water temperature driving me crazy

[jakeirving123]

hey guys

I live in an apartment where there are two water temperatures: ice cold and scalding hot. There is ALWAYS scalding water available, but I need WARM water, which is next to impossible. I spend an extra 10 minutes in the shower on the sidelines trying to adjust and re-adjust the temperature controls. Once I finally get the water temp right, it usually lasts about 2 minutes before plunging into extreme cold or extreme hot and the cycle begins again. I have lived in tons of places and never had this problem. My building's boiler is just about brand new and like I said, there is never a problem with getting near- boiling water coming in. I want my landlord to buy some kind of regulator for the boiler they just bought or something to make the temp more consistent. what should he get? Where to get it?

Please help, this is driving me mad

jake

[Richard J Kinch]

Powers thermostatic tempering device.

[Pat]

You need a pressure balanced shower valve.

[Oren]

I like Richard's advice:)

Just a DIY thought.......... Oren

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[hallerb]

i just installed a delta pressure temperature valve, it works awesome, holds within 3 or 4 degrees.

plumber can install, but its expensive

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Agree on this too. There are two types of shower faucet. Anti-scald, that lets you set a maximum temperature, but it will still allow it to run cold if the hot water is turned on elsewhere. The thermostatic valve holds the temperature no matter what is turned on.

It is also possible the water temperature in the boiler is set to high or the tempering device is not set up properly. I'd approach it from both sides.

[ransley]

Also if the building is old HW pipes may be clogged needing replacing

[David L. Martel]

Jake,

If you are handy, take apart your faucets and rebuild them. If that doesn't help then go with the pressure balanced gizmo.

Dave M.

[hallerb]

ahh ask your landlord, they are likely using a tankless hot water heater set on max. that explains your complaint/

they set it on max so they never run out of hot water, figuring people will mix hot and cold to get the temperature they want....

now you get in shower with water running but all over your building people are using water, off on partial and large loads. you have no hope to have a stable temperature.....

if your building has a quiet time say 4AM try the shower at that time, see if the water temp is stable? also is it stable at a regular faucet?

if it stable in the middle of the nite then its not something wierd about the faucet, its the building.

the good news is a temperature control valve can fix that, unfortunately its expensive.

i paid over 300 bucks for my delta and a plumber wanted 359 bucks to install........ it became a all day DIY job.

but it was one of the best investments i ever made!