HELP! Shower Head Leaking when Guest Bath is Used

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JMustang

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My master shower dribbles and drips when the guest bath/shower is used. Both the valve and cartridge(Single Lever) have been replaced and it's still doing it. What the heck?
 

WorthFlorida

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Does the dribble continue the entire time the tub/shower is in use? What type or brand of valve bodies?

Are these two valves back to back sharing the same wall? At the master shower, close both hot and cold stop valves. Open the master shower valve to relief pressure then close it. Then run the guest tub/shower faucet and check the master shower if it is dripping.
 

JMustang

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No, it doesn't do it the whole time, it dribbles for a few seconds and then drips for a minute or two. The bathrooms are at opposite sides of the house and it does it when the guest shower is running. It was happening before the remodel but I figured it was the 40 year old fixtures. Everything is new from the copper pipes in the slab up. All new pex lines, Pfister valve and fixtures. It just seems turning the handle OFF would close the valve and wouldn't allow air or more water into the line from the valve up to the shower head.
 

WorthFlorida

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It might be just water that remains in the shower head and pipe is the cause. When a tub shower valve is used and water is shut off, the lever is released and the water in the shower pipe is drained down and out the tub spout. You usually will hear the gurgling at the shower head as air is pulled in. A shower only set up the shower riser piper and head remain with water after the water is shut off. Why one is affecting the other is strange or it's a coincidence. Try removing the shower head so only shower arm remains and give it a try. Is this a standard shower arm or some long pipe with a rain head?
 

JMustang

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@WorthFlorida
Thank you for your responses and trying to help.
Im sure it's the water that is remaining in the shower head and pipe after shut off that ends up dribbling and dripping out. Thats why it only lasts a couple minutes but WHY? Why would it only be doing that when the shower on the other side of the house is being used?
In the off position, I would assume it wouldn't let more water or air into that line???
There is no fancy shower head and it happens even with just the arm in place!
 

WorthFlorida

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Curious to what brand of valve body are used?

It could be the anti-scaling feature though the valve is closed or off. It maybe detecting pressure differences and its moving inside the cartridge. Delta & Price calls it Thermostatic, Moen calls it Posi-temp, a more general term is a pressure balance spool. It's why I asked to shut off the stop valves at the shower and see it it happens. Try the cold, then hot only, then both. There probably is no fix but at least you'll know what is causing it.
 

JMustang

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Curious to what brand of valve body are used?

It could be the anti-scaling feature though the valve is closed or off. It maybe detecting pressure differences and its moving inside the cartridge. Delta & Price calls it Thermostatic, Moen calls it Posi-temp, a more general term is a pressure balance spool. It's why I asked to shut off the stop valves at the shower and see it it happens. Try the cold, then hot only, then both. There probably is no fix but at least you'll know what is causing it.
Unfortunately, there are no stop valves at the shower.
 

Jeff H Young

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I guess if exaust fans had anything to do with it . turn on fan in one room and see if it affects other?
Its always done it? just started? I would think cartridge and or the pressure ballance spool soime how is related.
 

John Gayewski

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The atmospheric pressure or lack of it in the room is what makes the water run from the shower riser.
 

JMustang

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I guess if exaust fans had anything to do with it . turn on fan in one room and see if it affects other?
Its always done it? just started? I would think cartridge and or the pressure ballance spool soime how is related.
Not sure what the electrical would have to do with the plumbing.
It did it before the remodel but the house is 40+ years old so I chalked it up to the old plumbing fixtures.
Everything is new from the copper pipes out of the slab up. Maybe I just got a bad cartridge and it's just a coincidence or maybe it's some kind of vacuum that happens when the guest bath is used.
 

John Gayewski

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It happens in every house. The fact that the other bathroom is being used doesn't matter. If you sit there and watch it without someone using the other bathroom it will run out.

The other bathroom thing is a red herring.

The fans or the piping vibrations could induce something possibly. But in any case they will run and drip at seemingly random times. It's just air making it's way back through the shower head and displacing water.
 

Jeff H Young

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My showers don't do that. Jmustang did you say randomly or only when taking shower it could be vibrations. I think its harmless is it 2 oz or a liter or gallon that comes out, but sounds like nothing but a curiosity?
 

John Gayewski

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My showers don't do that. Jmustang did you say randomly or only when taking shower it could be vibrations. I think its harmless is it 2 oz or a liter or gallon that comes out, but sounds like nothing but a curiosity?
This is a very very common thing. I have seen a great many posts with people wandering why their shower (no tub or other way to drain the riser) will drip randomly or intermittently for hours. After they use it.
 

Jeff H Young

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Im not fulltime service guy done mostly construction though have done a lot of service in all the years, didnt think that common
thanks john!
 

JMustang

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My showers don't do that. Jmustang did you say randomly or only when taking shower it could be vibrations. I think its harmless is it 2 oz or a liter or gallon that comes out, but sounds like nothing but a curiosity?
The shower drips in the Master Bathroom when the guest bath is used and the guest bathroom is on the opposite side of the house.
It's not a lot of water, it's probably just what's left in the pipe from the shut of valve up to the shower head.
But what I don't understand is, if the valve is OFF, what is getting into the line to push the water out?
Somehow, it must be causing some kind of a vacuum.
 

JMustang

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This person should take their shower head off. See how it acts.
It happens with the shower head off.
The shower drips in the Master Bathroom when the guest bath is used and the guest bathroom is on the opposite side of the house.
It's not a lot of water, it's probably just what's left in the pipe from the shut of valve up to the shower head.
But what I don't understand is, if the valve is OFF, what is getting into the line to push the water out?
Somehow, it must be causing some kind of a vacuum
 
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