Shower Water Temperature

kiwaon · 10-07-2013, 07:33 AM

Not sure if this is a one of a kind issue with our unit or if it's a general one with most RV showers with a hose attached to the hot and cold taps and an on off valve built into the hand held shower head?

Once the hot and cold water taps are set to deliver a nice warm temperature it stays at that temperature. I get wet, turn the water off by the valve on the hand held shower and soap up. After soaping up I turn the shower head back on for the rinse and the first 3 or 4 seconds of water are scalding hot. Anyone else have such an issue, if so, have you found a fix that would deliver the same water temperature when using the hand held valve?

thanks

Yes i know I can let it run for 5 seconds and it will be back to normal temperature, I'm trying to conserve water as most of my camping sites do not have water at the site.

Moderator, can you please move this post to the "General RV Chat" portion. thanks

msturtz · 10-07-2013, 08:54 AM

Do you have a tankless hot water heater? If so, this is very common. There are some solutions for this problem if that is it.

bbrown · 10-07-2013, 10:04 AM

I have experienced this same issue in a different camper. The trick I have found that seems to work with my shower is this: Turn the cold water valve on full open and let it flow to the shower head. Then slowly open the hot valve untill you get the temp like you want it. Give that a try...I suspect the expanding hot water pushes back into the cold side with the shower head shut, so by only opening the hot only slightly it should eliminate the issue.

RedHorse1 · 10-07-2013, 12:08 PM

This happens to our shower as well. I believe it's the washer expanding as the hotter water flows past. I see this in the sink as well. Turn on the hot side and the flow will gradually diminish as the water gets hotter. So in the shower you get the temp just right (the washer has expanded and is stable), shut the flow off with the shower head valve and do the soapy thing. The water begins to cool a bit which causes the washer to shrink which causes the burst of HOT water when you open the valve again. After a few seconds of the HOT water flowing past the washer it expands and the water temp returns to your setting. JMHO of course.

kiwaon · 10-09-2013, 07:13 PM

Thanks for the responses.

msturtz, No I do not have a tankless heater. Some good explanations as to why this happens, guess I'll just to have to work with what I have when getting cleaned up.

Cheers and have a great day.

msturtz · 10-09-2013, 07:19 PM

Since you do not have a tankless water heater then you can add a small accumulator in the system to give the water someplace to go. They are very inexpensive and will also help your pump life.

troutslayer · 10-10-2013, 02:02 PM

Interesting thread. Ours does just the opposite. It turns cold.

clubhouse · 10-10-2013, 02:58 PM

Our shower turns hot too when the flow is restored after washing. Generally takes a couple seconds to balance back. Can't expain why, we have just learned to live with. Friends with non-jayco TT experience the same thing.

33 RLDS · 10-15-2013, 11:53 AM

I dont have a tankless heater and mine does the exact same thing. The Forest River we had before the Jayco did not do this..

eldermike · 10-15-2013, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by msturtz

Since you do not have a tankless water heater then you can add a small accumulator in the system to give the water someplace to go. They are very inexpensive and will also help your pump life.

Yep, this is a good answer to your problem.

33 RLDS · 10-15-2013, 12:24 PM

I have an accumulator right after my water pump and it does it on the pump or city water, makes no differance..

eldermike · 10-15-2013, 12:39 PM

Not trying to be funny here but it's been my experience that loud screams coming from the bathroom have just always been part of camping.

Jaycolover · 10-15-2013, 02:32 PM

Ours has the same issue. I wonder if adding a thermostat to the water heater would help this?

bbrown · 10-16-2013, 02:10 PM

Not to repeat....but for those of you that are experiencing this. Try the method that I wrote up...It seems to have to do with both the expansion of the water being heated and the washers in the valves also expanding. If you first open the cold valve fully, switch to the shower head and then open the hot until the temp is comfortable, at least in my case, the issue is almost completely gone. The hot valve is sufficiently open to avoid the washer swell and the cold valve all open tends to equalize the expanding water from the heater. Just saying...let me know if this works for you.

clutch · 10-16-2013, 09:05 PM

Our shower does the same thing. I have tried lots of different combinations and none seem to make any difference with our shower.

msturtz · 10-16-2013, 10:10 PM

How big is the accumulator? Is it the small accumulator or large one?

33 RLDS · 10-17-2013, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by msturtz

How big is the accumulator? Is it the small accumulator or large one?

Mine is small. Almost not worth it. Had it from our Hybrid when the water pump was under our bed to limit the water pump running at night if somebody went to the bathroom. Figured I would transfer it to our Jayco and did that before we even used it. But like I said, we still have to hot water problem. I am not buying the swelling gasket washer theory. If they swell wouldnt it block hot water flow?

msturtz · 10-17-2013, 08:53 AM

I had the same one on my JayFlight 29BHS, it helped but not a lot. I had a 2 gallon one installed in my Greyhawk to cope with the constant problems with the tankless water heater. The dealer says that the problem is fixed. They tested it and since the larger accumulator has been installed there is no pulsation from the pump at all and the pump only intermittently runs. According to the dealer the pump runs fills the tank and then shuts off when the pressure in the tank drops below the pump set point the pump kicks on and fills the tank again. The net effect of this is smooth water pressure to the tankless water heater and no scalding or cold water. I did have an issue with my tank heater on my BHS if the tank had residual air at the top of it from draining the tank. This can cause very weird problems and can be difficult to troubleshoot. The simplest test for this condition is to turn off the water tank and switch over to city water (the pump doesn't have enough consistent pressure to accomplish this task). Open all hot water taps in the coach - including and especially the tub if available - leave all cold water taps closed. Listen for any air escaping from the plumbing. If you detect any air that means it was likely trapped in the tank. It is even better if you can get the tank at such an angle that the top exit of the tank is slightly elevated. As soon as you don't hear any air escaping let the water run for a minute or two then shut off. Repeat with the cold side. Turn on the hot water heater on propane and look at the flame if the flame is mostly blue it is correctly set if it is yellow or pulsing then you likely have something blocking the burner tube and exhaust. If you have access to compressed air blow out the exhaust tube from the bottom with the water heater off. Test again for the correct flame. Very slight adjustments of the air fuel mixture can make a large difference. I don't know if any of this will help people on this thread but this is what I did for the tank heater in my JayFlight 29BHS and it worked.

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