Changing a shower mixer

The story goes like this. As I was turning off the water after showering, the handle broke. There wasn't even any warning. The handle just came apart.

Description of the Issue

Original shower mixer was connected to a rain shower.

Rain shower assembly

Finding the answer

I called 1 week before Chinese New Year and the plumber said that he could not come until after Chinese New Year. I initially though this was a big project but on closer inspection and analysis, its not that difficult.

Thanks to a helpful hardware shop assistant, I decided to do away with the rain shower, (used it only less than 10 times in the last 4 years) and just replace with a normal hand shower.

The answer

This cost only $69.90. I did not even want to bargain with the shop. I went round searching for a full rain shower set and the shops quoted me $200 over dollars for the whole set.

I removed the 2 nuts holding the old mixer with a adjustable spanner.

The size between the 2 nuts were quite standard at 150mm.

Then installed the new shower mixer. Just reverse the process. I did go like 10 rounds of white tape over the thread of the pipe opening before I screwed on the new shower mixer. 

Use a piece of cloth to cover the nuts when you tighten them to prevent scratching the surface

Then I bought a shower spray holder and installed it by drilling 2 holed on the wall tiles. The wall plugs 5.5mm. The finished product looked like this.

Completed assembly all for $92....

Not that difficult after all and I saved myself about $50 for this job. It was done in 1 hour as I was taking it slow with my son helping me...

Now that I am moving to Malaysia, I do forsee more opportunities for DIY around the house.