3/4" Extension Kit...

Hi,

Could somebody please tell me exactly what an American Standard 3/4" Extension Kit does?

Thanks,

Pete

That extends the end of the valve cartridge so that you can install the handle if you set the valve too far back in the wall or put more thickness on the wall than first anticipated.

Thanks! That is what I need!

Question.

Why is it that the instructions said to keep the center inlets/outlets of the valve body between 1 5/8" - 3 1/4"... I kept them @ 2 5/8" from the finished wall, and the valve stem is too far back? It does catch the valve handle, but not as well as it should. So the cartridge cover goes in and bottoms out @ the valve body and there is a gap around the cartridge cover and where it passes through the escutcheon plate?

Do folks usually caulk that gap (where the cartridge cover passes through the escutcheon)? Or do they pull the cartridge cover out (toward the handle) and let the seal that is built onto the escutcheon do what it should?

Thanks,

Pete

Pete, welcome to the frustrating world of plumbers. I used to install those valves according to the manufacturers recommendations but now I use my own common sense and logic. I always take the larger number that they give for dimension, at a minimum...works for me.

RE: the gap...shouldn't be a gap, I've never had to caulk a gap...I don't believe that model is designed to be caulked...try to use the seal, but it might not work because the valve body/cartridge is too far back. In which case, you may have to caulk that gap.

Good luck

Well... it would seem to me that American Standard are simply criminals. They figure, people will install it per the instructions, and then they get to sell that poor bastard (me) the extension kit and get more of my money. The wonderful part about all this is that it is the first and last fixture made by them that I will ever buy.

Simple as that.