UP valve review

[FullySprinklered]

Haven't seen any reviews on the UP valve, but I doubt I'm the first to install one of these suckers.

When you turn the water on the UP valve in a tub/shower installation, the water sprays out of the shower head and the tub spout simultaneously. Pull up on the tub spout diverter and the water sprays out the shower head only.

How do you know if you have an UP valve? Well, you remove the handle and escutcheon on your tub/shower valve, lie down in the tub and shine a flashlight into the big hole in the tile onto the bottom of the valve. If it says "UP", then you've got one.

It's very versatile, so if the customer decides they want the old style, you can always go back and cut a big hole in the sheetrock on the other side of the wall and flip it over.

This particular valve was the Moen version, but there's also the Humiliation and the Weir Mortified brands on the market.

 

[Obama the Plumber]

Okay, I gotta ask because I've never seen an UP valve before, or maybe I have and didn't know it was UP because water from the shower head should only be there when you want it to. So the trick is to install the valve, the UP valve with the word UP on the lower side. I'm thinking about this............Could the UP also be on the high side and installed that way too? And if so..............how would that work?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Joe the Plumber]

Obama, you are not a real plumber are you? If you put the valve in with wording that says UP on the high side, that would be the groovy thing to do. I know that because if you look at the valve before it's installed, you see the restrictions on the UP side but not on the side away from the UP. I have not seen the Humiliation and the Weir Mortified brands yet, but would be interested in them if I could buy them locally.

 

[JRC3]

Sounds like a trusty "dn" valve to me.

 

[hj]

only an "idiot" would install a Moen valve with the "up" towards the bottom. That would place the stop tube on the underside and mess everything else up. But, since a Moen, and most other, valve can be "reversed" without turning it upside down, there would be no need to do it in the first place. Besides, only a properly installed valve is an "UP" valve, the others are "PU" valves.

 

[JRC3]

I hate those valves that require you to cut a hole in the drywall in the bedroom behind the shower to install the handle.

 

[Jadnashua]

TO make things even worse...use pex or cpvc to the tub spout.

 

[Reach4]

Am I the only one that thought fullysprinklered was practicing his April 1 posting?

 

[Jadnashua]

Am I the only one that thought fullysprinklered was practicing his April 1 posting?

No...

 

[FullySprinklered]

Yes, I put the valve in upside down. It'll be the last time I ever confess anything on this site. You people are brutal.

The customer was nice about it, though.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Reach and Jim.

I totally deserve an ass whipping for that stunt, though. I still can't believe it.

This was meant to be a light-hearted post and still is. Thanks for the humorous replies, all.

 

[Terry]

I thought the post was fun. I was wondering about a new UP valve so I had to read about it.
We've all done things like that. Sometimes by mistake, sometimes by trying different ways of doing things to see if there is a better way.
It's the way we learn.

They never used to put writing on them in the old days. I bet there have been a bunch that were installed upside down. I mean, you have a 50/50 chance of doing that if you just pull it out of the box. Maybe Moen was getting tired of calls troubleshooting the valve installs.
The other day I trimmed out a Kohler valve, and I 180'd the trim on it, reversing the cold and hot. They were getting a new water heater by the heating contractor, so I didn't know I had done that until I got the call from the homeowner.

 

[hj]

It is even worse when someone installs the valve sideways. They can control on/off but absolutely no hot or cold.

 

[FullySprinklered]

It's interesting that the wire key that holds the cartridge in can be installed from the bottom side and holds it in just fine, should you decide to install it 180 degrees wrong. Don't know if that's true for the flat key. I'll dig through some old stuff and see when I get a chance.

Anyway, today I installed a lavatory faucet. The drain went through the floor. The two inch pipe came up into a 2x2x1.5 tee, then upward into a Studer vent.

The tee was upside down. What a moron. Can you believe anyone could be that freaking stupid?

My favorite goof-up that I've seen out there is the saddle valve on the T/P discharge line. Like, the humidifier works real good, but only when the water heater boils over. Duh.

 

[hj]

If it is a dn, down, valve, then it must beinstalled correctly.