New shower on/off cartridge operating clockwise

jimmybond007 · Sep 15, 2021

So this has Crosswater stumped. I have a 4 way shower valve. When all the knobs are pointing up, everything is off. When I turn 90 degree to the left (anti clockwise) each shower unit turns on (overhead/handled/jets). One seized so, being the lockdown DIY expert that I became, I decided to do this myself. Now the new cartridge, confirmed by CW correct is ON (water flows) at the upright position and then turns OFF when I turn 90 degrees to the left. Is this a faulty part or am I doing something stupidly wrong. I have tried swapping with an existing working cartridge and the new cartridge replicates the same issue no matter where it's screwed in to.

Any ideas please 🙂

Ben-gee · Sep 15, 2021

No you have done nothing wrong, it is the wrong hand.

Tempted to say- as it works , just leave it alone!

If you want to, it is usually possible to dismantle the ceramic cartridge and rebuild it to the opposite hand . By which I mean change it to open anti-clockwise instead of clockwise.

jimmybond007 · Sep 15, 2021

Thank you. CR didn’t mention that it needed to be a certain hand and it certainly doesn’t say on the product description!? So how do I get the right hand if product descriptions don’t say! My wife clearly thinks I don’t know what I’m doing and thinks it’s a classic DIY bodge job that it turns in the opposite direction to all the others 😂

Ben-gee · Sep 15, 2021

Dismantle cartridge, at the bottom are two ceramic discs with openings that either align (shower on) or don’t align ( shower off).

One of them is probably indexed to a fixed position, remove it - rotate it and then replace it.

Rebuild the cartridge.

You should have changed its handedness, if that’s a word?!

jimmybond007 · Sep 15, 2021

You say dismantle cartridge as if I’m hanging up a picture. I thought I did well turning off the water and fitting it myself 🤣 but thank you. Am I dismantling by unscrewing the nut and the bottom of the spindle or am I going from the bottom up!