3rd floor shower clogged

[erik]

Hi all,
My shower on the 3rd floor of my condo has no hot water. The sink in the bathroom has hot water, however, no hot water in the shower. Correction, there is very little hot water coming from the shower head. This condo is only 2 years old so everything is relatively new. I just came back from a 2 week vacation and turned the waterheater back on, do you think this could be the problem? How can I unclog the shower head? The shower on the 2nd floor works just fine.

Thanks in advance,

Erik

 

[Jadnashua]

Since it is fairly new, the valve in the shower is almost certainly what is called a pressure balance anti-scald type. This has a small piston in it that can stop the hot water if the pressure drops, like if someone flushes the toilet while you are taking a shower. It is probably gunked up and stuck. You can usually take it apart and free it up (make sure you turn off the water supply first). If not, then you'll need to replace the valve or buy a repair part.

If you go to the manufactuer's website, you can probably find the valve and the maintenance instructions to figure out how to fix it.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Cass]

Do you get plenty of cold water or is hot and cold slow.

 

[erik]

Thanks for the quick responses Jadnashua and Cass:

The cold water runs perfectly fine and only the hot water in the 3rd floor shower is not working. The other shower and sinks work fine as well.
I'm not too handy and don't want to mess-up on the piping and water lines. I think what I will do is call a second plumber to evaluate the clog. The first plumber thinks I should replace the water heater...I told him NO. I'll have to see what the second plumber thinks. I just don't want to get ripped off. What do you think this will cost??

 

[Cass]

Tell us how the water turns on in that shower is it a knob that you pull and turn, or a knob that just turns, or a handle that you lift?

 

[erik]

there's just 1 knob that turns counterclockwise to get hot water.

 

[erik]

it's fixed

Finally, it's fixed and taken care of. This is what the plumber did:
1- turned off water supply to the condo.
2- took apart the shower handle and replaced the cartridge right behind the handle.
3- re-assembled all parts.

So, basically it was the cartridge that was clogged. The plumber charged me $70. Much cheaper than replacing the water heater.

Thanks for all the input