Concealed shower valve connected wrong way round

[forgottenlife]

Hi, hope I could get some advice here. It's a bit of a diy job here, I have re-done my bathroom shower cubicle, replaced the old concealed shower valve with a new one, complete with new shiny tiles. I did check that water was coming through and no leak, before finishing the tiling. Big rookie mistake - I did not check the water temperature, and now it looks like I had plumbed in hot/cold the wrong way round.... Water is now either boiling hot, or ice cold. Big headache... What advice can you give please?

I really can't bear the thought of having to break through the tiles, as they were done over existing tiles, and breaking through them would probably mean having to re-do the whole wall structure. I read somewhere that sometimes it is possible to just spin the thermostatic cartridge 180 degrees to switch the hot/cold, but I can not tell if this could be done with my unit. If this could be done, it would be a huge relief!

Attached is a photo of the (what I thought was finished) valve, and another image of the spec. Many thanks in advance!

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Sorry to say no so tiles off I’m afraid

 

[IND_Nick]

Is there any access from the wall behind? What about where the water enter the room, possibly switch it over, obviously if it doesn't effect other outlets.

 

[forgottenlife]

There isn't access from behind the wall unfortunately. The hot and cold pipes are fed from the boiler room though, which supply both the shower and basin. Would it be ok to perhaps switch them over from where the boiler is? I am praying it might be possible to adjust the valve to switch the hot/cold there, that would be amazing.

 

[forgottenlife]

Sorry to say no so tiles off I’m afraid

Hi Shaun, are you saying it is not possible to spin the thermostatic cartridge in this case? thanks.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Yes sorry, they come in at a different height if you look at your picture you will see two filters / mesh one above each other

 

[Ben-gee]

Cross the pipes in the boiler room, then cross them under the basin and you’re all sorted!

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Cross the pipes in the boiler room, then cross them under the basin and you’re all sorted!

Toilet ?

 

[Ben-gee]

I was going off OP who said pipes fed basin and shower- granted I should know better!

You can certainly swap the pipes to the shower with no disturbance to the shower tiling, but depending on layout of room/pipes some disturbance elsewhere may be needed to sort basin and toilet.

Don’t worry it is not a massive job.

 

[forgottenlife]

Thanks for all your replies, I am so stressed about this right now..... I have totally forgotten about the toilet.

Attached a couple of photos showing the boiler room and the bathroom. The location of the boiler room is directly behind the shower cubicle, behind the valve unit. It looks like the main pipes are going into the bathroom more or less at that location, and then we have the basin on the left and toilet on the right. Would my best bet be opening up the wall from the boiler room? Thanks a million guys for your advice.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Is the wall a solid wall or stud where the shower valve is ?

And do them pipes do straight just for the shower valve or do other things ?

 

[forgottenlife]

Is the wall a solid wall or stud where the shower valve is ?

It is a plaster board wall. My worry is if I start taking the tiles off, the whole wall might need re-doing again. And it took me a while to get those shiny new tiles on.... 🙂

 

[gpbeck]

When you changed the shower, did the pipes to the old one go straight in without any branches? If so, probably just need to swap pipe work you have red ringed in photo.

 

[forgottenlife]

When you changed the shower, did the pipes to the old one go straight in without any branches? If so, probably just need to swap pipe work you have red ringed in photo.

I only opened up a small area surrounding the valve, I could only see two pipes coming up from the bottom (hot & cold) and one pipe going up (shower head). I didn't see any branches, does it mean the pipes branch off to the basin and toilet, before reaching the shower?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

It is a plaster board wall. My worry is if I start taking the tiles off, the whole wall might need re-doing again. And it took me a while to get those shiny new tiles on.... 🙂

Cut it from the boiler room side and put an access panel back

 

[forgottenlife]

Cut it from the boiler room side and put an access panel back

Thanks, will try to do that at the weekend and see how it goes, fingers crossed!

 

[forgottenlife]

Thanks for all your advice. It turns out the two pipes in the boiler room shown in the photo feed directly into the shower only. I switched them round, and all is now working perfect. Cheers!