i saw a comment on a meme like this that said some water mixing thing was broken
There are several possible causes to this problem, but that one is the most common.
Turn down the temperature of your water heater.
But that reduces the maximum length of your shower.
Because it is hard to make a cheap valve that has a wide mixing ‘sweet spot’.
Rich people showers don’t have this problem
The cartridge is likely bad. They get clogged up with lime scale over time and start to perform worse and worse. Either replace the cartridge or the whole faucet itself.
You should just move to a more tropical area. Where I live, I only ever use the “Cold” tap and sometimes, even that is too warm.
That’s how it is for me in the summer, and Jersey ain’t exactly tropical. But it’s kinda nice being able to just turn on the shower and get in. The cold water is likecold in the summers, and it’s usually humid, so a shower with no hot water ends up very refreshing.
I could’ve sworn there was a Seinfeld bit about the shower temperatures being sensitive when you adjust the tap but I can’t find it now
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Yeah I really thought the bit would come up easily. I can hear his voice saying something like “a million degrees” or “hotter than the surface of the sun”. It probably also started with the classic “what’s the deal with…” that he used.
Probably American build.
Yep, if China had products at this quality and price point muricans would never shut up.
Okay I’m gonna be real. I didn’t understand the meme at first and thought you were showing a melted door handle and the guy in the meme was trying to melt another door handle with his mind
I was fully prepared to read a bunch of comments about how are door handles so sensitive to heat due to their metallic composition and how you absolutely cannot melt things with your mind that the actual comments tripped me
You need at least the heat of your hand to melt metals. Or at least at least the heat of a cold but not cold wave winter day.
Also I can melt steel with my mind.
See this is what I was expecting thanks
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So there are lots of good answers, but there’s one I haven’t seen: The type of shower control in the photo is probably low quality, cheap, meaning the internal parts do a poor job of mixing the hot/cold water.
Adjusting the water heater may help, but you might also consider upgrading the shower faucet.
They’re so sensitive because the person who installed them didn’t care enough to adjust the regulator. If this bothers you, you can take the handle off yourself with an allen wrench and adjust the valve so that when you turn it on, it’s the perfect temperature for you every time.
This is a great idea if you are the only one using your shower. If you have 4 family members, each of whom likes a different shower temperature, it is less ideal. I think controls that allow separate on/off and hot/cold dimensions are best for most scenarios.
From my understanding when I fixed mine, when you adjust it it just makes for a more gradual heat change
Yes, but this wastes water, so if you’re trying to be green, you should be able to open up the valve to full hot.
Not only does it waste water, your shower will take longer to heat up.
Also, depending on where you live the perfect temperature changes a lot because of outside temperatures. If you use all the room temperature water in your cold lines then start pulling cold water from the outside. You’re going to have to adjust it. Bigger the house, the more the problem.
But if you have to dump out your entire hot and cold lines to even begin to step in the shower, that’s a ton of wasted water.
Answer is a thermostatic valve. It will just use hot water until it needs to mix in cold. If your cold water temperature changes, it will adjust it automatically. You really do pick a temperature to set the valve at, and then the handle just controls the flow rate.
The regular for a standard mixing valve is there only so you can’t turn the valve to burn you. When people keep their water tanks at 160°F, a full turn to the left would be devastating if you’re standing in it.
That’s 70ºC, 49ºC (120ºF) is usually plenty hot enough and the recommended temperature. It can actually cause burns with long enough direct exposure at 50, 70 is madness.
In the US the standard safety temperature for the water heater is 120° F
You don’t need it higher than that unless you have a small tank and use a lot of it. Tankless is 120°F.
I don’t know where you got 70°C from.
You said:
When people keep their water tanks at 160°F
That’s 70ºC and I’m agreeing that it is a ridiculously high temperature to keep a water tank at. That’s instant second degree burn temperatures, completely unsafe.
Ohh I see now.
Yeah 160° is too hot. But people do it. Small tank multiple showers needed. You can stretch it.
I was saying for people that have their water too hot. The regulator inside the US mixing valve has a stopper so you can’t go to max hot. That’s all the piece inside does, stops you from turning the valve more. Doesn’t help reglate the temperature. Someone in comments said their regulator is bad and I thought it was OP.
I keep mine at 145, because I fear legionella.
I tried that and it still ends up either freezing or burning, unless I turn the handle all the way on, then half way, then creep it up.
Is that what a bad mixing valve looks like?
If you live in the US, then you probably have a standard mixing valve
If you live elsewhere, it’s probably a thermostatic one
For US:
You want to turn your handle all the way hot to clear your hot water lines fast, it’s room temperature in the hot water lines. Once the water is hot, then you start mixing in cold water.
The first cold water is from the lines in your house. It is heated or cooled by your home, basically room temperature water.
So say I turn the valve on full hot. Pure hot water is pouring out. Now you add some of that “room temperature cold water” to get to your perfect temperature.
Now, once you run out of “room temperature cold water,” it will start pulling water from the street.
I’m guessing you live in a cooler climate area?
120°F + 70°F = perfect temperature
But if the outside water becomes, say 50°F after you use all your water stored in your cold water lines
120°F + 50°F = colder water
So you have to add less 50°F water, which means slowly creeping your valve up until you have steady temperature water going to the valve.
Things like the type of water heater matters. If you use a tank then as you use water it adds water. If you keep your tank at 120° and you’re adding 70° cold water or 50° water to the tank matters. You also have “room temperature water” in your cold lines going to your tank at first, then colder water. So that creates another “lag” in temperature
US standard mixing valves aren’t as nice as a thermostatic valve. They are just cheap and standard and work well enough in most places.
Thermostatic valves allow you to select, say 100°F water, and the knob just controls the water flow rate. No matter what, the water that comes out of your shower will be 100°F. As the water coming into your house gets colder it will automatically adjust. As the water from your tank gets colder, it will automatically adjust.
Sounds like your valve is working as intended though
That’s fantastic info. Thank you! Though it sounds like I want to upgrade to thermostatic.
It’s definitely a nice upgrade. Little pricey in the states because hardly anyone uses them, so they are “specially”. Not any more difficult to install really but plumber might charge a premium.
I hope it doesn’t fail open :)
Well, if you turn it all the way on, it should have the same temp as if you did it the way you described, so yeah, the regulator might be broken. A valve should last you several years before it starts leaking or breaks, so if you’ve had yours that long, it might be time for a new one.
The good news is that replacements are pretty cheap, and for this style of faucet they’re pretty easy to install, usually requiring only a screw driver and probably a pipe wrench to loosen the retaining ring. And if you have a name brand like Delta or Moen, it’s covered under a lifetime warranty as well.
Yeah, you need a new cartridge for yours.
Observe while I shower comfortably with:
I really don’t understand how this is still not the standard everywhere… The cheapest ones aren’t even that expensive and already way better than the alternative… Don’t think I’ve not showered with one of these in the last 25 years, except for in some kind of social housing projects homes.
Yes, but that is not a fair comparison, these are European.
Except British homes which have two separate showerheads, one fully hot and the other fully cold.
The trick is to spin.
Ah wel… the British have always been a bit particular to be honest.
British when straight into inventing the radar and completely skipped over the invention of warm water.
This technology is only possible with degree Celsius. It is impossible to adapt to degree Fahrenheit.
You might have a point there
When I first moved to Japan over twenty years ago they were already about a hundred years ahead of typical US toilet/bath technology. For me, using one of these faucets where you can just set the temperature by number was like Liko getting beamed from her hut directly onto the damn Enterprise.
Interesting, so it adjusts the flow of hot/cold in the fly to keep a consistent temp? That’s amazing, thought I imagine it would have the same issue I have at the end of the shower where it’s on 100% hot just to eke out a bit more time
You can adjust the temp on your water heater to solve that.
Growing up in rural France, we had these at home for as far as I can remember. They may not have been the norm 30 years ago, but at least common.
What is this?
Thermostatic faucet
What’s that called?
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seems like a smarter solution than what one house I lived in did of just oversizing all the plumbing and having a recirculating hot water pump (probably could help prevent freezing, but it only got to -40 once or twice there) so you could run all faucets, the washer, and the dishwasher and still have pressure at the furthest shower.
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Same man, it’s been a dream since installing this.
These things existe for at least 30 years, I don’t understand why anyone would want to use anything else for a shower or bathtub.
Do they hold for 30 years?
Definitely not :) I had to get it replaced at my flat this year. There is a filter inside that can get block if you have hard water or debris.
Ah, see, we have high calcium here, didn’t even know this thing exists.
Don’t let that stop you getting the ultimate shower experience! My parents also have water with very high calcium at their house and I don’t think they had any problems with the faucet in the past 15 years.
I live in a rented place, they were doing repairs to the heating systems, several times we had brown water coming out the tap. I bet they installed the cheapest option, plus the debris in the water, this fucked it.
Just invest in a good thermostatic faucet and never look back !
Set your water heater lower. Like: make sure it’s above 120 at all times (130+ preferably) to prevent legionnaire’s, but 140 is PLENTY for most home uses. And it means you get a bigger range to move your mixer taps to.
Came to say the same thing. Not sure why people want boiling water on tap. If I need to boil water I use my kettle, and save money by not heating a tank of water to near boil all day.
That’s Fahrenheit right? Or are you suggesting 100+ Celsius?
It’s Kelvin
This is the only correct answer. I never said “degrees” anywhere, so it’s obviously Kelvin!
Last i checked, that would no longer make it hot water, but I use the dumb numbers where 212 is boiling
Actually at household water pressures, water’s boiling point is somewhere from 140-160°C, so it’s actually somewhat plausible. I’m sure some less heat tolerant stuff would have to be upgraded, but the system’s total pressure would be about the same (with the added danger that the consequence of a pressure failure would be a steam explosion instead of a leak).
And of course turning your faucet on hot would now blast out a stream of boiling water propelled by superheated steam, which is probably less than ideal.
So you’re saying I can make lattes from my tap with a small upgrade? Sold.
Your water heaters don’t have a “Steam Blast” setting? How do your bidets even work? Do they just dribble cool water on your anus? How weird.
Celsius of course. Only babies shower in 140 Fahrenheit!
Lower flow temperature makes it easier to adjust.
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A bigger water heater?
