Lack of Hot Water in bath

Before I call a plumber I thought I would pose my question here in case there may be a simple fix....

We have found that one of our upstairs guest baths does not get hot water for the tub/shower. The sink fawcett will give hot water but even after letting the shower run for more than 5 minutes the water barely gets lukewarm. Any ideas or is this one for the plumber???

 

This is a simple fix, don't waste your money on a plumber!

All you need to do is remove the handle from the hot/cold water faucet for the shower and adjust the plastic "safety" device installed therein. The safety regulates the amount of hot water that is allowed to mix with the cold water, and Van Metre usually sets it to a pretty lukewarm setting. It is supposed to prevent children/others from burning themselves.

You can either adjust the device or, I think, remove it altogether. In order to remove the handle you will need a small allen wrench (take a look at the underside of the handle and you will see what I am talking about).

Good luck!

 

We had a similar problem as well and Pats Fan is correct. The problem lies in those stupid "scald-protector" water faucets. What we did is took the faucet apart and "Reverse" the little plastic piece in there so that the HOT water will turn on first instead of the cold water. The scald protector faucet is designed to turn on cold water first at 100%, then as you slowly turn the knob to a warmer setting, it slowly increases the amount of hot water added. The problem we had is that when you have 100% cold and 100% hot (handle all the way up) the hot water was not hot enough to overcome all of the cold water. So when I reversed the plastic device inside, I now get 100% HOT water first and as I turn the handle up it adds cold water until I get the temperature I want.
Another alternative, yet more costly, is to turn up your water heaters thermostat. But I dont recommend that. The first solution is not as hard as it sounds. All you need is a phillip and flat screwdriver and some bathroom caulk for when you finish up. Thats all.
Good luck.

DwArFlOrD

 

I don't even think Carol will need to re-caulk for this project. I would suspect that her faucets are similar to ours (another VM Courtyard home), in which the faucet has two parts: a base that is secured and caulked to the tub/shower wall and a removable handle attached to the base. The scald protector is accessible simply by removing the handle, which can be done with an allen wrench.

 

Carol-

All new plumbing fixtures come with anti-scald devices built into then that merely consist of a plastic cog-type ring that stops the hot/cold water mixture at a determined setting. Please follow Patsfans instruction and adjust this ring so more hot water will be added to the mixture thus increasing the higher temperature available. Since this is in a hall bath and could be used by small children, I would advise against "reversing" the ring as Dwarflord suggests. In this scenario, if a small child were to turn the water on a small bit, he or she would be receiving almost all hot water and this could lead to scalding.

If you expirience difficulties adjusting the ring, please post back. I'm sure any of us would be glad to assist.
Christopher Lewis

 

Ya'll thanks so much for the great advise and instructions. I'm printing them out and giving them to my spouse for his "Honey Do" list!

 

Didnt realize kids would be using this. "toferlewis" is correct, dont use my recommendation if children will utilize the faucet. I made our change ONLY in our master bath.

DwArFlOrD

 

not in our case...we're just two old folk who enjoy our house...

 

I'n case you are still monitoring this string, I found the Delta parts diagram for the tub and shower valves. The part you need to adjust to get more hot water added to the mix is listed as Rotaional Limit Stop(RP19870). http://deltacom.deltafaucet.com/media/Product_Tech_Docs/Parts_Diagram/Models_1300_1400_5a03.pdf

Hopefully this link works.