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My wife and I recently bought a house built in 1955, but has been remodeled over the years. It has a new bathroom but I can definitely tell it was a "300 bucks and a case of beer" kind of job. My shower knob to turn the water off goes all the way to the hot setting when the water is off.

I've tried looking on Google and YouTube but I don't think I'm wording it right or something. I am by no means a handy man or plumber. I'm young (22) and have no idea what I'm doing. Just trying to make my wife happy.

FreeMan
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Harley
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    Are you saying that the farther you turn the handle, the cooler the water gets? As in it's delivering hot water when you first open the valve? – longneck Feb 14 '23 at 11:40
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    Pictures of what you see with descriptions will help. – crip659 Feb 14 '23 at 12:43
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    To the "young" comment: learning how to perform basic household tasks is time well spent and will come in handy surprisingly often. From the answers, it sounds like this is a job you can do yourself, but even when you encounter a job that requires a pro, it's very useful to have some knowledge on the subject. In other words, keep learning and asking; you won't regret it. – Tim M. Feb 14 '23 at 18:48
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    @Tim M. - I remember going on a college tour with one of my kids. The student taking us around showing us dorms, etc was a college lacrosse player. Somebody asked him what was the most useful thing he learned in college, and his reply was "how to patch drywall"! – SteveSh Feb 14 '23 at 20:01
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    As a European I am a bit confused even by regularly mounted American shower appliances that conflate volume and temperature regulation into one turning handle. It's like having a single turning knob on the radio that is for volume and station at the same time. – Peter - Reinstate Monica Feb 15 '23 at 07:06
  • Not clear what the actual question is here - what do you need to change? – Toby Speight Feb 15 '23 at 14:18
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    @TobySpeight I suppose the OP (or rather his wife about whose happiness he is laudably concerned) does not want to stand under a shower of scalding hot water at the start and beginning of a shower (but rather under cold water, as it is). – Peter - Reinstate Monica Feb 15 '23 at 15:44
  • Not trying to be too critical here, but with our "reversed valve" situation (see my answer below), we just turn the shower handle to the 7:30 position and that works out to be close to the desired temperature. – SteveSh Feb 15 '23 at 15:48
  • That is another thing this European is puzzled about: You cannot operate the typical American shower without standing under it because the head is mounted to the wall, which means you always have an initial phase of water at the wrong temperature pouring on you. This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the pipe leading from the knob to the head drains when the shower is off so that only newly flowing, hopefully temperate water comes out, after an initial half-second of hissing air. (ctd.) – Peter - Reinstate Monica Feb 15 '23 at 15:50
  • Thanks @Peter - and I've now read your comment that infers that the shower has a single knob for volume and temperature. Having not seen one like that, I couldn't understand why the temperature couldn't be adjusted whilst the flow is turned off (as you can with standard controls). – Toby Speight Feb 15 '23 at 15:51
  • (Ctd.) By contrast, the typical German shower hose does not drain so that it has stale water at room temperature in it which is too cold for me -- but I can direct the nozzle, which is detachable, elsewhere until the water has the desired temperature. – Peter - Reinstate Monica Feb 15 '23 at 15:52
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    @Peter-ReinstateMonica That style of knob isn't really intended to control volume -- the shower is intended to be either on or off, and you can adjust the temperature. The fact that you can slightly control the volume of water at the far end is just a side effect of how the valve works. It's more akin to a volume control knob that also turns off power to the radio when you turn the volume all the way down. – Herohtar Feb 15 '23 at 16:35
  • @Peter-ReinstateMonica Also, "typical American showers" definitely can be operated without standing under it -- usually it just means turning it on before stepping into the shower since you're entering from the "side" (ie, the shower head doesn't point toward the shower entrance). And not all showers have a fixed head; they can also be handheld with a hose, so for those you can get in the shower and just detach the head and point it away from you. – Herohtar Feb 15 '23 at 16:43
  • @Herohtar Then the water flows down your arm, splashes out onto the floor since the cabin is open, what a mess ;-). And yes, there are showers with detachable nozzles (or an extra detachable one), but as often there are not. – Peter - Reinstate Monica Feb 15 '23 at 16:46
  • @Peter-ReinstateMonica Not really, since the water is fully "on" and the nozzle is not aimed directly down. The shower curtain or door usually can be opened in such a way that it blocks any splashing while still giving you access to the controls and allowing you to enter the shower. It's not that complicated ;-) – Herohtar Feb 16 '23 at 22:37

2 Answers2

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Your mixing valve cap - the part that turns with the handle - may be installed upside down. You should be ably to remove it from the shower side of the wall, after turning the water off first, rotate it 180 deg, and re-install.

I removed the valve cap on my Kohler shower valve because it would not shut off completely and cleaned it up. When I reinstalled it, I had the same problem you do - the hot is at the OFF position. But, it no longer leaks!

Mine looked like this. Picture is from Amazon.

enter image description here

Living with it for now.

SteveSh
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  • Is it also normal that when you turn it on, it isn't possible to adjust the flow of water when you get past the initial cold setting? As in, the comes out full blast except right before you turn it off with no ability to adjust it if you don't need that much flow? – Michael Feb 15 '23 at 03:53
  • Would your change change the actual behavior or just the visible lever position relative to the label ? – Peter - Reinstate Monica Feb 15 '23 at 07:10
  • @Michael - At least with my valve, you cannot adjust the water volume or pressure, at least that I've been able to tell. It's either all or nothing. The single handle valves that allow for control of flow volume usually have another degree of movement, in and out relative to the wall. – SteveSh Feb 15 '23 at 12:27
  • @Peter - In my case, it changed the actual behavior. That is, the position of the handle/valve to give cold vs hot water. I didn't think it would matter (but it obviously does), which is why I didn't pay attention when I reinstalled the valve cap. – SteveSh Feb 15 '23 at 12:30
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    @Michael when we had to replace our shower valve, we were told that (a) code required a pressure-balancing valve, and (b) nearly all pressure-balancing valves allow only temperature adjustment, not flow volume adjustment. We were able to find one that allowed both, with a large handle to adjust flow and a small concentric handle to adjust temperature. – jeffB Feb 15 '23 at 15:25
  • @jeffB Now that you say that I remember: I have seen those as well in the U.S.! – Peter - Reinstate Monica Feb 15 '23 at 15:41
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I've seen enough of these done backwards that I have come to suspect that some people deliberately install them backwards to defeat the anti-scald mechanism.

Once you get used to it, it's not so bad (shut it off quickly when done), but it can be surprising when you first meet one, and you're turning the water hotter, but it gets colder...

Ecnerwal
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    What exactly is the anti-scald mechanism? That the water starts cold and you have to turn it more than half way before it gets hot?

    I hate these things lol...

     – Nelson Feb 15 '23 at 01:52
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    No, it's a thermostatic limit on how hot the water gets, so as not to scald the user, especially children and elderly people who may not be able to "simply get out" or "simply turn it down.". Standard for quite some time now in most places. Since it works by restricting the hot flow, swapping the hot and cold input defeats it. If working correctly, it can be adjusted by following manufacturer's directions, rather than disabling it by deliberate (or inadvertent) mis-piping. – Ecnerwal Feb 15 '23 at 02:31
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    @Ecnerwal the ones I've encountered in the US are not thermostatic - I wish they were. They work solely by balancing pressure. The installer has to set them to limit the maximum water temperature. (And if your incoming "cold" water is colder in the winter and warmer in the summer, like ours, you either have the scalding risk return in the summer or get unsatisfyingly tepid water in the winter. We adjust the limiter ourselves.) – jeffB Feb 15 '23 at 17:45