K-2974, Volume Control Mounting Orientation

[ssjupiter]

Hi all. Love this forum. Lots of great tips and answers. I'm sure this is a dumb question, but can the Kohler K-2974 Volume Control Valve be mounted in any position so long as the flow of water follows the arrow on the brass housing? So, for example, can I mount the valve side to side or upside down? This would really help save on wall real estate and make it less complicated to run copper pipe from mixing valve to volume control valves. Thanks.

 

[Jadnashua]

From a functional viewpoint, it shouldn't matter. From an aesthetic viewpoint, it might...you may not be able to orient the handle where you want it. Depending on the orientation and ultimate function (shower, or tub, or combination), it might not allow all of the water to drain, so you'd have a slug left in the pipes.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ssjupiter]

Thanks. It seems like the trim plate and handle for the k-2974 is independent of the gasket that gets screwed on to the valve. So I should be able to placed the handle at 6 o'clock whether the valve is upright or upside down using the spline adapter. I did think about the shower head draining (or not draining) when the valve is in the upside down position. The shower is going to have 3 shower heads (main, handheld and rainfall). There is no tub spout for draining the stack unfortunately.

 

[Jadnashua]

The trim plate often attaches to the valve body with screws, often in only one orientation. If there is any writing or logos on the trim plate, they may not be oriented as designed...doesn't mean it can't work. Often, there's a key on the handle, and it can only fit on one way. You should try to attach both the trim plate and the handle to see how it will look before you decide and see if you like it.

 

[ssjupiter]

Thank you. This trim kit for the Kohler Bancroft Volume Control has a gasket ring with thread nub (for the handle) and the mounting screws to the valve. The trim plate with the writing fits over that and the handle screws onto the thread via the bonnet portion (no set screw) and this sandwiches the trim plate in position (no screws on the trim plate). The handle has a little spline adapter that allows you to set the handle's position relative to the valve body's off position. So as long as the draining works I should be able to make the trim kit look and function the same no matter if some of the valves are upright and some are upside down.

 

[Jadnashua]

Sounds like it will work. One thing critical with anything Kohler is to make sure that you save the installation instructions and parts lists. They have the NIH and we can make it better attitude, and things change frequently. IOW, it can be really hard to identify it later when it needs say a new cartridge. Their parts book is the size of a city phone book as opposed to most others that limit their 'guts' to a few, proven designs that are backwards compatible. As a result, it may be harder to find repair parts, since many places can't keep up or stock what may be a short run. Overall quality is usually decent, it's just that it changes often, and, they don't always seem to make it easy for installers with sometimes, quite exacting requirements on positioning, which can be difficult when tiling a surface.

 

[Stephenson]

Hi ...

I have used the K-2974 volume control valve with Kohler thermostatic valve and Purist handle trim twice ... most of the Kohler trim kits for these types of valves allow for orienting the handles pretty much as needed ....the handle trim has tabs for orientation, that, when combined with the valve connection slots allow a lot of flexibility.