Boiling hot shower

[SMC]

We have an older add in shower in our basement. Prefab metal basic shower. The house is 100 years old. There are two hot and cold older shower handles. I believe when the house was purchased 4 years ago, the plumber replaced both cartridges.

The problem is, at first, you can regulate the temperature by adjusting the hot and cold handles. But at times, the water suddenly becomes scalding.

We’ve had plumbers look at it, but they say (after initially getting the right temp and quickly turning off) that nothing is wrong. Possibly a Chicago Faucet, but maybe not, but not newer.

What is going wrong? How can we fix?
Any thoughts appreciated. Thank you!

 

[TomFOhio]

Sounds like you need to figure out what faucet you have and then replace the stems. Or replace the whole faucet. Can
you show a picture of your faucet and then maybe we can help you.

 

[Geofd]

Sounds like if you have 2 hots and 2 colds one st does the shower head the other does the spout,that's not an anti scald valve, is this the only place you are having this problem?????

 

[Twowaxhack]

We have an older add in shower in our basement. Prefab metal basic shower. The house is 100 years old. There are two hot and cold older shower handles. I believe when the house was purchased 4 years ago, the plumber replaced both cartridges.

The problem is, at first, you can regulate the temperature by adjusting the hot and cold handles. But at times, the water suddenly becomes scalding.

We’ve had plumbers look at it, but they say (after initially getting the right temp and quickly turning off) that nothing is wrong. Possibly a Chicago Faucet, but maybe not, but not newer.

What is going wrong? How can we fix?
Any thoughts appreciated. Thank you!

There are several reasons why this can occur.

The most common reason is the faucet isn’t pressure balanced. This means that when other fixtures in the system are used it can make the hot or cold water pressure fluctuate. These fluctuations can either scald or chill you.

To correct this you can install a pressure balancing unit for your existing faucet or replace the faucet entirely with a modern pressure balanced faucet with the pressure balancing cartridge built in.

 

[SMC]

Sounds like you need to figure out what faucet you have and then replace the stems. Or replace the whole faucet. Can
you show a picture of your faucet and then maybe we can help you.

Here are pics. I couldn’t get back far enough to take a full picture of the bottom and top of the outside of the shower piping, but some of the pipes go to the shower but other pipes branch off at the top to other parts of the house. This is an old house and they must have kept adding and changing things. You can see the previous owner painted pipes silver to hide issues when house listed?
Both faucet handles are the same, I didn’t want to force the hot cover off. The pic is cold, the square piece of black rubber at top fits into the handle. I thought they put new cartridges in a couple years ago. Do these handles need dedicated hot and cold cartridges?
Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Those are Crane Dial-ese. You could replace them and see if it makes any difference. It’s possible. Looks like you have galvanized water pipe, that could be an issue.

 

[SMC]

Those are Crane Dial-ese. You could replace them and see if it makes any difference. It’s possible. Looks like you have galvanized water pipe, that could be an issue.

I looked up the Dial-ease. One site said you might need 2 hot water cartridges instead of one hot and one cold? This makes no sense to me. How do I know whether one hot or two hot cartridges are needed? Also, why would galvanized pipe be the problem? My husband used to tackle these issues, but sadly, now I am muddling along by myself trying to solve this for my daughter. The plumber who replaced the cartridges was quite young. Maybe these old cartridges aren’t interchangeable and he might not have known?

 

[Geofd]

I don't think your scalding is going to go away, it's not an anti scald valve it doesn't have the capability to regulate/balance the amount of hot or cold water coming out, if another fixture is used you will lose some pressure on ithe hot or cold side causing your situation in my opinion the only way you can change that if you have a pressure balancing valve installed

 

[SMC]

I don't think your scalding is going to go away, it's not an anti scald valve it doesn't have the capability to regulate/balance the amount of hot or cold water coming out, if another fixture is used you will lose some pressure on ithe hot or cold side causing your situation in my opinion the only way you can change that if you have a pressure balancing valve installed

What I don’t understand is why they can’t regulate the temperature by barely turning on the hot with cold.
I don’t know what a pressure balancing valve is, but I’ll try to Google it. Thank you!

 

[Twowaxhack]

I looked up the Dial-ease. One site said you might need 2 hot water cartridges instead of one hot and one cold? This makes no sense to me. How do I know whether one hot or two hot cartridges are needed? Also, why would galvanized pipe be the problem? My husband used to tackle these issues, but sadly, now I am muddling along by myself trying to solve this for my daughter. The plumber who replaced the cartridges was quite young. Maybe these old cartridges aren’t interchangeable and he might not have known?

Hot stems turn off clockwise

Cold stems turn off counterclockwise.

Either will work in either side of the faucet but the handle style needs to match the stem selected.

Round faucet handles always turn off to the right. You would use two hot stems.

Lever style handles use one hot and one cold stem. They turn off opposite from each other. The hot stem would go on the left, the hot and the cold stem would be installed on the right, the cold.

You have lever handles, so you’d need one hot and one cold stem.

You could try new stems and see if that makes a difference. It’s possible it could. Probably not.

Galvanized piping has a reputation of closing up with rust and causing volume/pressure issues that can contribute to changes in shower temp when other fixtures are being used or erratic flow volumes.

I suggest replacing the faucet to a pressure balanced type and replacing the galvanized piping.

In the mean time, turn the water heater down to approx. 120 degrees.

I’m starving……I want Mexican food but no one else does.

 

[SMC]

Hot stems turn off clockwise

Cold stems turn off counterclockwise.

Either will work in either side of the faucet but the handle style needs to match the stem selected.

Round faucet handles always turn off to the right. You would use two hot stems.

Lever style handles use one hot and one cold stem. They turn off opposite from each other. The hot stem would go on the left, the hot and the cold stem would be installed on the right, the cold.

You have lever handles, so you’d need one hot and one cold stem.

You could try new stems and see if that makes a difference. It’s possible it could. Probably not.

Galvanized piping has a reputation of closing up with rust and causing volume/pressure issues that can contribute to changes in shower temp when other fixtures are being used or erratic flow volumes.

I suggest replacing the faucet to a pressure balanced type and replacing the galvanized piping.

In the mean time, turn the water heater down to approx. 120 degrees.

I’m starving……I want Mexican food but no one else does.

Thank you for that detailed response. I think I get it now.

Hot stems turn off clockwise

Cold stems turn off counterclockwise.

Either will work in either side of the faucet but the handle style needs to match the stem selected.

Round faucet handles always turn off to the right. You would use two hot stems.

Lever style handles use one hot and one cold stem. They turn off opposite from each other. The hot stem would go on the left, the hot and the cold stem would be installed on the right, the cold.

You have lever handles, so you’d need one hot and one cold stem.

You could try new stems and see if that makes a difference. It’s possible it could. Probably not.

Galvanized piping has a reputation of closing up with rust and causing volume/pressure issues that can contribute to changes in shower temp when other fixtures are being used or erratic flow volumes.

I suggest replacing the faucet to a pressure balanced type and replacing the galvanized piping.

In the mean time, turn the water heater down to approx. 120 degrees.

I’m starving……I want Mexican food but no one else does.

Thank you for that detailed response. I think I understand now. I will forward this answer (and Geoff’s, as well, thank you, too.)
The plumbing in this house has been challenging all over the house. Once one issue fixed, something else goes wrong. The joys of owning a house, especially an old house.
We will look into the pressure balanced type. I wish they could replace the galvanized pipe; they should put on their to-do list.
I hope you get some food quickly, Mexican or otherwise! Thanks again.