Can't remove shower mixer cartridge, any ideas?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Can't remove shower mixer cartridge, any ideas?

Mehrts

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#296351 10-Jun-2022 11:41

Shower mixer started leaking when turned off, thought "no worries", easy fix. Done it before on other mixers.

All was going well, until I reached the point where I need to access the cartridge itself. The chrome piece is holding the cartridge in place, and it looks like it needs to be unscrewed to reveal the cartridge. Usually these chrome pieces have a locknut under them, but this doesn't appear to be like that. There's no visible line/gap where the chrome piece seats against the mixer base inside the wall, indicating there are two pieces.

I've tried unscrewing the entire thing with a big set of multigrips, and there's no movement at all. The sealant isn't holding anything in place by the way.

It's a Dorf branded setup, probably circa 2015-16 at a guess.

Any ideas on how to remove the chrome piece?

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#2924649 10-Jun-2022 11:57

you may need to grip that with a set of rubber grips, and unscrew it....likely though it will be pretty well on there.

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Mehrts

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#2924650 10-Jun-2022 11:59

hsvhel:

you may need to grip that with a set of rubber grips, and unscrew it....likely though it will be pretty well on there.

That's what I've been doing, and I'm guessing it's just corroded in place, but I don't want to put idiot strength into it and bust it haha.

Stu

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#2924656 10-Jun-2022 12:13

Could be that the chrome surround stays put, and the cartridge unscrews from inside it?

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Mehrts

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#2924658 10-Jun-2022 12:19

Stu: Could be that the chrome surround stays put, and the cartridge unscrews from inside it?

It's very hard to show in photos, but it looks like the metal surround covers the front of the cartridge. Plus if the cartridge were to unscrew, then the handle would be able to move it anyway during normal operation, so I doubt that's the situation.

lchiu7

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#2924705 10-Jun-2022 13:16

I faced as similar situation myself when the mixer started to leak. I was aghast at the price of the new cartridge so held off it. Then I happened to be in a Mitre10 store and saw a similar mixer being sold for $10 so I bought it for the cartridge.

But when I tried to remove the handle the allen screw would not budge so I deferred to a plumber.

He also could not remove the screw either and recommended he drill it out. Having had the foresight to buy a whole new mixer I agreed and off came the handle and we reached the same situation as your photo with the ring not being able to be removed. He put a fair bit of force on it and it eventually came off but not without scarring the surface a bit. But I had a new one and new handle and he just put both back on and it's good as new.

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#2924706 10-Jun-2022 13:17

Mehrts:
Stu: Could be that the chrome surround stays put, and the cartridge unscrews from inside it?

It's very hard to show in photos, but it looks like the metal surround covers the front of the cartridge. Plus if the cartridge were to unscrew, then the handle would be able to move it anyway during normal operation, so I doubt that's the situation.

The only reason I mentioned it is because I have seen it once before. No idea of the brand of the mixer. There may have been a retention clip to stop the cartridge from being undone through normal use, but it wasn't a large brass nut or collar.

Try tapping that chrome surround with a hammer to loosen any corrosion.

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Bung

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#2924713 10-Jun-2022 13:35

Do you know what model of Dorf it is? The common Dorf Flickmixer instruction sheet shows only the very front curved piece unscrewing not the rest. Can you see a join line?

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Mehrts

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#2924719 10-Jun-2022 13:46

Bung: Do you know what model of Dorf it is? The common Dorf Flickmixer instruction sheet shows only the very front curved piece unscrewing not the rest. Can you see a join line?

I have no idea of what model it is, only the brand. Which is actually a massive pain in the butt, because I don't know what I'm dealing with.

The first thing I did was look online to find a diagram. All other models show the front cover, and then the locknut behind that. That's also my experience of dealing with these, but of course this one is different!..

I've tried a strap spanner to undo the complete assembly, but nothing is budging. Even turning clockwise to try and break any corrosion which may be holding everything together. There's no way to see into the wall unfortunately. I don't want to run the risk of breaking anything, especially the plumbing in the wall.

Technofreak

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#2924738 10-Jun-2022 14:14

Time for judicious use of the No.1 persuader.

Using a small block of wood as a "cushion" between the hammer and housing, give the outside of the housing some hits with a hammer, and or tap the end of the strap spanner with the hammer in an attempt to shock it free. I know when undo nut/bolts on the car which are very tight/frozen no amount of swinging on a long handled spanner will move it but some swift taps on the end of the spanner with a hammer does the trick.

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Mehrts

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#2924766 10-Jun-2022 15:08

Success!

With enough percussion and swearing, the damn thing came loose! Half of it is behind the wall.

Good thing it was sealed properly at the base of it, otherwise there's potential for an unknown leak within the wall cavity.

I hope this thread helps anyone in the future who is up against this stupid Dorf design that isn't published at all on the internet.

hsvhel

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#2924784 10-Jun-2022 15:35

Mehrts:

Success!

With enough percussion and swearing, the damn thing came loose! Half of it is behind the wall.

Good thing it was sealed properly at the base of it, otherwise there's potential for an unknown leak within the wall cavity.

I hope this thread helps anyone in the future who is up against this stupid Dorf design that isn't published at all on the internet.

Good result, noting like that bit off apprehension before it either comes off or brakes.....

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Mehrts

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#2924910 10-Jun-2022 18:35

Aaand of course the cartridge would be a non-standard one from Bunnings etc..

I tried a couple, and clearly they're not correct, although it fits snugly and the holes line up I thought they were standard 40mm flat bottomed cartridges...

It's leaking from the inner part where the handle mounts to (the square piece). I thought the first was a dud, so tried another, and that was the same. Very weird.

The saga will continue tomorrow morning. I really hope plumbing stores have what I need, because I don't really want to have to wait for international delivery, which is my other option.

insane

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#2924944 10-Jun-2022 22:05

There are usually several seals at play, the three on the bottom for the flat type, and two on the bottom and one halfway up the side for the raised type with the locating pins.

Just make sure the surfaces are clean from calcium build up. Did you have a separate retaining nut or was that built into the chrome part you removed?

Did the cartridge properly clicked into place when seated?

The last one I replaced (Felton) did have an ever so slightly different washer shape to the 'kinetic' replacement from Bunnings, but it did work 100%

Mehrts

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#2925194 11-Jun-2022 11:02

@insane

All surfaces were free of any deposits, and I ran some scotchbrite over the base just to make sure. There is no locknut at all with this particular design. The entire front chrome assembly screws onto the base and holds the cartridge in place. There is no "click" with any of the cartridges, they just slide in until they butt up against a shoulder within the front cap.

Since the holes in the base of the mixer were round, I thought the generic 40mm flat based cartridge would have worked, since all the holes are in the correct location too.

I went round a few plumbing suppliers this morning, and none of them recognised this cartridge, let alone had anything in stock. There's a UK website which can ship the exact same cartridge to NZ for ~50NZD inc freight. I think I might just do that to be honest.

Check out the pics of what I'm up against. The blue cartridge with the oval holes is the existing one that seems to be unobtanium. Brand: CICE, part number OP40FG (thanks google!).

Bung

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#2925219 11-Jun-2022 12:04

"Caroma (Dorf)was established in 1941 by Hungarian-born Charles Rothauser, and since closing its last factory in 2017 now sources all products from third-party overseas manufacturers."

Probably the rebranding of 3rd party product started before 2017. A small batch brought in from Europe probably wouldn't have easily found spares.

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