Why am I getting hot water everywhere but the shower?

Lack of hot water in a shower is an unpleasant experience. However, you may feel even more frustrated to find your shower’s not getting hot water but your sink does.

A cold shower is not only unenjoyable, but it can also leave you feeling unhygienic. A shower is a special place where we spend time removing all the dirt and grime from the day. It’s also a place for comfort and relaxation.

For these reasons, water temperature can dramatically impact your health, well-being, and overall comfort. A cold or lukewarm shower can prompt you to rapidly take a shower without much thought or care. However, you may notice a decline in your quality of life due to this lack of hot water. 

If you have hot water loss throughout your house, the most likely culprit is your water heater. Conversely, you may have no issues receiving hot water for washing dishes or doing laundry. In that situation, you most likely have one of these problems:

• Your shower mixing valve is damaged
• Your anti-scald unit has been set too high

To resolve a shower not receiving hot water, contact Mustang’s trustworthy plumbers. We have highly qualified professional plumbers to rectify the problem. We can inspect your shower and implement rapid, cost-effective repairs.

How to Check If Your Shower Is the Issue

You may immediately think your shower is the problem when experiencing a cold shower. However, you’ll want to check other areas first to determine if another cause is at play. 

First, check that all your sinks are receiving hot water. If so, then you know your shower is the issue. However, if multiple water sources give you only cold water, your water heating system may be at fault.

Common reasons indicating a water supply problem include:

• The thermometer on your water heater isn’t set high enough (a common issue when you have lukewarm water).
• Technical issues with your water heater.
• A blown fuse. Or, in the case of a gas unit, the pilot light has gone out.
• If using an oil burner, the burner has run out of oil or broken down.
• Another household member has already used up all the hot water, so your water needs time to heat up. In this scenario, try testing the water in another 30 minutes.

You’ll know if your shower is the issue after eliminating these potential causes.

Shower Problem One: Your Anti-Scald Unit Is Set Too High

Perhaps you’re receiving hot water at every water source except your shower. In that case, you may have set your anti-scald unit too high in your shower. 

Anti-scald units are also known as “rotational limit stops” or “hot limit stops.” Most modern faucets have an anti-scald unit for safety. 

These units limit how far you can rotate your shower’s handle to activate hot water. As a result, they can protect you from getting splashed by scalding hot water.

So, when your shower’s not getting hot water but your sink does, this situation may point to a faulty anti-scald unit. Perhaps your unit is improperly adjusted or even in disrepair.

A professional Mustang plumber can check if your anti-scald unit is the culprit. Your plumber will take the following steps:

1. Removing the handle or head from your shower faucet: Your plumber will start by taking either the head or handle from your faucet. Your plumber may need to use an Allen wrench or screwdriver to remove the unit depending on its make and model.
2. Locating your anti-scald unit: If your faucet has an anti-scald unit, that unit typically consists of plastic material. The plumber will locate your unit right under the faucet’s head.
3. Turning your anti-scald unit: After pulling out the unit and freeing it from its current level, your plumber will rotate it to the right to set it back into place.
4. Testing the water’s temperature: Now it’s time for your plumber to test the temperature of the water. If the water becomes hotter during testing, then your anti-scald unit was the issue.
5. Continuing to make adjustments: Your plumber will keep making right turns on your anti-scald unit and check the water temperature at every turn. As a result, your plumber will help you decide how hot you want your water to be. Once you’ve chosen your setting, your plumber will swap out the faucet head.

Remember, not all faucets have an anti-scald unit. If you don’t see the plastic unit from step two, you can eliminate the anti-scald unit as causing the lack of hot water.

Shower Problem Two: A Defective Mixing Valve

If your shower doesn’t have an anti-scald unit, you most likely have a faulty mixing valve. Your shower’s mixing valve controls your water’s temperature by creating a balance between hot and cold water.

However, the following problems can impact your shower’s valves, preventing hot water:

• You have broken vales
• You have worn-out valves
• You have deteriorating plastic parts of the valves that are causing obstructions
• You have improperly positioned valves

If you have an anti-scalding unit, you can make the necessary adjustments yourself if you have DIY experience. However, if your mixing valve is the issue, it’s best to leave that repair job to the professionals.

Your Mustang plumber will locate your mixing valve behind your shower’s wall along its pipes. Sometimes, the solution is as simple as flushing out your mixer’s valve to remove stray plastic parts. Other times, your professional plumber will repair or replace your mixing valve.

Regardless of the problem, accessing the mixing valve usually requires disassembling many of your shower’s fixtures. This process can be time-consuming when not performed by a plumber. Additionally, without the right tools and qualifications, attempting to do it yourself may cause you to damage sensitive parts.

How an Expert Plumbing Team Can Help

Taking a cold or lukewarm shower can be a frustrating experience. Having a professional team on your side can make all the difference in restoring your hot water.

Besides a faulty anti-scald unit or mixing valve, your plumber can help identify other causes of cold water including: 

• Flue blockages
• Defective parts
• Sediment backup
• Issues with cross-connected pipes

A professional plumbing team can efficiently diagnose the issue and recommend repair options. Whether your water heater or shower is the root of the problem, the right plumbing team brings the following qualifications to the table:

• Years of trusted experience
• Fully licensed and certified
• Friendly and highly customized service
• Flat rate pricing, meaning you won’t receive any hidden costs
• A guaranteed bill of satisfaction
• Quality service that gets the job done right the first time

Contact Champion Plumbing Today

Taking a shower without any hot water is never a fun experience. Whether there’s something wrong with your shower or water heating system, an expert plumbing team like Champion Plumbing can help. We have the tools and industry knowledge to get the job done in Mustang, OK. 

During your consultation with us, we will look at both your shower and water system to diagnose the hot water issue. After verifying why your shower is not getting hot water but your sink does, we’ll discuss repair options with you. Before we leave your property, we’ll discover and implement what works best for you and your budget.

Call Champion Plumbing today at (405) 889-1318 to repair or replace your hot water heater!

Have you noticed you are getting hot water out of every faucet in your home except for the shower? Or, maybe your shower water is warm, but not all that hot – or there’s no hot water in your shower at all.

Each of these problems has its own cause, so there isn’t usually one main reason why you don’t have hot water in your shower. Before you can fix the problem, you have to be able to pinpoint exactly what is happening and why.

Below are some tips to help you determine and potentially fix the problem on your own. However, if you are in need of assistance from a professional plumber, Plumbing by Jake is here to help!

Problem: Only the Shower Water Is Cold

If you have ice-cold water raining down on you from your showerhead, check the other faucets in your home to see if you have no hot water at all. If, however, the only faucet pouring out cold water is your shower, then the problem is more than likely the shower itself.

You can fix this problem on your own with some inexpensive parts from your local hardware store, if you feel confident in doing so. However, if you are nervous about taking on a plumbing issue by yourself, or if you have tried to fix it and still have not had any luck, then it’s time to call a professional for help.

Problem: All the Water in the House Is Cold

If you’ve run the hot water taps on your shower, your bathroom sink, and your kitchen sink, and cold water is pouring out of all of them, this could signal a few different problems:

• Someone may have used up all the hot water and the water now needs time to heat up.
• If you use a water heater, it may be experiencing an operating problem.
• The thermometer on your hot water heater may not be high enough.
• If you use an oil burner, it may have broken down, or you may have run out of oil.

There are some things you can try to solve these problems on your own. For instance, if you use an oil burner, measure the oil. If it’s low, you’ll need to schedule a delivery. If, however, you use a hot water heater, you can check to see if you’ve blown a fuse and that the temperature is correct. If you didn’t, and it is, then you may need to call a professional to take a deeper look.

If you think it may be a hot water usage issue, simply wait about 30 minutes after the last person took their shower before you take yours. This should be enough time for the next batch of water to heat up, which you can then use for your shower.

If you’re not sure what the problem is, or if you’ve tried all these troubleshooting tips to no avail, then give our team at Plumbing by Jake a call for assistance.

Problem: Your Shower Water Is Warm, But Not Hot

If your shower water never climbs to the temperature you need it to be, first check that the thermostat on your water heater is set to the correct temperature. Failing that, or if you don’t use a water heater, then the issue might be with the shower itself – specifically, the shower’s mixing valve, which controls the temperature of the water by “mixing” cold and hot water together.

In order to get to this valve, you need to disassemble your entire shower. Therefore, if you don’t have prior plumbing experience, it’s best to leave this kind of repair to the professionals.

Can’t Seem to Get Hot Water Out of Your Shower? Plumbing by Jake Can Help!

Plumbing can be a tricky beast, even for the “simplest” of repairs. Therefore, even if it’s something as simple as replacing a valve, you may want to call a professional. If things aren’t lined up perfectly, then you risk leakage, which can wear out your parts and equipment over time and worse – result in water damage.

Give our team a call at (928) 377-5910. We are available 24/7 to help with all of your plumbing needs – emergency or otherwise. You can also submit a request via the contact form on our website if the situation is not an emergency. A member of our team will then get back to you to schedule a service call for a date and time that works best for you and your schedule.

At Plumbing by Jake, we proudly offer all our customers a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee on all our parts and labor. We are punctual, professional, and efficient – we never leave a workspace dirtier than we found it. A plumbing issue can turn into an emergency rather quickly, so if you are experiencing difficulty with your hot water, don’t delay – call today!