Hydroflo VS2 shower dripping?

Fenambulist, Thank you for your clear and precise instructions. I was able to get my shower working again very quickly and at no expense, having read some other posts about replacements not being available I had visions of needing a complete replacement shower with pipe alterations etc.

Alan
December 2018

Hi, I opened up my hydroflo aquadart hoping that I could follow your instructions (Fenambulist) but the insides were quite different. The copper pipes where screw fit not push on and the rest of the shower mechanism was covered by a plastic casing. There was a bar which looked like it held together the taps. I am reluctant to tinker with these in case they fly apart and I cannot put them back. Any help would be very welcome.

ToneB
April 2017

Hi Fenambulist, Thank you so much for your detailed instructions on how to repair this unit. Followed it to the letter both I and my customer are extremely happy

A prettyhandywoman
February 2017

is the diameter of the hose critical, I have had the same problem since I changed the shower hose!

6GHHH
December 2014

Sorry, my post yesterday not so clever. It may be true, but it's not the answer to why all my attempts to clean and lubricate were failing to get the hot flowing again.

The problem was a damaged hose to the shower head. It seems that a constriction, ie a restriction to flow rate through the system, stops the cold pulling hot water in. Replace the hose, problem sorted. It wasn't a sticking plunger/valve at all.

Peter
October 2013

Thanks for all help here. It might be worth saying that when you push the hot feed pipe bit back in again, it traps air behind it which gets pressurised as you push the piece in. That - on mine anyway - held the hot non-return valve shut (with lowish hot water pressure, which is what these units are so good at handling) and the system wouldn't work. Took the thing on and off several times looking for a fix, scratching the head until I figured out what was going on.
So just put a small screwdriver or stick into the hot nr valve to break the seal and let the air out. Bingo, it now works fine.

Peter
October 2013

Hi Fanambulist

Like your instruction just about to give them a run out and try to maintain the VS2 we have.

Do you know of any shower unit that can fit on to the existing VS2 pipework in case the maintenance doesn't go so well?

David
December 2012

It's great to hear from folks who've followed my instructions and succeeded - thanks for your feedback. I've just done the yearly repair to my shower today and it's still working. I wonder what the record will be for keeping one of these things alive. And if anybody knows of a more reliable mixer that I can fit on the same pipes, please shout!

Fenambulist
August 2012

Thankyou, Fenambulist (May 2010). I followed your clear and detailed description to successfully return my daughter's Hydroflo VS2 from useless and gushy, back to user-friendly. The information you provided
made the job far easier than I'd anticipated, and resulted in successful completion in just over 1 hour!
My own shower is the Croydex, same valve assembly and developing the same problem, thanks to you I won't need to replace it after all!

Philip
June 2012

That is a great answer! I've just had one of these old showers (now out of production) and the hot is gushing out, even when its off, so this procedure will help me loads. Thanks!!

Pete the plumber
August 2011

Just got round to trying your instructions and they were perfect. shower now working as normal.
Many thanks
Dave

Dave
August 2010

Many thanks for your clear and concise instructions. Just what I needed. I'd given up hope of anyone replying and hadn't checked here for ages.
Dave

Dave
July 2010

I've got one of those and it develops the same problem about once a year. I have to dismantle it and re-lubricate the O-rings. It looks quite frightening the first time you do it, but now I can do the job in about half an hour.

Here's the procedure:

Turn off the hot and cold supplies.

Turn the shower on and off briefly to check that the supplies are really off.

Remove the front panel and the control knobs (they are all just push-fit).

Loosen the two push-fit connections to the incoming copper pipes. Each one is a grey plastic ring that slides over the copper pipe. Push the ring towards the body of the shower until it won't go any further. I use an adjustable spanner set just wider than the pipe diameter (15 mm) to push and tap the ring upwards until it's loose.

Remove the output tube - the one that protrudes downwards from the mixer body. It's held onto the rear casing by two screws. Don't lose the O-ring inside it.

Remove the three screws holding the rear casing to the wall. I know, it sounds like too much work, but I find that I can't release the mixer from the pipes otherwise.

Remove the four screws holding the mixer to the rear casing.

Now you can lift the mixer up whilst tilting it away from the wall and wiggling it from side to side, and it should come off the supply pipes.

Place the mixer on an absorbent mat, because lots of water is going to leak out when you dismantle it. Place it the same way round as it was installed, with the inlets at the bottom and the hot inlet on the left.

Pull off the hot inlet valve. It's a self-contained bit of tube about 30 mm long with some moving parts inside it.

Behind the hot inlet valve, up inside the mixer, is a wire mesh filter. Gently work it out with your finger.

Moving to the top of the mixer, there is a plastic head section held on with screws. Keep the metal plate with its gasket attached to the head section. Just remove enough screws to release the head section from the main body. At least one of these screws also goes through the metal plate. It takes a bit of effort to prise the head off the main body, because it's held on by several O-rings.

With the head section removed, you will see a plastic plunger on top of the hot inlet. The plunger has two crossing ribs on top, like a hot cross bun. It should move freely up and down, but it tends to get stuck. This is what causes the shower to drip and ultimately completely fail to shut off the hot water.

To remove the plunger, turn the mixer upside down and look into the tube from which you removed the wire mesh filter. There is a screw up there, which you need to remove BUT HOLD ON TO THE PLUNGER to prevent it from being fired out by its spring!

Lubricate the plunger's large O-ring with silicone grease.

As they say in the Haynes manuals, reassembly is the reverse of disassembly.

When fitting the mixer back onto the copper pipes, don't forget to push the press-fit rings back down onto the pipes as far as they will go. It doesn't hurt to re-lubricate the O-rings in there as well.

Fenambulist
May 2010