Cartridge in correctly?

Not sure I even get whats going on....

Can you turn the water off using the valve?

 

Yep, everything is installed correctly and the water shuts off just like it should. The problem is that you can run water:

A) Through the shower head, or

B) Through the shower head and the tub spout.

But it will not just flow through the tub spout only.

 

Any pictures of the install. What pipe are you feeding the spout with, not plumbed with pex is it? Did the new valve get installed right side up, they're marked for tub/shower different size outlets. Water flows to least resistance which is supposed to be the spout unless diverted but something is restricting that flow enough to send it out the shower head also.

 

When I originally plumbed the shower head, I took the plug out of the top of the valve and ran copper up to the shower.

When we replaced the valve, we also replaced the copper piece to the tub spout. Everything else is also copper, (unless it goes to galvanized down in the crawl space somewhere).

Two different valves and three different spouts and if I don't somehow figure this out it will bother me for forever.

 

Weird. If it's all new copper and the shower head is up high enough from the valve, my last guess is the new valve upside down.

 

I put the drop ear elbow 6-1/2' above the floor of the tub which I think is about standard.

And this is an old style, separate hot and cold unit so I don't think it can be installed upside down. Or can it?

I'm not a plumber, but my friend who replaced it was many years ago.

 

Whatever pipe you have going to the tub spout is smaller in diameter than the one going up to the drop ear. That restriction causes the water to go up to the showerhead when it normally wouldn't. Classic symptom.

 

Yup we call that stacking, typically when someone runs a pex stub to the spout.

 

If it turns out there's a restrictor in the spout, I will have learned something. Never seen one there.

 

Me neither but wtf could be causing it. Really high water flow rate into the valve?

 

BTW, even those old style valves are ported different for tub/shower but unless it's some strange one that was made to be fed from above I highly doubt it's upside down.

Really does just leave you have restriction in the tub spout plumbing. Try what Inner said and pull the spout to see what happens. Though I've never seen a spout with any restrictive device besides the higher end spouts such as a ribbon spout. Maybe the diverter plate is staying stuck partway?

 

Maybe the diverter plate is staying stuck partway?

That's what I thought. But the same thing happened with three different spout / diverters from two different manufacturers.

When I explained the problem to my friend, he seemed very confident it was the valve itself. $150 later and no change whatsoever.

 

What happens if you unscrew the shower head, including flow restrictor?

 

What's the drop between the faucet and spout?? Most faucets have a minimum distance.

 

I'm not sure exactly what you mean.

The tub spout is standard height for an old cast iron tub, and I put the shower head 6'6" above the floor of the tub.

The tub spout is about 4 - 6" below the valve.

 

You know after re-reading your post- you can't just add a pull handle style tub spout as the mechanism to stop the water and divert it to the shower if its the really old style. If you had not only a cap on the top, but a cap at the front, the cap at the front is for where the additional handle would be attached.

These units are very popular in NYC- mostly because we have so many old fixtures.

 

You know after re-reading your post- you can't just add a pull handle style tub spout as the mechanism to stop the water and divert it to the shower if its the really old style. If you had not only a cap on the top, but a cap at the front, the cap at the front is for where the additional handle would be attached.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. The image you posted with this didn't come through.

I just responded to another comment about this problem. I looked at about 15 other houses this company manages, and it appears showers were added to all of them in the past. They all seem to be about the same age - probably all built between the end of WWII and the mid 50's. They're all in the same part of town, and they all seem to have the same set up.