Following recent radiator installation my Triton thermostatic shower stopped delivering cold water. I thought the Triton LP Thermostatic valve needs replacement but the new valve did not fix the problem. I noticed that no cold water is coming from the cold water pipe.
It is possible that some scale has blocked the cold water pipe. Does anyone know how to unblock the pipe please? Thanks.

Hey Noorihasen:

I doubt this is related to the radiator installation except that I am figuring that you might have touched a cold water shutoff to the boiler for filling radiator/heat system. That may be first clue..?

You changed the valve and still nothing.

Did you check cold water flow when the pipe was completely diconnected from the thermostatic mixing valve? Or while it was attached to shower valve with cartridge out?

Answer those questions.. they will help me understand better.

In terms of a real reduced flow to a copper pipe that has been in place a long time all you can really do is work your way back from mixing valve to the nearest stop in line and test there... may need to cut into pipe at strategic locations and isolate to an area and finally find the issue.

When was this valve installed..

Let me know what you can... Mark

Thank you Sir

Yes, I have tested the water flow after removing the valve and only the hot water outlet was working, nothing was coming from the cold water outlet. Surprisingly when I shut the hot water supply and opened the cold water supply, cold water was coming from the hot water outlet of the shower. I have a second shower which is working fine, so it is unlikely that I hit a cold water shutoff as you have suggested.

Noor:

You said, "I have tested the water flow after removing the valve and only the hot water outlet was working, nothing was coming from the cold water outlet". You say outlet.. do you mean pipe..
Did you test the pipe without the valve in place? Water did not come out of the end of the copper cold water PIPE?

You said, "Surprisingly when I shut the hot water supply and opened the cold water supply, cold water was coming from the hot water outlet of the shower".
Did you shut shutoff off at water heater or at the themostatic mixing valve itself (integral stops) or at separate hot/cold shutoffs at the pipes to shower valve? Was mixing valve installed when tested?

You said, "I have a second shower which is working fine, so it is unlikely that I hit a cold water shutoff as you have suggested".
Shower water piping is not related like that. Each fixture should have its own shutoff, but sometimes people put shutoffs between the wierdest places... but anyway...

I know there are a lot of questions... answer what you can... answer is right in front of us!

Thanks Mark

When I removed the "Valve Cartridge" and the "Check Valves/Sleeves" there was nothing but the ends of the hot and cold water pipes into a metal square box, these pipe ends I called "outlets" in my previous email.

The hot water shut-off is located on a pipe coming from the Water Storage Tank in the loft and joining the Water Cylinder at the airee cupboard.

I shut the cold water supply by turning off all pipes coming from the Water tank in the loft because I am not sure which pipe goes where.

I tested the water flow after removing the "Valve Cartridge" and the "Check Valve/Slveeve" and no cold water was coming out of the pipe ends. I hve no access to the remainder of the pipes because they are hidden behind the shower's tiled walls.

Many thanks for your help so far.

Noori

Hey Noorihasan:

Check out this site.. it is specification sheet on your valve. It shows the basic piping diagram and may help you to determine which valves go to what.

http://www.tritonshowers.co.uk/pdf/lp_thermo_mxr.pdf

Seems to me that if you removed the cartridge and the check valves and had no cold water... that you may indeed have a blocked pipe. HOWEVER, this type of thermostatic mixing valve is quite complicated and with the water storage tank joining the water cylinder at the airee cupboard there is just too much guessing for me to determine which valve is clogged or which check valve may be plugged where.

Check out the site I posted... let me know your thoughts. Like I said before, about only thing I can advise you to do is work your way back from the valve to find what the issue is... isolate it and then fix it. You may need to call a plumber in on this one... ;)

Talk soon... Mark

Dear Mark

I am very grateful for your advice and the time you spent trying to help me solve the problem.

I managed to find the offending shut-off on the cold water supply which I had not realised that it existed before. In the loft I found 3 separate shut-off points on 3 separate pipes from the storage tank, each one controls one of my showers. The offending shut-off was not opened fully for some reason. When I opened this shut-off fully the cold water started running freely from the cold water pipe and eventually from the shower valve without problem.

You were absolutely right that a shut-off on the cold water pipe is the reason for my problem and not a blocked pipe. The recent radiator installation may have been a red herring, probably.

Many thanks once again for your kind help:)

Noori