My question involves a Delta 1700 Series valve body and cartridge for a shower (no tub). I have installed a few of these in the past, always sweating them to copper. I have never had a problem with them before, and have installed them both as shower-only with a bottom plug (I put in a capped 3” length of copper pipe for the plug), and also as a tub/shower valve.
I know that I flushed the system immediately after this installation, and also installed the cartridge to set it up for maximum hot water flow, and to make sure there was a proper temperature range between hot and cold and that it all worked fine before I started tiling the shower. I did the tests by sending water from the shower head nipple into a bucket. I recall the water flow as being quite strong when I did these tests. I can’t imagine that I could not have noticed if the volume was poor.
Today, with the shower all tiled and grouted and sealed, I installed the escutcheon plate, valve handle, temp control knob, etc. Sending water up to the shower head nipple (no shower head installed), I get very poor water pressure. With a shower head installed to the pipe nipple, it is not sufficient pressure to qualify as a functional shower.
If I remove the valve cartridge, put in a test cap on the valve body and send water up to the shower head nipple that way, the water volume is much greater. And with a shower head put in place, the shower head does work “OK”, although it is not the best pressure I have seen.
So, do I fault the cartridge? There is definitely much greater pressure going to the shower head nipple without the cartridge in place, using the test cap. I might add that my valve body has built in shut-off screw valves, so I can alternately turn on just the cold water, hot water, or both when testing without the cartridge in place. I have the same volume flow from both hot and cold supply lines. Tomorrow I intend to hook a garden hose to the shower head nipple to backflow water through the system, to see how much water volume comes out of the open valve body, as well as to attempt to flush out anything that might be restricting the shower head inlet opening in the valve body.
If I am getting seriously less water volume using the cartridge than not using it, should I suspect that it is defective? Do 17oo series cartridges even have this sort of thing occur as a common problem?
I know that I flushed the system immediately after this installation, and also installed the cartridge to set it up for maximum hot water flow, and to make sure there was a proper temperature range between hot and cold and that it all worked fine before I started tiling the shower. I did the tests by sending water from the shower head nipple into a bucket. I recall the water flow as being quite strong when I did these tests. I can’t imagine that I could not have noticed if the volume was poor.
Today, with the shower all tiled and grouted and sealed, I installed the escutcheon plate, valve handle, temp control knob, etc. Sending water up to the shower head nipple (no shower head installed), I get very poor water pressure. With a shower head installed to the pipe nipple, it is not sufficient pressure to qualify as a functional shower.
If I remove the valve cartridge, put in a test cap on the valve body and send water up to the shower head nipple that way, the water volume is much greater. And with a shower head put in place, the shower head does work “OK”, although it is not the best pressure I have seen.
So, do I fault the cartridge? There is definitely much greater pressure going to the shower head nipple without the cartridge in place, using the test cap. I might add that my valve body has built in shut-off screw valves, so I can alternately turn on just the cold water, hot water, or both when testing without the cartridge in place. I have the same volume flow from both hot and cold supply lines. Tomorrow I intend to hook a garden hose to the shower head nipple to backflow water through the system, to see how much water volume comes out of the open valve body, as well as to attempt to flush out anything that might be restricting the shower head inlet opening in the valve body.
If I am getting seriously less water volume using the cartridge than not using it, should I suspect that it is defective? Do 17oo series cartridges even have this sort of thing occur as a common problem?