I had hot and cold lines run outside of my house by drilling through the brick so I could have an outdoor shower.

Here's the weird part: the hot comes out hot, but then turns cold. if you turn the cold all the way off, the hot either shuts down like there is a vacuum or starts running cold. yes, that is right, the cold will be completely off, the hot will be on and cold water is coming out.

if you fiddle with it just right by turning the hot all the way on and the cold on a little bit you can get a comfortable water temperature but after a minute or so it starts getting cold and you have to go back to fiddling with it in an effort to get the right combination. It is frustrating because you are standing in very cold water while you are trying to get it correct again.

the nearest i can tell is that there is some weird vacuum going on because some times when the hot is on but the cold is not it makes a whimper noise and nothing comes out. very strange.

Please let me know if you know how to fix this. thanks.

either a bad shower assembly or gremlins

remove the shower and see if the actual 'taps' work properly

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Is this a single handle shower faucet or one with 2 handles?

It is two handles and I used spigots that you normally see with outdoor hoses.

How are they connected together? What you describe is almost impossible with properly installed individual faucets, so the implication is that there is some problem with the way they are connected to the house plumbing.

well the connections to the inside are covered by sheetrock on the inside and brick on the outside. Two pipes come out from the brick, each goes to its own spigot. from there they run to a 'T" that turns the two pipes into one which leads to the shower head.

I agree that the idea that cold water is coming out when only the hot is on does not make any sense. Also, the hot and cold are not reversed as the cold is always cold when only it is on.

Again with the hot on and the cold off, often nothing will come out at all.

quote; Again with the hot on and the cold off, often nothing will come out at all.

You do realize that that is almost impossible when each water line has its own valve, unless you have "something" else in the system we do not know about.

hj,

? could it be a 'balancing spool' issue ?

? do the 'latest' outdoor assemblies now have spools ?

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

HE said he has two "hose bibbs" with a tee pipe between them. There is NO balancing spool in a Mickey Mouse setup like that.

may not be 'mickey mouse'

may be improper terminology on the OP's side

he may have a 'retrofit' one piece assembly designed for washing machine hose hook-up

(I remember seeing one, but, naturally, can't find it now!)

POST A PICTURE as per: [www.plbg.com]

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



Edited 1 times.

quote; It is two handles and I used spigots that you normally see with outdoor hoses.

This is all we have to go by.