Delta 600 shower handles now reversed to get hot

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bobkool

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Hello,
My dad purchased two Delta knob handle to lever conversion kits for 600 series tub shower for his 35 year old house. (No idea if he has 600 series anything). These are the ones that contain the metal ball valve, they are not the plastic cartridge types. One obviously wasn't the right one because there was no hole in the bottom of the plate for the diverter rod that sticks out (i wound up re-using the old plate). The issue i am writing about though is that now when you turn the handle to the left cold water comes out and you have to rotate it to the right to get hot water. This is opposite of what it was before. Turning the ball upside-down does not work for a couple reasons First the set screw in the handle mates to a flat spot at the end of the rod that is welded to the ball and that is only flat on one side, so the handle would be upside down if mounted correctly. Second, because of the geometry of the holes in the ball, when you want to turn the shower off you would have to pull the handle out away from the wall not push it in. So obviously turning the ball 180° is not the answer. I can access the pipes behind the wall and the hot water is on the left hand side as you face the shower from the user's position.
  • Did he purchase the wrong type replacement parts?
  • Do they sell a reversing ball?
  • Is it possible to purchase one of those cartridge units instead to do this with to convert it?
  • Am I not getting something that I did wrong with the installation?
I uploaded a picture of the valve seat(?).
Any thoughts/help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
 

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hj

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You replaced the round handle for a lever, which makes it operate baciwardsl You need the reversing ball. Call 1-800-345-DELT to get the part number.
 

bobkool

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You replaced the round handle for a lever, which makes it operate baciwardsl You need the reversing ball. Call 1-800-345-DELT to get the part number.
Thank you. I am confused however, reading the instructions again it seems they indicate that instead of the top of the old knob pointing left for hot, now the handle points in the right direction (left) for hot. If they mean the bottom of the handle, then yeah, i guess it points left (even though its now clockwise for hot, not ccwise). Kind of misleading on their part, especially if the h/c indicators are above 9 and 3 oclock. But we will call for the reverser ball. Thank you.

FOLLOW UP: Found out from more detailed Delta pdf install guide that, yes, hot is now clockwise and the bottom of the handle goes left as opposed to the top of the old knob. They didnt maintain the directions, just changed the reference point for l/R. Bastards lol.
 
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Terry

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I use this rebuild for the Delta 600

delta_rp54870.jpg


Be careful when removing the old dome though.

delta-600-replace-06.jpg


They can twist.
I sometimes use a bit of heat on the dome to loosen it, and some will make a cut on it.
Be careful not to "egg" the dome, or it becomes very hard to remove.
 
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bobkool

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I use this rebuild for the Delta 600
Thats what we used, rp54870ss, i guess when you convert hot goes from ccw to cw.
delta_rp54870.jpg


Be careful when removing the old dome though.

delta-600-replace-06.jpg


They can twist.
I sometimes use a bit of heat on the dome to loosen it, and some will make a cut on it.
Be careful not to "egg" the dome, or it becomes very hard to remove.
 

Cerio DiMarco

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Delta Conversion Ball Reverses Hot and Cold

I installed the conversion ball and handle in my series 600 tub faucet. Vintage 1979 faucet. After installed, the temperature directions were reversed. Hot should be to the left and cold to the right just like with the old ball and handle. However, after installing the new conversion ball and handle, cold was to the left and hot to the right. No good at all, and I'm experienced with this type of work - I've rebuilt many of these faucets. The conversion ball was installed correctly with the large hole pointing down.

So, I took out the conversion ball. The stem on the old ball was diamond shaped. It's round on the new ball. The old stem is too large to fit into the new handle. So, I took the old ball and shaved as much metal as I could off of the stem of the old ball. It still wouldn't fit into the new handle, so I drilled out the hole in the new handle to make it bigger. The stem and handle fit together and were tight together with the set screw tightened. So I reinstalled the old ball into the faucet and attached the new handle. Works perfectly as hot is to the left and cold is to the right. These conversions should work property right out of the box but I had to do a bit of my own engineering to get the correct result.

The new handle looks and great with the old ball, and I've another new handle on order for my second bathroom tub. I will re-engineer that one as well.
Just my experience with this...

Attached is a pic of my tub faucet.


 

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