Simple shower valve

[RalphVa]

Commissioned my outside shower yesterday, but the hot water supply was severely restricted. A bunch of green algae pieces came out, but some more must be plugging the works.

Took the shower valve out today. It is not plugged, but I buggered the (very old) shower valve in getting it out.

Lowes has something like 7068 "shower valves" and 147 "simple shower valves". None of them are as simple as this one. It has no shutoff valves built in. All 4 connections are 1/2 inch screwed female. Very simple valve.

Anyone seem or bought one like this recently? Couldn't find a manufacturer name on it, just made in Taiwan.

Think I'll just have to take it to a plumbing supply place and see if they have the same or similar valve.

Then I gotta figure out how to remove the plug in the hot water piping. Bought a simple plastic 1/2 inch valve to affix to the cold water line to temporarily plug it off to see if that will force the stuff through.

Think I'm gonna have to siphon off some water from the Tiny Titan heater and pour some bleach in there and let it sit to kill that algae. Have had this green stuff come through in the past, but it plugged up the shower head itself, which I just took apart and cleaned out. Apparently lots of it grew during the winter.

Ralph

 

[MossRoad]

Does this help?

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[RalphVa]

Went to a local plumbing place. They said they didn't have it. Check with Martin Hardware: been here since 1892. Did. They had it: the whole package, identical to what I have from an outfit called Boston House for $49. Plan B (or C) was Pfister OX8-310A for $121. Another plan was to replace my PVC board and just mount 2 half inch valves to join flows at the shower head; would be ugly. Cost would be about the same as replace in kind with the Boston House. Doing the Boston House.

 

[RalphVa]

I am perplexed. With the new valve I'm not getting much hot water side flow (haven't turned heater on yet). In the past, at start of season, I'd get a little bit of green, almost plantlike material plug the little shower head. I've unscrew the shower head and flush it out and all would be well. This year, A LOT of green material came out and I thought it had plugged up the old shower valve. Went to remove the old valve and destroyed it in the meanwhile. Got another identical valve.

The valve is located in a vertical section of PVC piping. For some odd reason, a 1/2 inch cpvc line comes off the top of it over to the shower head. In removing the old shower valve, I cut the vertical PVC about 1/2 way up to the valve and the cpvc about 1/2 way up to the elbow running the mix to the right.

When I took out the old valve, I tried the water flow. Very little came out of the hot side. Lots on the cold side. This is from fully cut 1/2 inch PVC.

So, I put a plug on the cold water side. Tried it. Lots of flow through the cut hot line.

Figured I'd knock the algae formation in the bud. Disconnected a flex line to my tiny titan hot water heater and siphoned water out of it. Poured some bleach in. Turned on water enough to get a little bit out of the cut hot line and let sit with the bleach solution. Later on, I flushed it a bit through the cut hot line.

Put the new valve in with new vertical pipes from horizontal hot and cold lines because this was the best way of putting the lines in without having troubles getting them to slide onto the glue ends.

Not much flow out of the hot. So, I actually cut the hot line about 1/2 way back on the horizontal run. Lots of flow. Put a coupling in and let sit. Tried flow again through valve. STILL not much flow through the hot side.

Could there be something in the valve that doesn't open up until it sees hot? This is a simple valve, not temperature compensating, no shutoff valves, etc.?

Guess I'm about ready to turn the heater on and see what happens.

Ralph

 

[MossRoad]

Doesn't the valve have a temperature adjustment inside it? That limits the amount of hot that can go through it.

 

[MossRoad]

If it's a single valve with no temp control, it's gonna be cold water as you open it and go towards hot the more you open it. Have you gone to the full hot on the valve yet?

 

[CobyRupert]

Not sure about yours, but on my single valve there’s a variable “stop” the handle is mounted through that determines how much the handle will allow hot water to be mixed in (for burn protection).

 

[RalphVa]

Far as I know, it's a very simple valve with no fancy stuff. Started all this with not getting water flow through the old valve, etc. Old valve is identical to the new valve.