Plumbers opinions on shower repair please

starving_artist

Had a quote to repair leaking shower head £152.45 including parts (aqualisa 609 thermostatic and 409 manual mixer valve).

Plumber diagnosed problem as inner seal in thermostatic control but because seal kit no longer available the cartridge needs to be replaced.

But I went on Aqualisa's website and there is a list of available parts including a shroud seal which costs £6. Is this the part which is really needed rather than replacing the whole cartridge?

Otherwise does £152 sound about right?

Rosebery_2

starving_artist wrote: »

But I went on Aqualisa's website and there is a list of available parts including a shroud seal which costs £6. Is this the part which is really needed rather than replacing the whole cartridge?

Bit of a daft question really. How does anyone who hasn't seen it know? Are you sure thats the seal he's talking about?

Otherwise does £152 sound about right?

Seeing as the cartridge retails @ £ 102 yes it does sound about right.

Cheers

starving_artist

Sorry. I didn't make it clear. I'm just trying to work out if the shroud seal is the inner seal of the thermostatic cartridge which he diagnosed as the problem. If so, the part is available and the repair needn't cost as much.

starving_artist

andrew-b wrote: »

Have you tried phoning Aqualisa technical support they were very helpful when i had shower questions to be answered? They should be able to advise you which part you need (if you are able to describe it). It's always worth contacting the manufacturer as often they'll send out things like washers for nothing.

Andy

Thanks. I actually just did this and they were very helpful. It looks as if the cartridge does need replacing as the faulty seal is actually inside it although they did say it might be worth checking the air gap in the hot water tank is properly adjusted first. They also quoted for one of their engineers and the cost wasn't that different to the quote I already have.

Shaykh

If the quote is simillar your better off going with the manufactors engineers who will have the company's backing if anything goes wrong

Rosebery_2

I don't quite see how anything can go wrong. Remove the control. Undo the nut. Slide out the old cartridge, put in a new one (replace the O rings whilst in there), replace the nut, replace the control.

Actually (apart from the horrid fiddly bit replacing the o rings which can be tricky) the job is simple and the OP could actually do it him(her)self.

However, if I were the plumber I'd be seriously p.....d off if I'd been called out, looked at the problem, diagnosed the fault, quoted to fit it and then found that the client had gone direct to the manufacturer with information he'd got from me and I hadn't got the job. Using the manufacturers engineer now is costing the original plumber money to no practical end.

So all in all that, Shaykh, is pretty poor advice on a human relations basis. The OP might need the plumber again at short notice. I wouldn't come out in those circumstances if that had been done to me. I'd be "busy".

Cheers

EliteHeat

Rosebery wrote: »

However, if I were the plumber I'd be seriously p.....d off if I'd been called out, looked at the problem, diagnosed the fault, quoted to fit it and then found that the client had gone direct to the manufacturer with information he'd got from me and I hadn't got the job. Using the manufacturers engineer now is costing the original plumber money to no practical end.

And that is the exact reason why I don't do problem determination calls free of charge even though my time, experience, diesel, insurance etc are of no interest to the customer who is almost always skint.