Replace shower control

[Minnie Bannister]

The shower control in our bathroom is a Delta (presumably dating from about 30 yrs ago when the house was built) with the ball-shaped handle that turns to adjust the temperature and tilts to adjust the volume.

We thought of replacing it with a more recent Delta with a different style handle and with the built-in thermostat. I assumed that I could simply unscrew the old innards and replace them by the new innards, but the guy in the plumbing dept. at the hardware store said, "No way." He even said that we probably would not be able to replace the old innards by new innards of the same style because the design has changed over the years: the only thing to do would be to get into the wall and disconnect the whole unit and replace it with a new one.

Is he right?

MB

[Speedy Jim]

Yes

[L. M. Rappaport]

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 23:07:37 -0400, Minnie Bannister wrote (with possible editing):

Yes, he's right, but there's another thing you might want to consider. The newer mixing valves seem to have flow restrictors built in. You might not like that. I'd check to see if that is the case before changing it out.

[DaveC]

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 20:07:37 -0700, Minnie Bannister wrote (in article ):

Yes, he is.

I've just replaced one in a bathroom remodel. Old one was just as you describe yours to be: round-ish Delta knob with temperature and flow control. I replaced it with a new Delta single-handle type.

You might not notice until after it's installed, so I'll tell you what I found: most of the new Delta's and other brands single-handle controls now don't do any flow control, per se. They do temperature "mixing" only. In other words, they consist of one handle that rotates counter-clockwise from the off position, and when you rotate the handle, you immediately get full water flow. There is not much "a little flow, a little more", etc. The rest of the control's rotation is temperature control.

If you want flow control, you might want to consider separate valves for hot and cold.

Good luck,

[FurPaw]

And one more consideration - pressure balanced temperature control is worth every penny, IMO. This prevents you from freezing or scalding if someone else in the house turns on the water or flushes a toilet.

FurPaw

[clifto]

I'm not the OP, but that's EXACTLY why I want to replace my shower control. This one doesn't even control the temperature well; there's a VERY TINY range between ice-cold and way-too-hot that's very hard to hit.

[Stormin Mormon]

Yes.

[Vijay]

Not true about the flow control. You can get a control that does both flow and temperature control. Delta makes one that Home Depot sells (Delta 1748), Moen makes the controls with Moentrol that you have to buy at plumbing stores, American Standard sells a fairly inexpensive unit (Seva) that you can buy at Expo, and of course the German brands( Grohe, Hansgrohe) have them in many models.

And yes you have to replace the control--at some expense to get a plumber to do it, as well as possible tile repair to get at the old valve and replace it.