Service
Shower Valve Repair
Repairing shower mixing valves that drip, stick, will not hold temperature or have scaled up internally, usually without disturbing any tiling.
- Licensed and insured
- Price agreed before work
- A plumber who works your area
The tiling usually stays where it is
Most people put off a shower valve repair because they assume it means taking the wall apart. It generally does not.
Valve bodies are designed to be serviced from the front. The trim plate comes off, the retaining clip comes out, and the cartridge withdraws through the same opening the trim was covering. The body itself never moves.
Tiling only enters the picture in three situations: the valve body has cracked or corroded, the installation is old enough that no serviceable cartridge was ever made for it, or the leak is in the pipework behind rather than in the valve.
Worth establishing which of those applies before assuming the worst, because two of the three are uncommon.
Scale is the reason valves fail
Nearly every shower valve fault traces back to the same cause in hard-water areas.
Mineral deposits build up on the cartridge and inside the valve body. The first sign is a handle that has become stiff. Then flow drops, because the deposits restrict the passages. Then the seals stop closing fully and it starts to drip.
On a pressure-balancing valve there is a further consequence: the spool that compensates for pressure changes stops moving freely, and the protection it provides quietly disappears. That is when a shower starts running cold, or scalding, when someone uses another fixture.
A valve serviced when it first gets stiff is a small job. The same valve left until it seizes is a replacement.
Does this sound familiar?
Problems this service solves
- A shower valve that drips when closed
- A handle that has become stiff or will not turn fully
- Temperature that will not stay where it is set
- Scale restricting flow through the valve
- A valve that scalds when a cold tap is opened elsewhere
Signs you need shower valve repair
If more than one of these is true, the problem is usually past the point a plunger or a store-bought cleaner will fix.
- The shower drips long after being turned off
- The handle needs force or grinds when turned
- The temperature changes on its own during a shower
- Flow is poor even with a clean head
What to expect
How the visit works
Identify the valve type
Pressure-balancing, thermostatic and simple mixing valves fail differently and take different parts, so the type is established first.
Work from the front
Trim off, cartridge out, through the existing opening. Most valve bodies are designed for exactly this and tiling need not be touched.
Descale or replace internals
Cartridges and balancing spools scale up in hard water. Some clean up; others are replaced, and it is usually clear which on inspection.
Reassemble and set the limit
The valve is rebuilt, the temperature limit stop set safely, and the shower run through its range before it is signed off.
What's included
What you get on every job, whoever we send.
- Valve type identified before parts are ordered
- Front access used wherever the valve allows it
- Scale addressed as a cause, not just a symptom
- The scald limit stop set on reassembly
Questions
Shower Valve Repair questions
Does fixing a shower valve mean removing tiles?
Usually not, and this is the assumption that stops people getting it done. Most valve bodies are designed to be serviced from the front: the trim plate comes off, the cartridge comes out through the same opening, and the body stays in the wall. Tiling only becomes necessary when the valve body itself has failed, when the installation is old enough to have no serviceable parts, or when the leak is in the pipework behind it.
The shower scalds when someone runs a cold tap. Is that fixable?
Yes, and it is worth fixing because it is a safety issue rather than an annoyance. It happens when the valve has no pressure-balancing function, or when the balancing spool inside has scaled up and stopped moving. If the valve has a spool, cleaning or replacing it restores the protection. If the valve never had one, the fix is a valve upgrade, and it is the kind of thing worth doing rather than living around.
Why has my shower valve got stiff?
Scale, in almost every case. Mineral deposits build up on the cartridge and inside the valve body, and the moving parts start to bind. It gets gradually harder to turn and eventually the cartridge fails outright, which is when the shower starts dripping or loses its temperature control. Servicing it when it first gets stiff is a smaller job than replacing it after it seizes.
Related services
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Finding where a shower is leaking, since the pipework is innocent more often than not and the cause is grout, a pan or a waste seal.
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Diagnosis and repair of gas, electric and tankless water heaters, including no-hot-water calls, leaks, pilot problems and sediment flushing.
See what this covers
Get it fixed
Shower Valve Repair, handled locally
Call with your ZIP code and what you are seeing. We route you to a licensed plumber in your area who does shower valve repair every week.
- Licensed and insured
- Answered 24/7
- Price before work