Bad Shower Valves?

Posted by Dave on October 28, 2002 at 00:41:22:
Help!!! I had a tub/shower that always had a slow drip. You had to turn the cold valve off first before the hot water or else it would drip slowly even though you tightened both vales closed. I figured it was a seal in the valve stems. I then replaced the valves in the tub/shower and also in another bathroom shower. A total of 4 valves were replaced. I have no idea as to the the brand of faucet the old ones were. I picked up two of the Price Pfister replacement kits and what I thought would be O.K. turned out to be a mystery. Here's what is going on... On the new shower valves, there's plenty of pressure from both the hot and the cold[after a quarter of a turn], but after around 30 seconds to a minute, the hot side tapers down to just a dribble. I then have to open the valve even more to bring up the pressure. I found out that if I give the hot side valve one half turn, the pressure is stable. On the tub/shower[combo hot/cold with shower diverter on tub spout], the everything works O.K. then I hear a loud 'Klunk' noise like the hammering of the pipes. Once this happens, the cold water side drops down to a dribble so you have just hot water coming out. If you open up the cold side more, it takes approximately 1/2 turn to see any results and then it's like a waterfall. The water just flows too much and then you have to back it off to reduce the cold water flow. This has lately become a problem...don't like getting burned by the hot waterfall. Could the problem be in the valves? I used the Price Pfister because it looked like it matched perfectly? Are there other brands to try? Is it air in the lines? Also, when the water pressure gets too great on the tub/shower diverter, water flows from the shower above, even though the diverter is not activated. How can I fix this problem... There's only a Hot and Cold valve.. I don't see a third divering valve except on the tub spout..the kind you pull up on. One last question.. How do you get rid of air in the lines? Someone told me to open up all of the valves in your house before you turn the main off, and then after you turn the water back on, you have to shut them off afterwards... Any suggestions? Thanks in advance... Dave....

Posted by Dave on October 28, 2002 at 00:41:22:

Help!!! I had a tub/shower that always had a slow drip. You had to turn the cold valve off first before the hot water or else it would drip slowly even though you tightened both vales closed. I figured it was a seal in the valve stems. I then replaced the valves in the tub/shower and also in another bathroom shower. A total of 4 valves were replaced. I have no idea as to the the brand of faucet the old ones were. I picked up two of the Price Pfister replacement kits and what I thought would be O.K. turned out to be a mystery. Here's what is going on...
On the new shower valves, there's plenty of pressure from both the hot and the cold[after a quarter of a turn], but after around 30 seconds to a minute, the hot side tapers down to just a dribble. I then have to open the valve even more to bring up the pressure. I found out that if I give the hot side valve one half turn, the pressure is stable.

On the tub/shower[combo hot/cold with shower diverter on tub spout], the everything works O.K. then I hear a loud 'Klunk' noise like the hammering of the pipes. Once this happens, the cold water side drops down to a dribble so you have just hot water coming out. If you open up the cold side more, it takes approximately 1/2 turn to see any results and then it's like a waterfall. The water just flows too much and then you have to back it off to reduce the cold water flow. This has lately become a problem...don't like getting burned by the hot waterfall.
Could the problem be in the valves? I used the Price Pfister because it looked like it matched perfectly? Are there other brands to try? Is it air in the lines?
Also, when the water pressure gets too great on the tub/shower diverter, water flows from the shower above, even though the diverter is not activated. How can I fix this problem... There's only a Hot and Cold valve.. I don't see a third divering valve except on the tub spout..the kind you pull up on.
One last question.. How do you get rid of air in the lines? Someone told me to open up all of the valves in your house before you turn the main off, and then after you turn the water back on, you have to shut them off afterwards... Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance...
Dave....

Replies to this post

Re: Bad Shower Valves? hj 08:14:41 10/28/02(0)