps pushing down the line.

You could consider installing a nice brass check valve in the hot water line to the shower near the fixture. This would not allow the cold to push down the hot water line. I have never done this - so I am sort of guessing but it seems to make sense in terms of an improvement.

Jim
 

davelinde

Well-known member
Dave,

This is a normal, yet undesirable occurrence...

You could consider installing a nice brass check valve in the hot water line to the shower near the fixture...

Jim

I kind of suspected the issue was in the mixing valve not the shower head. I'm sure it can be solved, since my last FW didn't do this. I'll need to figure out how much is involved in accessing the guts and re-plumbing it.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Mike,

That's a great idea for Dave. I was not able to keep the comfort valve on the Oxygenics shower head so I installed a $6 turn-off valve at the mixed output of the shower faucet/fixture. I get minor mixing of hot/cold. Much less than I did with the OEM shower head that had the shut-off on the head itself.

Two reasons (better shower experience and less temp mixing) to move to the Oxygenics Dave!

Jim
 

mike3fan

Well-known member
Mike,

That's a great idea for Dave. I was not able to keep the comfort valve on the Oxygenics shower head so I installed a $6 turn-off valve at the mixed output of the shower faucet/fixture. I get minor mixing of hot/cold. Much less than I did with the OEM shower head that had the shut-off on the head itself.

Two reasons (better shower experience and less temp mixing) to move to the Oxygenics Dave!

Jim

I figure with the water savings I don't even turn it off,but I take pretty quick showers and other than last week when we camped for 10 days,most of our trip are 3-4 days max so conserving isn't much of an issue.

One thing I noticed when I was replacing the Oxygenics last week was that the shut off is only less than a 1/4 turn if you go too far you will strip/break it,which is what my SGF(silly girlfriend) did.
 

bigredtruck

Well-known member
we had the same problem in our old FW. The oxygenics head is much better. It doesn't turn off completely so it keeps the water mix correct.
 

rideblue

Active Member
Mine does just the opposite. When turning the showerhead back on the water comes out fairly hot but quickly goes back to normal.
 

davelinde

Well-known member
After some more use I've figure out more. If there's more hot in the mix than cold it will come back very hot first - I think that the first time I used it the "cold" water was warm from sitting in a hose in the sun. By the time I shutoff I think the colder water from the ground had worked it's way to the shutoff and when the mixing stopped it was shock.

Bottom line is that it does not seem these valves maintain a mix when they are shutoff. However, as I've been using more hot in the mix the temp shock is a bit more tolerable.
 

truknutt

Committed Member
The brand new MOEN handheld shower sprayers in my stick house do the same thing! We just hold the sprayer away until the water in the hose warms up.

Just one of life's many inconveniences..
 
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