Shower hot water issue - hot from tub faucet, lukewarm from shower head

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mikea128

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Newbie here - I've tried searching with no luck, so here I am posting away. :)

As the title of this post states, I get only lukewarm water out of the showerhead in my 2nd bath, but plenty of hot water out of the tub faucet. My master bath works normally with plenty of hot water from both outlets. This happens immediately and in no way appears to be related to running out of hot water.

The house is only about 2 years old and I suspect it's been this way from the beginning - I just never knew until my new roommate brought it up immediately after moving in and my old roommate said it's always been the same. Wish someone had told me while I still had my new home warranty...

Any ideas?

FWIW, I have the C-635 single handle setup from Delta with push button diverter in both showers. Link here: http://www.deltafaucet.com/wps/portal/deltacom/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLd4439vIDSZnFW8aHOepHogtZIoR8PfJzU4ESkeZAAcugAP2onNT0xORK_dA8_bC8_KJcoKHB-t76AfoFuaER5cWpjgDKHhAZ/delta/base64xml/L0lJSk03dWlDU1lKSkpKQSEvb013d0FBRVlnQUNFSVFoQ0VFSWhGS0lZd0EhIS80RkdnZFluS0owRlJvWGZyQ0c5VTNZUSEvN19DXzlSUC8yNTA1MzM3L3NhLnNwZl9BY3Rpb25MaXN0ZW5lcg!!?PC_7_C_9RP_spf_strutsAction=!2fviewProductDetail.do&PC_7_C_9RP_group=TubShower&PC_7_C_9RP_collection=Classic&PC_7_C_9RP_pid=635&PC_7_C_9RP_area=Bath&PC_7_C_9RP_function=TubShower&PC_7_C_9RP_task=DfcProductDetail#
 

Verdeboy

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It sounds like a diverter issue. There may be a pebble or something lodged where the hot water passes through the diverter when it's in the shower position. You won't know until someone takes it apart.
 

mikea128

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Verdeboy said:
It sounds like a diverter issue. There may be a pebble or something lodged where the hot water passes through the diverter when it's in the shower position. You won't know until someone takes it apart.
any tips on taking it apart? Online instructions or anything like that?

What would i be looking for other than a foreign body causing an obstruction?
 

Verdeboy

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1.Turn off the water to that shower.

2.Remove the handle. (Look for a set screw on the underside of the handle.)

3.Remove the large, round backer plate. (There should be 2 obvious screws.)

That should expose the diverter. Take a look and see if you can see anything lodged in there or if you need to remove more parts. I haven't worked on that particular Delta model, so you're on your own at this point.

If you get stuck, post a photo and someone will tell you how to proceed.
 

Winslow

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that used to happen on the old price phister shower heads. On them it was neccesary to remove the restrictor in the shower head then it was fine. It seemed to happen when the cold side had more water pressure that the hot. Does the shower have a pressure balancing spool? If so maybe it's faulty.
 

Verdeboy

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In the off chance that your shower head is to blame, why don't you remove the shower head and see if that resolves your problem. If it doesn't, you can go back to taking your valve apart. According to the link you provided, there's no pressure balancing spool for that model.
 

mikea128

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i'll try taking off the shower head tonight or this weekend and then proceed from there.

thanks for the tips guys. I'll report back with success or failure.
 

Mikey

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Are you saying that even with the valve in full-hot, the water coming out the shower is lukewarm? Is the volume the same in full-cold as full-hot? Right offhand, I don't see why the water coming out the shower should be any different than the water coming out the spout -- the diverter just diverts, it doesn't re-mix. You could put your hand over the spout and cause the same diversion.
 
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mikea128

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ok, i'm almost too embarassed to admit this, but I actually measured the water temp coming out of the shower head and it was in fact only ever so slightly lower than at the base, if at all. Maybe some cooling going on as it traveled up the pipe or simply came out of the shower head, or maybe just the lower water pressure made it feel slightly cooler.

So I asked my roommate for further details and it turns out that he was turning the handle the wrong way, so he really was having COLD showers. Apparently his first night here, we must have been out of hot water because the "cold" side of the shower actually felt warmer to him.

So now everyone involved feels like a jackass, including myself for bringing it to this level. For that, I sincerely apologize. That said, "problem" solved, in part due to searches here that encouraged me to actually measure the temp.

Sorry, but thanks...
 

Verdeboy

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It's good to get a trick question every now and then. Keeps you on your toes.
If you hadn't've posted, I never would have learned that a shower head could alter the water temp. ;)
 

hj

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valve

is the valve reversed so that the hot is to the right and cold to the left? If so, that could also contribute to his confusion. I just had a customer that complained that she did not have any hot water in the shower. It was reversed so she went past the "hot" side, (because the hot water was not there yet), to the cold water, and the hotter she tried to make it the colder it got.
 
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