Fitted shower / enclosure problem

[Hairball]

Hi all, I'm a bit stuck with the shower in our en suite and need advice on the best course of action. We moved into the house a couple of months ago and the en suite didn't run hot right from the start. We had a plumber look at it who said it was the thermostatic tap but he can't get access to it to change it. He hadn't even seen a shower like it and was struggling where to get the part from.

The shower has obviously been fitted in at the same time as the whole bathroom suite, the tiles are cut around it. It's plumbed in through the floor. The shower itself is part of the enclosure (which when I google, I can't see anything like it!). We saw some paperwork that said it was a Valencia shower, but don't know any more. The shower unit bit doesn't come off. It has allen key bits but when unscrewed, it still is stuck in place. And the tap bits won't come off. It's like it's all glued together!

Has anyone seen anything like this? Any ideas on repairing it?

Or if not, I wondered if the next easiest solution would be to buy a new shower and put it on the bathroom wall, within the enclosure. It would involve getting through the wall tiles to plumb it in though. How much mess would that be? Can it be done carefully without the need to retile the bathroom? and what is a very rough estimate of how much that would cost?

I really don't want to rip out the current enclosure as I guess we'd be looking at thousands to do that and fit a new suite.

 

[stevetheplumber]

probably siliconed in so will need to be cut out if you remove the cartridge from the shower you can send a picture to the shower doctor and get a price for a replacement

 

[Radioman]

I don't think it would cost "thousands" to replace the screen and put in a decent shower valve. I assume this is upstairs? Providing you can get a screen to match the tray, that's a simple job. Cap off the old supplies, fit an Aqualisa Quartz Exposed shower with the processor in the loft. Simples.
We can't give prices on here but if you go to the Aqualisa web site you can locate a local approved installer.

 

[Hairball]

I thought I'd replied, but it's disappeared! How would we cut it out? Nothing moves.

I thought that if we take the whole lot out, we'd end up having to re-tile bathroom - massive job. If we could easily just plumb in a new shower, putting it onto the wall inside the existing enclosure, that would be ok - but I'm worried that will cause a lot of mess and repair work. I can't find a similar enclosure to what we have anywhere so far.

 

[Radioman]

I thought I'd replied, but it's disappeared! How would we cut it out? Nothing moves.

I thought that if we take the whole lot out, we'd end up having to re-tile bathroom - massive job. If we could easily just plumb in a new shower, putting it onto the wall inside the existing enclosure, that would be ok - but I'm worried that will cause a lot of mess and repair work. I can't find a similar enclosure to what we have anywhere so far.

No mess the shower I specked was designed as a no fuss install.

 

[Hairball]

Yeh I had a look, thanks. It looks great but over budget. I'd really rather repair the one we have but nobody seems to know how to. I've had two plumbers around who were at a loss.

 

[Knappers]

probably held on by the outlets aswell as the mixing valve.
if you can strip them down I bet the panel will just pop off

 

[enragedlime]

Yeh I had a look, thanks. It looks great but over budget. I'd really rather repair the one we have but nobody seems to know how to. I've had two plumbers around who were at a loss.

That faceplate on your panel actually looks very similar to the faceplate on the Di Vapor valves. They'll be able to identify it I'm sure and tell you how to take it out: Di Vapor: We'll Identify Your Shower for You

 

[ShaunCorbs]

looks like allen head grub screws in pic 4 and 5

 

[mache]

looks like allen head grub screws in pic 4 and 5

Agreed, probably will need the top chrome cap removing as well to separate the casing halves and expose the internals.

 

[Hairball]

Hi everyone, I'm back. It's taken some time but we've got the shower apart. I'll put the latest photos on. Now the problem is getting a replacement cartridge. There's no markings on it, or the shower, so without a make/model, we're struggling. There's so many similar cartridges and looking at all the elements, and measurements, I can't find a likely match. We went to two plumbing places and they couldn't help, they said that there's no chance of getting a match without knowing the exact model. I'm going to try that website to ID it (thanks enraged lime). Other than that, anyone got any suggestions? or can we fit a new shower into the existing cabin?