Separate temp/flow bathtub controls

10 years ago

My current bathtub/shower has one control for turning on the water, and it starts with cold water, then a mixture of hot/cold, and lastly just hot, but I cannot get a small trickle of hot water - only a gushing stream. I want to be able to control both the temperature and the flow and be able to turn on the hot water separately from the cold water. My current controls are broken (I've tried to fix them with no luck), and now the controls go from gushing cold to gushing scalding hot with nothing between and no option of a slow stream of hot water.

What kind of fixture do I need to get in order to have this kind of control? In 1988 I redid my mother's bathroom and used a Delta faucet that was one handle that you lift up to turn on the water and move to the left or right for hot and cold. This way she could have a slow stream of hot or warm water. I have not seen this type of fixture recently, and mainly I have seen the type that I already have and hate.

I am not far from faucetdepot.com, which is located in Commerce, CA, about a 40 minute drive from my house, but they are closed today. Home Depot has a horrible selection, and Lowes' appears to be similar.

Lars

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Comments (6)

Babka NorCal 9b
10 years ago
You are in CA, so you won't be able to get a new valve that allows more than 2.5 gal per min. If you wish to change that, you will need to do it thru the shower head, where you can adjust to a softer stream, but not greater than what goes thru that valve. (2.5GPM). The new ones insure that you won't scald yourself. I don't know how they work, but perhaps a plumber can explain. The term is pressure balanced, and I have a thermostatic valve that works that way. I can still get all hot and all cold, if I wish. "Gushing" water is only something we get in our guest bath, which still has the old Moen valve from the 1960's, and a "modified" shower head.

-Babka
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Lars
Original Author
10 years ago
It sounds like I am going to have to get something that has separate hot and cold water controls, which will mean drilling new holes through the tiled wall. I will definitely talk with the plumber, probably next week.

Thanks for your help!

Lars
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jake, you hit the nail on the head. the pipes are colling off under the slab, the water flow thru the shower head is not enough to overcome this. due to the layout of the house, the pipes run a minimum of 120 ft under the concrete, and that is if they take the most direct route from heater to tub. if they go to the other bath first, and i know they do since it has almost instant hot water, it is probably closer to 150 ft of travel in 3/4" copper lines. i know the lines are not insulated under the slab, that is not required here even though should be. but then again with no building codes, nothing is required! i did not get around to replacing the shower head this weekend, but i did run an experiment. i turned on the shower as usual, and sure enough after 2 minutes of being hot, the water went luke warm at best. i then turned the diverter slightly so that maybe a half gallon a minute flow was going into the tub. within second the water was HOT! my wife said that was the first shower this winter that she got to shave her legs in hot water. time for a new shower head, hopefully one that will provide enough flow to stop teh water cooling in the pipes.
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Manufacturers describe things differently at times, but look for a "4-port diverter valve". One port will be water in, the other three ports will outflow to the tub spout, the fixed, head, and the handheld. Some valves are all in one. They have the water volume ON/OFF, temp selector, and diverter all in one valve. Some manufacturers market them individually. You'll buy a supply valve that will give you ON/OFF and temperature selection, and the outflow from that supply valve will feed the IN port on the previously mentioned 4-port diverter. Do understand that when you shop, you'll be shopping for valve bodies AND valve trim kits. The valve body is a cast piece of brass that gets buried in the wall. The trim kit is the pretty (chrome, nickel, ORB, etc) piece that covers the hole in the wall and hides the valve body. In general, you buy them separately, but you need to make sure that the trim kit is compatible with the valve body. So, for the most part, you can either get: 1) the all-in-one valve body and then get a trim kit for that all-in-one valve OR 2) you can get the water supply (on/off/temp) valve body and a trim kit for that valve, and a diverter valve body and a trim kit for the diverter valve. Since you have a tub spout that you like, you'll probably want to get the shower valve trim kit(s) in from the same design group as the spout. Find that rim kit, then websites will usually contain links to find the valve body that fits the trim kit(s) you are looking at. Good luck!
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I also have Hansgrohe, which has separate controls for temp and volume:The small lever at the top controls the volume - turn to the left for the faucet and to the right for the shower (#1 means tub; #2 means shower). The large lever below controls temp, and it has an anti-scald feature. There is a button on the left that you have to push in if you want the temp to go above a pre-set temperature. I hated the one lever control I had before because I could not get hot water unless it was at full blast. This way I can get just a trickle (if I want) at any temperature I prefer. Fortunately, my plumbing was accessible through my linen closet, and after the hole was made in the wall, I installed a removable panel so that the plumber will not have to make another hole. I have shelves in front of the panel now, plus the closet door. Glad your problem got solved without having to install new controls, as the Hansgrohe is a bit pricey, not to mention the cost of the plumber. I have Hansgrohe in my bathroom sink also, but I installed that myself, although I had the plumber install my Hansgrohe faucet in the kitchen sink when we got new counter tops.
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Lars
Original Author
10 years ago
I ended up buying a Hansgrohe faucet control that has separate controls for volume and temperature, and so I can get the control that I want. Now I just have to schedule the plumber to install it, and I have to move everything out of my linen closet for him to be able to access the plumbing from the removable panel that is hidden in there. My brother and I are going to try to install a new toilet ourselves in my bathroom tomorrow, and if we are unsuccessful, I will call the plumber sooner rather than later.

Lars
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Babka NorCal 9b
10 years ago
Thanks for the follow-up. Too often people post problems and then don't say what finally worked for them. You have probably helped many others who will read about your problem and your resolution. Good luck with the toilet!

-Babka
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s8thrd
10 years ago
We have a Hansgrohe thermostatic. If I had seen your message earlier I would have responded with that info (sorry!). We've had it for four years and have been happy with it. (The best thing is that, if nobody changes it on you, your temp stays set from one shower to the next and you don't have to mess around with finding the right temp each time.) One quirk is that when you change the temp, first it overshoots the change for a few seconds, then comes to where you want it. But it's not a big deal.

But, I have to say that we're redoing another bathroom and I'm not even bothering to get another thermostatic valve. No one has ever wanted a trickle of hot water, and we never get such a strong flow that we want to reduce it. (And there's no chance my temp will stay set there!)

Anyway, enjoy!
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ikea_gw
10 years ago
We just put in thermostat valves (separate temp and volume control) in two bathrooms during the remodeling. So far we love it. The one we used for the hall bath for the tub/shower combo is a Grohflex valve and that works with many of their valve trims and faucet styles. You can choose things more traditional or modern depending on the rest of the room. It is a one box installation for the valve but since we have a complete remodel I can't say how easy it is to retrofit.
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Separate temp/flow bathtub controls

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Babka NorCal 9b

Lars
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Separate temp/flow bathtub controls

Comments (6)

Babka NorCal 9b

LarsOriginal Author

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Babka NorCal 9b

s8thrd

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