# Price Pfister shower valve



## user7551 (Oct 21, 2011)

I got a call today from a friend who had installed a shower valve and is having problems with the shower head and tub spout running at the same time . So I went and checked out what he had used for materials on the install it was 1/2" cpvc . He had used the 1/2" cpvc female adapters with the rubber's in them , the only thing I can figure out is that the rubbers are cutting down on the volume to the tub spout and diverting it to the shower inadvertently. Does this sound plausible ? The brand of shower valve is a home depot Price Pfister.


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## easttexasplumb (Oct 13, 2010)

Most likely will have to do the tub Spout in copper, or brass 90 and nipples.


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

He might have installed upside down. Classic symptom for Delta and PP.


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## user7551 (Oct 21, 2011)

easttexasplumb said:


> Most likely will have to do the tub Spout in copper, or brass 90 and nipples.



That's what I was planning on , just wondering if anyone else ran into this before . Those rubbers in the cpvc females seem cut down on the i.d. of the pipe to about 1/4" and between the one at the shower valve and the drop ear cpvc 90 he used for tub spout seems to be making it divert to the shower head prematurely


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## GREENPLUM (Jul 27, 2008)

Too much donkey snot. Aka flowguard gold glue


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## easttexasplumb (Oct 13, 2010)

I heard about a plumber doing an entire 3 story hotel with pex for the tub spouts. :laughing: he got to do them all over again.


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## user7551 (Oct 21, 2011)

plbgbiz said:


> He might have installed upside down. Classic symptom for Delta and PP.


I checked that first it has shower stamped in the top of the brass valve and tub stamped in the bottom .


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## user7551 (Oct 21, 2011)

easttexasplumb said:


> I heard about a plumber doing an entire 3 story hotel with pex for the tub spouts. :laughing: he got to do them all over again.


That takes a special kind of stupid to do that ,especially by a plumber.:yes:


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## PinkPlumber (May 20, 2012)

plbgbiz said:


> He might have installed upside down. Classic symptom for Delta and PP.


My first thought too..


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## PinkPlumber (May 20, 2012)

playme1979 said:


> I got a call today from a friend who had installed a shower valve and is having problems with the shower head and tub spout running at the same time . So I went and checked out what he had used for materials on the install it was 1/2" cpvc . He had used the 1/2" cpvc female adapters with the rubber's in them , the only thing I can figure out is that the rubbers are cutting down on the volume to the tub spout and diverting it to the shower inadvertently. Does this sound plausible ? The brand of shower valve is a home depot Price Pfister.



And he will regret using those 1/2" female cpvc fittings.:whistling2:


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## user7551 (Oct 21, 2011)

1 other thing I checked when I was there, I put a gauge on his hose bib it was 89 psi. At that point after checking the shower valve out I told him it could be a combination of the pressure and volume and the way he plumbed it in with the cpvc females . He didn't seem too receptive of the prv speech I gave him . So Sunday I'm going to change the spout out to copper without tearing the tile or back of the wall up of course and see what that does for it.


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## TSCO (Aug 21, 2008)

playme1979 said:


> 1 other thing I checked when I was there, I put a gauge on his hose bib it was 89 psi. At that point after checking the shower valve out I told him it could be a combination of the pressure and volume and the way he plumbed it in with the cpvc females . He didn't seem too receptive of the prv speech I gave him . So Sunday I'm going to change the spout out to copper without tearing the tile or back of the wall up of course and see what that does for it.


I'm having the same problem with an American Standard Tub/shower valve, the R110 rough-in. The guys water pressure is 65 psi, the valve is install correctly. Testing to see what might be wrong I pulled the spout and screwed in a nipple and took off the shower head so all could free flow. Turning through cold all is well and coming out of spout nipple. Turning right to the middle between cold and hot the water starts slowly flowing out of the shower arm. So I called Amst technical and the sent out a new PB cart and new mixing cartridge, put it all together and same existing problem. So Amst Rep came out and tried three more times, same-o same old problem, factory just keeps telling rep on site B.S. it can't be happening!


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## user7551 (Oct 21, 2011)

TSCO said:


> I'm having the same problem with an American Standard Tub/shower valve, the R110 rough-in. The guys water pressure is 65 psi, the valve is install correctly. Testing to see what might be wrong I pulled the spout and screwed in a nipple and took off the shower head so all could free flow. Turning through cold all is well and coming out of spout nipple. Turning right to the middle between cold and hot the water starts slowly flowing out of the shower arm. So I called Amst technical and the sent out a new PB cart and new mixing cartridge, put it all together and same existing problem. So Amst Rep came out and tried three more times, same-o same old problem, factory just keeps telling rep on site B.S. it can't be happening!


Something else I'm going to do is check for any trash in the tub spout like glue flakes , I should have done that but didn't think about it. It has to be something in the tub spout or the material the tub spout is ran out of ( cpvc) . I noticed on the Price Pfister website they specifically caution on reducing the tub spout line in any way .


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## HOMER (Jun 5, 2011)

may have to install a twin ell


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## pilot light (Apr 21, 2012)

playme1979 said:


> 1 other thing i checked when i was there, i put a gauge on his hose bib it was 89 psi. At that point after checking the shower valve out i told him it could be a combination of the pressure and volume and the way he plumbed it in with the cpvc females . He didn't seem too receptive of the prv speech i gave him . So sunday i'm going to change the spout out to copper without tearing the tile or back of the wall up of course and see what that does for it.


 prv!


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## Richard Hilliard (Apr 10, 2010)

Tub and shower valves have a diverter in the valve. Old valves used a brass cone shaped diverter located in the valve where the shower riser and tub spout riser is located. Today’s valve has plastic as the diverter I understand you stated cpvc and am wondering if he soldered the shower riser and melted the plastic diverter or solder in place the cone shaped diverter.


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

If the valve is installed right side up, the problem may be with the spout rather than the piping. The I.D. of CPVC as compared to copper or brass nipples would not make a difference. 1/2" is 1/2" no matter what the material is. I have seen spouts installed with 1/2" PEX and a PEX 90deg elbow that has a significant restriction, but it functioned just fine.

Delta's Lockwood diverter spout is notorious for restricting the flow enough to cause water to rise to the shower head. Maybe the design of the PP spout along with a little bit of high pressure is creating a perfect storm.


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## Ben11111 (Jul 15, 2010)

I don't know too much about PF, but Moen will require a minimum of 34" of piping from the top of the shower valve to the drop ear 90.

I once had a customer who insisted on having his tub/shower valve 48" high. Needless to say, the spout and head sprayed when on. I lowered the valve and problem went away. 

Thankfully, I discovered this while testing the new tub I installed!


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## Optimus Primer (May 20, 2009)

playme1979 said:


> That takes a special kind of stupid to do that ,especially by a plumber.:yes:


No, what's stupid is when a plumber put 3 posi-temp moens in sideways. Ive seen that before.

I had a Kohler T&S that had water coming out of both. I freaked out and cut the wall open to find it was right. Come to find out it was the cartridge causing it to happen. Then again I used copper for the head and spout.


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## user7551 (Oct 21, 2011)

This is the rubber that is in all the shower head 90's and female adapters its inner diameter is a little less than 3/8"


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## user7551 (Oct 21, 2011)

Richard Hilliard said:


> Tub and shower valves have a diverter in the valve. Old valves used a brass cone shaped diverter located in the valve where the shower riser and tub spout riser is located. Today’s valve has plastic as the diverter I understand you stated cpvc and am wondering if he soldered the shower riser and melted the plastic diverter or solder in place the cone shaped diverter.


He used cpvc for the tub spout and and the shower riser .


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## Michaelcookplum (May 1, 2011)

HOMER said:


> may have to install a twin ell


What is that used for?


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## Michaelcookplum (May 1, 2011)

This is the type of wing 90 to use and the type of FIP cpvc adapter to use. Forget the size, just an example

Never use on that has a rubber.


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## Michaelcookplum (May 1, 2011)

Or this way


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## user7551 (Oct 21, 2011)

Those are pretty solid looking cpvc adapters , the one he used has rubber in it like a hose bib rubber almost


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## Michaelcookplum (May 1, 2011)

playme1979 said:


> Those are pretty solid looking cpvc adapters , the one he used has rubber in it like a hose bib rubber almost


Yea, I refuse to use those. Bad idea to have a rubber washer and hose bib nut behind finished tile.


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## HOMER (Jun 5, 2011)

Michaelcookplum said:


> What is that used for?


 
you cap the shower riser off the valve body, reroute shower riser from twin el.
twin el takes place of tub spout 90°...


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

HOMER said:


> you cap the shower riser off the valve body, reroute shower riser from twin el.
> twin el takes place of tub spout 90°...


Adding to that...

A twin elbow has one inlet on the top and the water has to pass through to the elbow's outlet for the spout first. Then if it meets enough resistance (engaged diverter), the water backs up through the separate water way to the back of the elbow to get to the shower riser. 

Imagine a heel inlet on the 90 that turns up vertical behind the main 90. All cast into one fitting.

It was the standard back when tub/shower faucets first started to be used as one valve and diverter spouts were invented.


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## Richard Hilliard (Apr 10, 2010)

playme1979 said:


> He used cpvc for the tub spout and and the shower riser .


 
How much glue is blocking the outlet?


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## BigDave (Mar 24, 2012)

I've run into this many times, but not on male threads in the end of the spout.
Slip fit spouts with the stub out material that is too long
causes back pressure when flow is strong (high water pressures).

Trim the length of lookout if the spout is slip on o-ring type.


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## user7551 (Oct 21, 2011)

After looking at everything and cleaning it all out making sure there wasn't any trash in the system , the problem is that he has way too much pressure . I gave him a very cheap price to install a prv . He decides that he will put a 1/2" chrome shut-off on the shower head . I explained to him that should work but he will possibly have problems with his other fixtures because of the pressure , maybe he will get lucky.


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## 6th Density (Nov 29, 2010)

Michaelcookplum said:


> Or this way


There is just something about seeing a CPVC solvent by CPVC FIP adapter in a non-accessible wall that scares the crap out of me... even if it's attached to a shower head ell.
Sorry if I rubbed you the wrong way. I just can't bear the thought of what if...? I like to sleep at night.

Thermal expansion and contraction?


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## Bayside500 (May 16, 2009)

Michaelcookplum said:


> Or this way


i assume you you put some wood backing on the tub spout drop, otherwise that thing is going to flop around like crazy man.


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