sherrardb
New Member
i have spent a lot of time lurking around this forum during the course of a major kitchen and bath remodel, but this is my first post, so please forgive any faux pas.
i have a problem which i think i understand, but don't know how to remedy. the plumber came this week to install the shower valves and trim. in case it helps, this is the delta lockwood series with pressure balanced valve and a pull-down diverter on the end of the tub spout.
here's the problem: when the mix control handle is in certain positions, basically anywhere in the "middle range", i get water flowing from the shower head. and the closer it is to dead center, ie an equal mix of hot and cold, the higher the flow is from the shower head. and the flow decreases accordingly as you swing toward either of the extremes. there is never enough water to, say, take a shower with, but at its greatest point, it is well more than a simple drip.
based on the remedial troubleshooting that i did to gather the above information, i deduced that it is simply an issue of having more water flowing from the valve than the spout can handle and, therefore, since there is no positive shower shutoff, it finds the path of least resistance, which is out of the shower head. to further confirm this theory, and to make sure that there wasn't simply a blockage in the spout, i screwed the spout off and ran through all of the same exercises as i had before. and guess what? i get a strong stream of water streaming out of the adapter that the spout screws onto, but never any water from the shower head. so it seems pretty clear (although i definitely could have missed something) that at the higher flow rates, there is enough restriction provided by the natural internal design of the spout that water is being forced out of the shower head.
so here are my questions:
1) have i overlooked something, or am i just way off base?
2) is this something people have seen before?
3) if this diagnosis is correct, what is there to be done about it?
thanks in advance for your time and patience , and for any assistance you can provide.
ps--for the record, i'm not a licensed anything, just a capable DIYer. i dabble in plumbing, electrical, carpentry, and general troubleshooting and problem solving.
i have a problem which i think i understand, but don't know how to remedy. the plumber came this week to install the shower valves and trim. in case it helps, this is the delta lockwood series with pressure balanced valve and a pull-down diverter on the end of the tub spout.
here's the problem: when the mix control handle is in certain positions, basically anywhere in the "middle range", i get water flowing from the shower head. and the closer it is to dead center, ie an equal mix of hot and cold, the higher the flow is from the shower head. and the flow decreases accordingly as you swing toward either of the extremes. there is never enough water to, say, take a shower with, but at its greatest point, it is well more than a simple drip.
based on the remedial troubleshooting that i did to gather the above information, i deduced that it is simply an issue of having more water flowing from the valve than the spout can handle and, therefore, since there is no positive shower shutoff, it finds the path of least resistance, which is out of the shower head. to further confirm this theory, and to make sure that there wasn't simply a blockage in the spout, i screwed the spout off and ran through all of the same exercises as i had before. and guess what? i get a strong stream of water streaming out of the adapter that the spout screws onto, but never any water from the shower head. so it seems pretty clear (although i definitely could have missed something) that at the higher flow rates, there is enough restriction provided by the natural internal design of the spout that water is being forced out of the shower head.
so here are my questions:
1) have i overlooked something, or am i just way off base?
2) is this something people have seen before?
3) if this diagnosis is correct, what is there to be done about it?
thanks in advance for your time and patience , and for any assistance you can provide.
ps--for the record, i'm not a licensed anything, just a capable DIYer. i dabble in plumbing, electrical, carpentry, and general troubleshooting and problem solving.