Extravayarnza

So, one of the things that's been making me crabby lately is that the only hot shower I've had in about 3 weeks was at the knitting retreat... No, our water heater works fine & the pipes aren't frozen It's just that we have one of those stupid shower controls that's one knob to adjust both the hot & cold, and it has a 'you might be too stupid to realize that water gets hot' control (child safety thing). So, unless the water in the pipes is absolutely blisteringly hot the small amount of hot the knob allows me to have isn't enough to combat the freezing cold water in the pipes. Mum claims I just am complaining & that her shower gets hot just fine. This morning in desperation I went in to use her shower & noticed something... her shower was a good 20 degrees warmer & the knob turns further. This meant one of two things... either she has a better knob or they're adjustable!

So, it turns out if you remove one screw you can move a little plastic thing inside the knob that allows you to have as much hot water as you want! Took me literally less than a minute & a half per shower to remove the child safety things... No more cold showers for me!

If any of you are having similar issues let me attempt to tell you how ours were fixed. There was a decorative cover in the middle of the knob, that pops right off. Then I could access a screw that held the adjustable part of the knob on, that that off. Inside was two white plastic pieces that fit together. When I pulled the inner one out I saw that it had teeth like a gear that held it in what ever position you insert it in. This is the piece that also has the stopper that keeps kids from burning themselves. I didn't go so far as just throw this piece away, but I adjusted it so that the stopper was much  further over than where it had been. Reassemble (knob back on, screw in place, decorative cover snaps back on). Now test, the knob should turn a bunch further around toward hot.
So, easy.... and think I was saving up for a new faucet set that didn't have a child safety thing. Much better solution than spending a couple hundred dollars.