Can anyone ID this shower mixer bar?

[Profpointy]

We had a similar issue with ours. Ended up replacing the whole unit. Our local and excellent pro plumbing supplies said if I brought in the the thermostat bit they'd give a go identifying it, (there are hundreds os slightly different parts) but the practicalities meant I'd have to have the water off for an extended period to do so. Managed to get a whole new unit (good make) cheap off the 'bay. The job escalated and the stud wall ended up being replaced re-tanked and the whole lot retiled. Still, it seems to have cured my basement damp.

In retrospect, given the total rebuild, I should have replaced the hidden-in-wall valve with something accessible like your unit, but hey ho; likely someone else's problem as it should last long enough for us

Posted before in the DiY thread but here's the job

 

[figbat]

If the mixer is a Bristan Oval, spares are still available.

https://www.tapmagician.co.uk/NSMan...ect.aspx?ENCA47F136203&Bristan&Oval-Bar-Mixer

I had a problem with our thermostatic mixer valve last year, ripped it out, and replaced it with a manual mixer. Manual mixer valves don't ever go wrong.

Same here - I got fed up of replacing cassettes on both of our showers so put in a decent (Grohe) manual mixer and they have been faultless since.

 

[Electric_Andy]

(Grohe) manual mixer

What's the difference between a maual mixer and a standard one? Does the manual one not have a thermostat (i.e. is it just like a mixer tap where you mix the desired hot and cold until desired temp comes out)?

 

[Fastpedaller]

What's the difference between a maual mixer and a standard one? Does the manual one not have a thermostat (i.e. is it just like a mixer tap where you mix the desired hot and cold until desired temp comes out)?

That's correct

 

[newts]

Manual shower mixers have a high risk of scalding should the cold water feed be compromised & they shouldn't be recommended. When a thermostatic cartridge fails they are designed close/restrict the hot water passing through the valve thereby minimising the risk of scalding. My recommendation would be to replace the shower valve with a reliable valve such as Vado or Grohe where spare parts are readily avaliable, this would especially apply to a concealed valve. Avoid the cheapo valves at the B&q, Screwfix, Toolstation et Al they are utter shite.

 

[slowmotion]

Manual shower mixers have a high risk of scalding should the cold water feed be compromised & they shouldn't be recommended. When a thermostatic cartridge fails they are designed close/restrict the hot water passing through the valve thereby minimising the risk of scalding. My recommendation would be to replace the shower valve with a reliable valve such as Vado or Grohe where spare parts are readily avaliable, this would especially apply to a concealed valve. Avoid the cheapo valves at the B&q, Screwfix, Toolstation et Al they are utter shite.

The thermostatic valve I removed was a Grohe Avensys. I ran a cold pipe from the loft tank directly to the new manual mixer ( a Hans Grohe Focus ) without any branches.

With a static head of 0.6 bar, I get a flow out of the shower head if 14.5 litres a minute without a pump or mains cold water pressure.

 

[lazybloke]

With a static head of 0.6 bar, I get a flow out of the shower head if 14.5 litres a minute without a pump or mains cold water pressure.

Not sure i get that flow from my rising main, not even after replacing the 10mm lead communication pipe under my drive/garden.
Is your tank on the 8th floor?

 

[slowmotion]

Not sure i get that flow from my rising main, not even after replacing the 10mm lead communication pipe under my drive/garden.
Is your tank on the 8th floor?

The cold tank in the loft, and the shower room is on the lowest floor. There are two intermediate floors in between. I measured the static pressure at the shower valve with a dial pressure gauge. I made sure that all the pipes (from the hot water cylinder and from the cold tank) were 22mm copper without branches so that the valve gets a decent, steady flow.

It's amazing that there are not millions of people around who have been scalded by their manual bath taps.

 

[newts]

It's amazing that there are not millions of people around who have been scalded by their manual bath taps.

Most valve makers recommend dedicated hot & cold feeds to reduce flow fluctuations from elsewhere in the system.

You may think it's trivial but many people have been scalded by sudden temperature change when stood in a shower, ranging from just getting a blast of hot water when a wc is flushed through to serious burns from 60 deg water when a cold feed gets blocked (blockage is a common occurrence in areas of high scale). The plumbing trade has been recommending thermostatic shower valves for over 30 years as best practise.
Building regs approved document G will give you all the relevant safety information.

 

[slowmotion]

Most valve makers recommend dedicated hot & cold feeds to reduce flow fluctuations from elsewhere in the system.

You may think it's trivial but many people have been scalded by sudden temperature change when stood in a shower, ranging from just getting a blast of hot water when a wc is flushed through to serious burns from 60 deg water when a cold feed gets blocked (blockage is a common occurrence in areas of high scale). The plumbing trade has been recommending thermostatic shower valves for over 30 years as best practise.
Building regs approved document G will give you all the relevant safety information.

I knew exactly what I was doing. If I was asked to put in a manual shower valve for an invalid or very elderly person, I would probably advise against it, but since it's my house, I'll do exactly as I see fit and bear the miniscule risk.

Edit: I would guess that the chance of the cold supply being suddenly clogged up by lime scale is far greater in a mixer valve with a thermostatic cartridge than in a valve that doesn't have one. I've lived in hard water areas all my life (Hampshire and London) and , amazingly, my hot bath taps seems to have functioned perfectly. The plumbing trade must make many millions each year from servicing dodgy thermostatic shower valves. I'm not entirely surprised that they are keen to promote them.

 

[DaveReading]

A belated postscript to the mixer bar saga.

Having identified a suitable replacement (Ideal Standard Ceratherm, £80 from Screwfix), I disconnected the old bar from the hot and cold supply, only to find that the mesh filter on the cold side was partially blocked by grit/debris. Logic would suggest that a restriction on the cold input would limit how cold the shower would run, as suggested in an earlier post (the original problem), so that was encouraging.

However cleaning the filter and reinstalling, while it did indeed make the shower run not quite as hot as before, clearly hadn't fully cured the problem.

With nothing to lose, I watched a few YouTube videos on how to remove and descale the cartridge, but that proved impossible as it appeared to be screwed in and the flats on the flange that would allow it to be unscrewed were too deep in the body and would presumably require a special tool.

So the next best was to soak the whole assembly for a couple of hours in an isopropyl alcohol/vinegar/water mix, combined with vigorous exercising of the temperature control.

To my surprise, that appears to have done the trick, and I now have a fully temperature-controllable shower once more. Chances are that the problem will eventually reappear, but my brownie points score with SWMBO is looking pretty good at the moment.

 

[rogerzilla]

Most decent mixer valves, e.g. Mira, are push-fit onto the pipe stubs so they can easily be removed to clean the filters. Never run silicone sealant around a mixer valve body for this reason!

If yours is fed from a loft tank rather than the mains, it's worth cleaning out the tank. Empty it, siphon and mop out the residual water, leave it for an hour or two in hot weather to dry it, then vacuum up all the scale and debris.