When we purchased our home in 2006, there was a lack of hot water upstairs (2nd floor) but in only one of the showers...the other shower has always been normal. Three different plumbers tried to fix this and failed. One of them turned off the HOT water COMPLETELY that leads to the wash machine (1st floor) and we got consistent WARM water up in the problem shower, so we told him to STOP RIGHT THERE and leave well enough alone! We usually wash our clothes in cold water anyway so this was no big deal. A couple years later, my son did laundry and turned the dial on the wash machine to hot...we still got extremely hot water in our wash machine, even with the hot water turned off so tight at the wall that we can't even turn it on any longer! I turned the dial back to cold and that worked until we put in a new floor and had to disconnect the wash machine. Now my showers are warm at best with the water turned 100% on hot. This is puzzling and seems impossible so we would like your expert advice on what you think could be happening.

Thanks ~ Kelly

Are you still getting hot water to the bathroom faucets everywhere? Is the problem limited to the showers?

sounds like a cross connection somewhere or a bad check valve in a recirculation line.
curious why 3 different plumbers could not figure it out.

You need a fourth plumber, and maybe an appliance person, because with the water valve completely turned off there should be no way for the hot water valve on the washer to get ANY water, (cold or hot). So either you are mistaken in your description or there is something happening that we cannot diagnose by just using your description.

Actually, it sounds like what the plumber thought was a valve for the hot water for the washing machine was a mixing valve to temper the water going up to your shower.

In all actuality, if it WAS a mixing valve and if that was all changed out you may have totally screwed up the original way it was designed.

You need to hire a plumber with the ability to look at everything and figure out what lines go where and how it needs to be plumbed properly. If you get a competent person in there, they should be able to give you options and be able to fix whatever is wrong.

Far too many times people don't want to think too hard, and competency is all but assumed.

But, seriously, it sounds like you had a tempering valve in there and if it is gone you have no ability to control the temp anymore.

Actually, you may have fixed a different issue and you still could have a tempering valve somewhere and that needs to be adjusted to get the water hot enough at the showers. Don't overlook the fact that the tempering valve could be just about anywhere, so don't necessarily look for it where you think the problem is. checkout the entire plumbing run as best as you can and figure out what each and every valve is and where all the pipes go and what each one does. Draw a diagram and that way when a plumber shows up to help you, you can figure out if he is worth what he is charging by how well he understands the situation from your diagram. If he ignores it and/or you, get a new plumber.



Edited 1 times.

quote; If he ignores it and/or you, get a new plumber.

I guess he would have to get another plumber if he called me, because I would want to make my own evaluation of the entire system, and a "hidden" tempering valve would be the last thing I would expect to find, given what he has written thus far. WHY would anyone install a tempering valve at the washer to control the temperature at the shower, and apparently the shower ONLY?

Of course you would have to make your own evaluation, but disregarding anything done by someone else is usually a sign that you are either too cocky, trying to soak them for money, or flat out not going to try to solve it "in one go".

Again, I understand most people won't be able to figure it all out, but a person that is good at what they do will be able to talk over what the owner has "figured out" and talk it over with them so they know YOU KNOW what you are doing.

I have seen it time and time again, a "pro" comes in and makes grand assumptions, messes things up and then expects to get paid to fix what they screwed up. All the while "dictating" that it was wrong to begin with, when in reality they just aren't smart enough to figure out what someone else did.

I know plenty of electricians, HVAC, landscaping and computer professionals that all fit that bill. There don't seem to be many plumbers around, so I reserve that there some pretty smart ones out there to make up for all the flaky ones...

I may add that I have seen enough "home projects" that I no longer am shocked at gross stupidity that a lot of homeowners (and more than enough pros) think that is "acceptable".

So, no, a tempering valve in a strange place is far from something I would "not consider". Based on what the original poster wrote, there is something really wrong with the whole setup. Thus it opens "Pandoras Box" of possibilities.

" WHY would anyone install a tempering valve at the washer to control the temperature at the shower, and apparently the shower ONLY?"
in massachusetts when someone installs a slipper tub with one of those telephone type personal showers attached to the tub fill, massachusetts considers this to be a shower thus scald protection is mandated.
so, a tempering valve MUST be installed in the hot supply to that tub faucet/shower.
this of course makes it impossible to draw a nice hot bath since the hot temperature has to be set (by code) to 109 deg F..

It sounds to me like there is a globe valve that is missing a washer now at the laundry and the pieces of rubber are stuck in the shower valve. But since I don't know if the lavatories are affected or not, I don't know if the temperature problem is isolated to the showers or all fixtures. When the OP responds, we can come to a better conclusion. Until then, it is guesswork and blowing smoke.

quote; sign that you are either too cocky, trying to soak them for money, or flat out not going to try to solve it "in one go".

"Cocky", probably, but HOW do I know you even know what you are looking at OR LOOKING FOR? Any time someone decides to "help me out" it usually ends up costing THEM more time and money. I don't have to "soak them for money", and whenever possible I always solve it in "one go round".

What kind of faucets are they? Could it be you have a hot limit ring that needs reset?maybe you have a bad balance spool? Can't believe three plumbers..good luck

I wouldn't even go so far as to say that doing your own evaluation and disregarding everything as being 'too cocky'. As you said hj, it usually ends up costing the customer more money because if the person before you knew what they were doing when they did their troubleshooting, they should have been able to fix the problem; this begs the question that since you are there, is any of the previous information or findings that anyone has made even reliable? Following someone else's faulty observations can just lead you back to the same place you started, but cost someone double for the same unnecessary work.

Exactly. It is like taking your car to a mechanic and telling him it doesn't run right, but since I have checked everything myself, you should replace the cam shaft. Anyone would reads the replies on this site should realize that some solutions are completely irresponsible, and sometimes even irrelevant, and should not even be considered and can waste time pursuing them and checking them out.The same thing that can happen with onsite evaluations,



Edited 1 times.

I had two situations yesterday the demonstrate our points.
First a customer called and wanted his washers changed in the shower. He gave me his address and then proceeded to give me DETAILED directions as to how to get there. Even though I told him at least four times that I KNEW exactly where he was, I had to stay on line and listen to what he said, because I did not want to hang up on him.
THe second one the customer called and said he had a leaking pipe, but did not know how I was going to get it apart to fix it. As soon as I saw the "leak", I told him it was NOT a pipe but rather the cap on the backflow preventer leaking and running down the pipe. IF I had done what he wanted me to, based on his evaluation of the problem, I would have wasted his money and still had the original problem.