How to Remove a Grohe Thermostatic Mixer Shower

Leodogger

We have a faulty Grohe mixer shower which is about 10 yrs old and are replacing it for a new one but have been told we can do this ourselves as it is not a difficult job.

However my husband cannot see any screws on the unit, can anyone tell me how to take the old one off the tiling without damaging the tiles ?

TIA

Ruski

Has this been confirmed as the cause of your problem from your previous thread?

If the unit is surface mounted there's usually a very small grub screw holding on either the control dials or a shroud to cover the innards, usually underneath the unit.

If it's 'embedded' in your wall then it's a whole different kettle of fish - is it possible to take a piture to post on here?

HTH

Russ

firefox1956

Put a cloth over the waste / overflow hole before removing any screws etc.
You ALWAYS drop them...............

Leodogger

Ruski wrote: »

Has this been confirmed as the cause of your problem from your previous thread?

If the unit is surface mounted there's usually a very small grub screw holding on either the control dials or a shroud to cover the innards, usually underneath the unit.

If it's 'embedded' in your wall then it's a whole different kettle of fish - is it possible to take a piture to post on here?

HTH

Russ

Well actually it has been a process of elimination, the plumber has tried everything he can think of, changing the thermal tank, the hot water plate (whatever that is), he has adjusted the water flows to the taps several times and has adjusted the water flow into the boiler (turned up the pressure). This seems to have adjusted the hot and cold to the taps which settles down after a couple of minutes. The first time we tried the shower the water temp stayed static without changing once we had adjusted the hot and pressure at the shower, however the second time and after it reverted back to normal.

When the plumber came he said it is probably the shower because he thinks it is very old.

It is wall mounted but there are no signs of screws unless they are inside the control tap under the logo. The picture is below:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/136166946@N02/shares/11Ea8C

firefox1956

Have you tried cleaning out the little mesh filters in the unit ??
Might be one on the cold inlet & one on the hot inlet.
Could very well be blocked but your plumber should have checked them.
Obviously it may not have them but many do........

Head_The_Ball

JWhite wrote: »

..It is wall mounted but there are no signs of screws unless they are inside the control tap under the logo. The picture is below:..

Do the circular caps against the tile wall unscrew to reveal screws underneath?

Logically, that is the only place they can be.

Leodogger

firefox1956 wrote: »

Have you tried cleaning out the little mesh filters in the unit ??
Might be one on the cold inlet & one on the hot inlet.
Could very well be blocked but your plumber should have checked them.
Obviously it may not have them but many do........

The plumber didn't attempt to take the shower off the wall to explore problems with the shower unit, he thought the problems were with the boiler but I don't believe they are. We would need to take the unit off the wall but my husband says he will try tomorrow when the shops are open as he says the washers might be gone inside and we would have to turn off the water to take the unit off and may end up with no water when we are unable to put the unit back on the wall without the washers we need.

Leodogger

Head_The_Ball wrote: »

Do the circular caps against the tile wall unscrew to reveal screws underneath?

Logically, that is the only place they can be.

Just tried to unscrew the caps against the wall and it does seem like they are unscrewing but obviously the large nut between the caps and the unit are stopping the caps being screwed off. As I said above, my husband is going to try tomorrow to take the unit off the wall, we won't know what we find until we do that I think.

I am annoyed the plumber didn't attempt to do that first !

Ruski

Large nuts will disconnect the bar from the supply pipes - and the unit comes off in one piece so don;t bother looking for grub screws or similar!

Have the feed pipes not got their own independent way of isolation?

What is the centre to centre measurement of the large nuts (!) this will give you an idea of suitable replacements...

Russ

Leodogger

Ruski wrote: »

Large nuts will disconnect the bar from the supply pipes - and the unit comes off in one piece so don;t bother looking for grub screws or similar!

Have the feed pipes not got their own independent way of isolation?

What is the centre to centre measurement of the large nuts (!) this will give you an idea of suitable replacements...

Russ

Asked my husband about the feed pipes. There is a tap inside the boiler cupboard but we are not sure what that turns off as there appear to be several pipes that come out through the bathroom wall into the cupboard so he said he will try turning it off to see if it only stops water to the shower, but it might turn off the water to the taps or water to the radiators, we are not sure. The measurement from centre to centre of the large nuts is 15 cms which means the new replacement should fit I think.

Leodogger

To update, my husband took the shower unit off the wall and there was a huge amount of gunge inside so he cleaned it up but there was no filters that he could see, so he put it back together and tried running it and nothing seems to have changed so looks like a replacement is going to be necessary. If then it proves to not be the shower, I give up !!

I have today received a reply from Grohe Customer Support after I sent a photo and asked the age of the shower unit and they have just replied to say that they discontinued production of this item in 1995 ! So this shower is at least 20 yrs old if not older so I think a replacement is going to be necessary.