I thought I would post this, abut have combined tow posts into one.
The background is my father in law lives in a house that had been fitted with a Mira Realm (MK II as it turned out) thermostatic shower mixer. All vile gold plate, but thats irrelevant.
He also managed to get his softener blocked up..well the water company did that by allowing a load of silt into it, and I bypassed it to get the water working, and told him to get it fixed. He didn't know he had one..and didnt anyway. The net result being the mixer valve got a bit scaled up, and eventually wouldn't turn off, the handle just went round and round.
Plumber took it off and told him he needed a new one, so he brought it to me and said 'how much are these, the bugger is quoting close to £500." which is indeed roughly what these beasts cost.
He left it with me and I stripped it as far a I could, and descaled it wit some vicious bog descaler. And ascertained that it probably needed new parts, and eventually found a site online that did various parts, of which the key elements were what was called a 'head assembly'.
When te parst arrived, they looked rght, but I couldn't see how to get teh old part out..and scratched my head and arse a bit, before realising that the front plate - that's the nit marked 'hot' 'tepid' 'cold' actually just pulled off on an O-rin seal - slide fit!, revealing a large nut that stuck out from the gold body..well tat wouldn't come off, even after being ovened and cooled sharply, and I was on the point of giving up when I ran my finger idly over the thread of the new part..surely some mistake..surely..they hadn't..oh yes they bloody well had..for no apparent reason they had cut that lot with a LEFT HAND thread.
IT came right out with a sharp jerk once the correct direction was established..well after that it was all pretty much plain sailing, so if you have one of these and it wont turn off and just goes round and round
- or has seized up (that was the start of the problem: There's a sort of dog clutch inside that stops the tap washer part going round when the handle is turned: it goes in and out and also adjusts via a wax capsule, the temperature mixer part: it had jammed and been 'wellied' and the dog clutch had simply worn away..) then all you actually have to do is remove the handle - thats just a sliding fit on splines, gear puller is best, but persuading with a drift down the center if you remove the ceramic 'Mira Cheltenham' button works as well..remove the front cover - that just pulls off - and unscrew the head assembly BACKWARDS and screw the new part in..
Anyway I got it all installed and turned on all the taps that had been turned off..whoever plumbed that place liked his lock valves. There isn't a it of pipe but what has two valves - one at each end of it, it seems..and tried the shower.
Nuddink.
My FIL said 'the pump should be coming on."
Back to airing cupboard, there's the pump. No light on it.
Turned on the switch, also by the same process magically firing up the mast head amp that seemed to be plugged into the same double adapter - thats the second one of those I have fund. They couldn't get TVs working so installed two new aerials instead..sigh..(shudder)..yes FIL is the man who bought a ton of gravel spread very thing for 300 quid..to repair the drive, and has just had solar panels installed that he claims will halve his £2500 heating bill (because the nice salesman said so), whereas in fact the brochure claims that at best, they will save him energy to the tune of £150..
Anyway, that got the light on the Aqualisa pump working, but when the shower came on, there was a loud humming noise for two seconds, then nothing.
I suspect the pump is jammed with scale, not having been used for months..does anyone know if there is e.g. a nut you can turn to free it up, like on a CH pump? or if not how much a replacement double pump (I assume that's what it is: 4 big pipes going in) will cost?