Leaking shower mixer

tony3619

Hello

I have a bristan shower mixer which has a leak coming from the thermostat control (circled in the attached photo) any clue as to what needs to replaced/ tightened? 

Cheers 

mi-key

It is probably the seal around the cartridge. It may just be something loose internally, but you would need to remove the tap and see if there is anything to tighten that looks likely.

You can get replacement seal kits for about £12 from places like https://www.showerspares.com/ 

mi-key

https://www.showerspares.com/bristan_shower_spares/bristan_all/bristan_artisan_bar_artisan/

Not sure if this is your exact model but it looks similar, the exploded diagram may help 

tony3619

mi-key said:

It is probably the seal around the cartridge. It may just be something loose internally, but you would need to remove the tap and see if there is anything to tighten that looks likely.

You can get replacement seal kits for about £12 from places like https://www.showerspares.com/ 

If I'm removing the right hand side control cover and looking at tightening the cartridge to see if that helps do I still need to turn the water off? If the seals need replacing I'd rather get a qualified plumber to do it but I was looking to just tighten things up myself without loosing/removing  the cartridge.

ThisIsWeird

I wouldn't turn the water off initially, as I'd want to see where the drip is coming from.

Have a look at mi-key's diagram - see item 5, the cartridge? The drip will almost certainly be coming from one of two places - the first is around the whole cartridge, where is screws in to the shower body - there's a rubber O ring there. For this to leak, the cartridge will really have had to come loose which is unusual, but the first thing to try would be to tweak it up a notch - literally a 60th of a turn.

The other likely place is from around the brass spindle at the top. I doubt this can be 'tweaked' - it'll likely be secured only by a circlip, but I don't know - so it'll more likely require a new O ring inside there.

You might decide a whole new cartridge is the easiest solution - if they don't cost too much.

If you remove the handle, 'blot' the exposed bits with tissue paper, and look for the drip appearing. Turn the shower on if needed to make this happen. 

tony3619

ThisIsWeird said:

I wouldn't turn the water off initially, as I'd want to see where the drip is coming from.

Have a look at mi-key's diagram - see item 5, the cartridge? The drip will almost certainly be coming from one of two places - the first is around the whole cartridge, where is screws in to the shower body - there's a rubber O ring there. For this to leak, the cartridge will really have had to come loose which is unusual, but the first thing to try would be to tweak it up a notch - literally a 60th of a turn.

The other likely place is from around the brass spindle at the top. I doubt this can be 'tweaked' - it'll likely be secured only by a circlip, but I don't know - so it'll more likely require a new O ring inside there.

You might decide a whole new cartridge is the easiest solution - if they don't cost too much.

If you remove the handle, 'blot' the exposed bits with tissue paper, and look for the drip appearing. Turn the shower on if needed to make this happen. 

Thanks for the info I'll take a look under the cover. It leaks continuously (about a drip every 30 seconds) with or without the shower running. I feel like my kids may have been abit rough on the temperature control as the 5 years prior they didn't use it themselves and it was perfectly fine. 

I am abit OCD about water leaks and have always been worried whether turning the water off at the main stopcock and then turning back on again more open that to begin with is likely to cause more pressure to burst pipes etc. Is this likely?

mi-key

tony3619 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

I wouldn't turn the water off initially, as I'd want to see where the drip is coming from.

Have a look at mi-key's diagram - see item 5, the cartridge? The drip will almost certainly be coming from one of two places - the first is around the whole cartridge, where is screws in to the shower body - there's a rubber O ring there. For this to leak, the cartridge will really have had to come loose which is unusual, but the first thing to try would be to tweak it up a notch - literally a 60th of a turn.

The other likely place is from around the brass spindle at the top. I doubt this can be 'tweaked' - it'll likely be secured only by a circlip, but I don't know - so it'll more likely require a new O ring inside there.

You might decide a whole new cartridge is the easiest solution - if they don't cost too much.

If you remove the handle, 'blot' the exposed bits with tissue paper, and look for the drip appearing. Turn the shower on if needed to make this happen. 

Thanks for the info I'll take a look under the cover. It leaks continuously (about a drip every 30 seconds) with or without the shower running. I feel like my kids may have been abit rough on the temperature control as the 5 years prior they didn't use it themselves and it was perfectly fine. 

I am abit OCD about water leaks and have always been worried whether turning the water off at the main stopcock and then turning back on again more open that to begin with is likely to cause more pressure to burst pipes etc. Is this likely?

Turning the stopcock on is fine. If you are worried, just do it very gradually to allow the pressure to build up. There is a tiny chance it could burst a very weak pipe joint, but very unlikely. You could also mark or photograph the position so you can put it back the same as it was.

ThisIsWeird

tony3619 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

I wouldn't turn the water off initially, as I'd want to see where the drip is coming from.

Have a look at mi-key's diagram - see item 5, the cartridge? The drip will almost certainly be coming from one of two places - the first is around the whole cartridge, where is screws in to the shower body - there's a rubber O ring there. For this to leak, the cartridge will really have had to come loose which is unusual, but the first thing to try would be to tweak it up a notch - literally a 60th of a turn.

The other likely place is from around the brass spindle at the top. I doubt this can be 'tweaked' - it'll likely be secured only by a circlip, but I don't know - so it'll more likely require a new O ring inside there.

You might decide a whole new cartridge is the easiest solution - if they don't cost too much.

If you remove the handle, 'blot' the exposed bits with tissue paper, and look for the drip appearing. Turn the shower on if needed to make this happen. 

Thanks for the info I'll take a look under the cover. It leaks continuously (about a drip every 30 seconds) with or without the shower running. I feel like my kids may have been abit rough on the temperature control as the 5 years prior they didn't use it themselves and it was perfectly fine. 

I am abit OCD about water leaks and have always been worried whether turning the water off at the main stopcock and then turning back on again more open that to begin with is likely to cause more pressure to burst pipes etc. Is this likely?

No. Don't worry about turning the mains stopcock on and off - it's what it's designed for. One wee tip - when you reopen the stopcock fully, close it off again a half-turn. This will help guard against it seizing in the open position.

In any case, you shouldn't have to turn the water off. When you remove the handle, you should be able to see where the drip is coming from - if you post a close-up pic, we can advise further. But I'm guessing you would not be open to replacing the cartridge yourself anyway? In which case, you won't be turning the water off :-) 

Some showers will have their own isolating valves fitted to shut off just the shower - what's on the other side of that wall? Can you see the supply pipes?

tony3619

ThisIsWeird said:

tony3619 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

I wouldn't turn the water off initially, as I'd want to see where the drip is coming from.

Have a look at mi-key's diagram - see item 5, the cartridge? The drip will almost certainly be coming from one of two places - the first is around the whole cartridge, where is screws in to the shower body - there's a rubber O ring there. For this to leak, the cartridge will really have had to come loose which is unusual, but the first thing to try would be to tweak it up a notch - literally a 60th of a turn.

The other likely place is from around the brass spindle at the top. I doubt this can be 'tweaked' - it'll likely be secured only by a circlip, but I don't know - so it'll more likely require a new O ring inside there.

You might decide a whole new cartridge is the easiest solution - if they don't cost too much.

If you remove the handle, 'blot' the exposed bits with tissue paper, and look for the drip appearing. Turn the shower on if needed to make this happen. 

Thanks for the info I'll take a look under the cover. It leaks continuously (about a drip every 30 seconds) with or without the shower running. I feel like my kids may have been abit rough on the temperature control as the 5 years prior they didn't use it themselves and it was perfectly fine. 

I am abit OCD about water leaks and have always been worried whether turning the water off at the main stopcock and then turning back on again more open that to begin with is likely to cause more pressure to burst pipes etc. Is this likely?

No. Don't worry about turning the mains stopcock on and off - it's what it's designed for. One wee tip - when you reopen the stopcock fully, close it off again a half-turn. This will help guard against it seizing in the open position.

In any case, you shouldn't have to turn the water off. When you remove the handle, you should be able to see where the drip is coming from - if you post a close-up pic, we can advise further. But I'm guessing you would not be open to replacing the cartridge yourself anyway? In which case, you won't be turning the water off :-) 

Some showers will have their own isolating valves fitted to shut off just the shower - what's on the other side of that wall? Can you see the supply pipes?

Unfortunately it's all boxed in and I cant access any isolation valves to the shower . I can't even get the side cover off to expose the screw to the thermostat control cap 😂 why do they always make these screw covers such hard work. 

GDB2222

Once the water is shut off, it is an easy job to replace the entire valve. It’s obviously more expensive than tracking down the faulty O ring and replacing that, but it’s easy to DIY and cheaper than getting a plumber in. 

ThisIsWeird

tony3619 said:

I can't even get the side cover off to expose the screw to the thermostat control cap 😂 why do they always make these screw covers such hard work. 

I know...I know... :-(

Looking at mi-key's link to the exploded diagram, it appears the round end cap just prises off. You'd just need to take care to not scratch it. It might even pull off with a dry hand.

Or, look around for a plastic spudger of some type. The cap from a Bic biro has a 'pocket' tang - would that do?