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Posted by Matthew on June 9, 2007, 5:45 pm
wrote:
>Matthew Zenkar wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I live in a house that was built in the early fifties. It has a
>> bathtub/shower combination that has a faucet mechanism with three
>> handles. One each for hot and cold water, and one for the tub/shower
>> diverter. There is a tub fill spout mounted below the handles, and the
>> shower spout is well above the handles. I believe the faucet was made
>> by American Standard.
>>
>> The faucet leaks even after replacing washers and valve/diverter
>> mechanisms. After reading an article in Fine Homebuilding on
>> retrofitting faucets like mine with either a pressure balance faucet
>> or thermostatic faucet, I have searched for retrofit pressure
>> balance/thermostatic faucets with little luck. I've looked at the web
>> sites for Grohe, American Standard, Delta, Price Pfister, and perhaps
>> a few more. (Personally, except for Grohe, I think the web sites are
>> among the worst I have ever visited.)
>>
>> Does anyone out there know of any manufacturer that specifically
>> manufacturers either pressure balance or thermostatic faucets that
>> would retrofit relatively easily into this type of faucet mounting?
>>
>> I would prefer to have a thermostatic rather than a pressure balance
>> faucet, however, from what I found thus far, it would require almost a
>> Rube Goldberg approach.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>I have a 2-handle pressure balance Delta tub faucet, and it works
>*great*. Someone can flush the toilet or start the dishwasher, and the
>shower temperature doesn't move at all now (old house with 1/2"
>plumbing.) And it looks at first glance like an old 2-handle faucet, so
>it fits the decor. (The "Hot" handle is the flow control/shutoff, and
>the "Cold" handle controls the temperature) until you look closely at
>the eschusion plates. I can look up the model for you; I still have the
>box in the basement. I'm not sure what you'd do with the center control
>though. Cover the hole with a soap dish? Do you have any spare tiles to
>just fill it in?
Thanks for the reply.
The center hole is for a two-port diverter that diverts between the
shower and bath. I will still need the diverter.
It looks like the model that you have may have been an older model. It
seems that most of the current pressure balance faucets now fit in a
single hole with the volume and temperature controls both located on
the same handle as separate knobs.
After much "pain" ;) I did finally manage to get somewhere on the
Delta web site. I still find their site less than optimal as it seems
they are focused more on serving people who are buying based on looks
rather than function.
Right now, I'm still leaning toward something partly custom from
Grohe. I can get separate rough-in volume, temperature, and diverter
controls as well as single handles for "trim" that would fit in the
three holes. The only thing a bit tricky about doing it this way will
be the piping, but I figure that I'll use something like Pex or
another simliar but flexible plastic for at least part of the piping.
>
>Even if this doesn't help, don't rule out the pressure balance just
>because now thermostatic controls are in fashion.
>
>Bob
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