Fluctuating water temperature: pipes or faucet?

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Newbe

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I live in a high-rise building and my shower has what I think is a thermostatic faucet system (separate temperature and flow-control knobs).

In the past, people living in other parts of the building have complained about fluctuating temperatures in their shower. The building manager at the time said the problem was inversion in the pipes (I think that's the term he used).

Recently, the water in my shower has been fluctuating between lukewarm and almost-scalding. I've approached our new building manager, and he insists the problem is with my faucet.

I have two questions:

1) is there some diagnostic that could be done to try to determine the source of the problem before taking the shower faucet apart?

2) if not, how would I determine wether there is a problem with the faucet? What am I looking for?

Note: I have no idea of the make/model of the faucet system - there are no labels or any identifier on them.

Thanks in advance

Bob
 

Jadnashua

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Does the spray intensity change when the temperature changes? Some thermostatically controlled valves have both pressure balance and thermostatic control, but some can respond fast enough to qualify for the anti-scald requirement with just the thermostatic control. Is the temperature control knob marked in degrees, or just warmer/colder? While not all thermostatic controlled valves have numbers on them, many of them do. IOW, you can buy two handle valves that either just control volume/temp by manual adjustments, or volume/temp with thermostatic control which compensates for the incoming hot and/or cold temp water. A two handle simple temp/volume valve would rely on pressure balance to keep the hot from overriding the cold and scalding you, but if the hot got cooler, everything would just get cooler.

One reason why I ended up with a Grohe thermostatic shower valve is after experiencing it in a hotel in London, England. Their supply piping wouldn't pass US codes, and the valve compensated quite well while toilets were being flushed and other water users stressed the system - it never changed the overall temp. Made me a believer. Not all are created equal, though.

If you post a picture, someone may be able to identify the brand for you.
 

Newbe

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Thanks Jadnashua,

Only the temperature fluctuates, the pressure stays even. The temperature knob is marked in degrees.

I'm attaching pictures

Do you have any suggestions to diagnose the problem , or what I should look for to determine whether the faucet is faulty?
 

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Jadnashua

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Some brands respond quicker to changes than others...I have no experience with that one, so anything else would be a guess...hopefully, somebody else can provide more insight.
 
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