bathroom mixer reliability

[juan]

I have just been having a chat with my plumber and he advises it is wise to stay clear of mixers in plastered walls as they give up the ghost in a fairly short time and parts are often unavailable. The result is very expensive removal of the mixer. An insurance policy would be to buy a couple of kits to repair them now but he reckons they are over $100 a go.

Any one got any long term experience with mixers. I had planned on Hansa Sublime range for the shower and the bathtub.

Cheers
Juan

[echnidna]

The latest instant flow gas hot water services have remotes that you can set the temp with.

[wonderplumb]

Hansa are good and parts are readily available, they have a ceramic disc cartridge that is easily removed after installation for servicing and in my experience the only thing that makes them muck up is crap in them or 'O' rings cracking. When they start leaking a good clean out and a grease usually returns them back to service. I know a few blokes that wont put them in brick walls because they can be a bitch to set up and are worried about the three threaded joints in the wall. You are however supposed to be able to isolate them independently from the rest of the house for servicing, if not isolate the bathroom but that is in a perfect world of course and anyone rarely does it in a domestic situation, myself included.
P.S, serviced a Grohe mixer (Hansa-Grohe making the same stuff these days) that was installed in 1992 and only needed an 'O' ring kit, which did have to come from QLD but Reece had it to me in two days.

[bricks]

The Problems associated with mixers in australia/ there are two i mostly see.

Hansa mixers IMHO are one of the highest quality mixers in australia and are pretty well worth the money you pay for them.( they dont require a second mortgauge.)

Problem one- when installed in a plastered wall they need to be protected from the acids in the cement, bricks and plaster. wrapped with some sort of corrosion barrier. ( grey duct tape is better than nothing and from what i hear works wuite well.) I use denso tape.


Problem two- The cartridges are plastic made to be replaceable- o-rings and small plastic components break easily . I havn't seen this problem much with hansa type mixers, so you shouldn't have a problem.

[juan]

Thank you all for the useful feedback. I will be having a new Rinnai 26 HWS with the controllers. I think you have reassured me enough to take a chance on the Hansa mixers and perhaps I will buy a some spares and bury for a rainy day. The taping sounds like a good idea to prevent corrosion.

Cheers