Price Pfister diverter valve

Had a problem since day one of moving into the condo. I have a 3 handle setup in our shower. The center handle is the diverter that when turned redirects the water flow to the shower head. It does but water is also still pouring out of the faucet. It's overwhelming the drain to the point that the tub gradually fills with water while showering (making for a grimy looking tub). I pulled the valve and had it identified as a Price Pfister (PF stamped on the valve assembly). I opted to replace the entire assembly rather than just the washers. The new valve looks identical to the one I'm replacing. It screwed in fine and the handle went on like it should but no joy. Still have the same problem even with the new valve. What else do I need to look at/for ?

Assuming you put the new stem in correctly ( we can talk about that later) then we can mention 2 possibilities:\

1) Water pressure in the house way too high. Easily checked at a washing machine hose connection, with a simple guage available at hardware store.
2) The tub filling up could indicate an not-related drain clog. But if the pressure is too high, it might be overwhelming the drain.


Check your pressure, if OK....take out the diverter stem, inspect, and post photos.

jimbo said:

Assuming you put the new stem in correctly ( we can talk about that later) then we can mention 2 possibilities:\

1) Water pressure in the house way too high. Easily checked at a washing machine hose connection, with a simple guage available at hardware store.
2) The tub filling up could indicate an not-related drain clog. But if the pressure is too high, it might be overwhelming the drain.


Check your pressure, if OK....take out the diverter stem, inspect, and post photos.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the quick reply. I suspected a drain problem first so I had Roto Rooter over here to snake it. They couldn't find a clog. I didn't replace just the stem. I replaced the entire valve assembly so I'm not sure what I could have done incorrectly but I will pull it back out and take a picture. If it's a case of water pressure being too high . . . I should be able to reduce it at the main shut off correct ?

Well in the process of taking the new valve assembly out to take a picture of it, I immediately saw what the problem was. One too many of the large flat white washers which was preventing the valve stem from seating all the way. I couldn't spell plumber yesterday but today . . . lol

Because the diverter is a "double seated" valve the distance it goes in is critical. Therefore,either an extra washer, or a missing one, will cause the symptoms you had.