My shower faucet is on an inside wall. The other side of that wall is the hallway. There seems to be no obvious way to access the back side of the shower faucet.

Does anyone know anything about this? I hate to tear into it blind and dumb.

Many shower valve problems can be fixed from the front-side. Remove the valve stem and replace washers; grind washer seats if necessary; replace stems with new ones from Lowes or Home Depot. For supply tube leaks or total replacement you'll have to get to the backside. Mine backs into a cupboard so an access panel there would be no problem. Hope yours is as easy!

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Gary & Edie
North Idaho
1988 28' P-30 454

Gary, I wish it were so simple. I want to put a check valve in the hot and cold lines as close to the shower valve as possible.

Our shower is a kitchen sink-type spray head on a hose (for maximum water conservation). When we stop the flow to scrub and lather, we are greeted with cold water when we squirt again. I believe check valves will stop this. If it appears too daunting, I will compromise and install the valves where I can reach them.

Very interesting thoughts on possible solutions to a very annoying situation.

I suspect that the real culprit is a difference in pressure between the hot and cold --- you adjust pressures with the shower valves to provide suitable temperature with the shower on (ie; water flowing); when you turn the shower off the hot and cold pressure will soon become equal (static condition).

You get a squirt of excess cold when you pop the shower on -- it takes a second for the (static) pressures at the shower head to adjust to make a suitable mix.

Check valves would not help if this is the governing factor.

It has been MANY years since I took fluid dynamics in college (class of '54) and I would welcome corrections!

Gary

Not much help from olroy, but a similar problem to Bill's, except we get a blast of scalding water when we turn the shower head back on.

In the last house we built, I installed single handle shower controls that prevented changes in temp. as h. & c. pressures fluctuated. Can't remember the brand, and I don't know whether they could be retrofitted to an RVshower, but if so, they'd be a good solution. I got 'em at Eagle Hardware, which became Lowes.

We just finished our new home and I, too, used pressure balancing shower controls. The part that is inside the wall is very compact so there should be ample room in the Barth walls. That's what I would install if I was going to the trouble of cutting an access hole.

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Gary & Edie
North Idaho
1988 28' P-30 454

Those work fine at house pressure and volume, but I wonder if they would be as good with the itty bitty flow of a motor home pump.

Anyone know of one used in a MH?

Experienced similar problem in Avion trailer. We got used to directing water from shower hose toward wall for second or two that it took to stabilize. 20+ yrs ago when I was involved in photographic processing, there were temperature control regulators and pressure control "thingies" for hot and cold lines. I think brand name was Leedal or Leedhal. It worked great from full flow to tiny stream. Temp was constant +/- 1/2 F degree. There were lesser expensive units too. Some for showers in healthcare industry also. These are expensive and an extreme solution to the problem. But you might want to search photo processing mixers today. They might be inexpensive.

Bill,
Check out http://www.keidel.com/design/select/showers-valve./htm
It looks to me that at least some of these valves are not flow-sensitive and therefor should work with the low volume showers in our coaches.

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Gary & Edie
North Idaho
1988 28' P-30 454

PS: I don't know why the site doesn't come up when you click on the above; but it will if you insert the above in Google. Why????

[This message has been edited by Grizzlygiant (edited March 28, 2004).]

This will help to some extent. On my boat I have installed small, about 2-3 gallon, surge tank. I can't remember the brand but it will be available at locations that sell well pumps and associated equipment. The water pumps used generally have only 2.5 to 3.5 gpm output so this helps maintain the pressures in the water lines with less pump cycling. This surge capacity should help significantly, especially if you install the checks on cold and hot lines near the shower branch. I have not added the checks and have not noticed any problem.
Another benefit is that I can turn the pump off at night and still have volume for washing hands etc. Have you ever listened at 2AM for the pump to quit its cycle while copper pipes are banging on fiberglass stringers?
Tim

We had a similar problem, except ours was a surge of very hot water. We started augmenting the city water with the pump and we installed a new accumulator tank. We still get a little bit of a temperature change, but it is bearable (or do I mean bareable )



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Jim & Anne Dorough
93 Barth Breakaway

I am amazed by how some coaches have a cold surge and some have a hot. This defies logic.

I will probably not tear in to the wall at this time, so the check valves will go in where it is easy, and probably an accumulator.

I put in an accumulator this winter. The FW tank is under the curbside twin and just enough space to place an accumulator just forward of the water tank. The tank I got is small; it is designed to be hooked up to a hot water tank to allow for expansion. I used a Radio Shack chimney mount to strap it to the forward bulkhead.
I also changed the plumbing connections on the pump to a flexible line and mounted the pump mount on rubber. (Mouse pads using contact cement)

Picture of Tank and Pump Side View
Picture of Tank and Pump Top View



[This message has been edited by Jack (edited March 30, 2004).]