# Pressure balanced faucets for the shower, yes or no?



## davefoc (Jul 7, 2008)

Over the years I have renovated several bathrooms in an old apartment building I own.

I have replaced the existing Price Pfister compression type faucets with similar washerless styles.  The shower sets cost about $65.00 and they have been perfectly reliable (meaning that in the five years or so since I installed the first one I have never had a problem with them).

I like them, they allow the user to control the volume and the cold/hot mix and the sets seem reasonably attractive to my eyes.

But, by current codes it seems they are no longer allowed in new showers.  I guess that means that they are required when a shower is rebuilt.

So, based on a lot of criticism that I received when I admitted that I wasn't upgrading to pressure balance faucets from a plumbing forum that I posted on I decided that I would use a pressure balanced faucet in my next shower project.

So I bought a Delta single handle pressure balanced faucet from Lowes for about $80 that included the MultiChoice® Universal rough valve body (that seems like an amazing deal based on what I saw on the internet).  I was happy.  Not too expensive and it put my conscience to rest.  But it turns out this faucet doesn't allow you to control the volume.  That seems really lame to me, but is it?

My intention is to take it back and get a t17 series faucet that does allow volume control.  That is probably a lot more money and for what?  A common topic on plumbing forums is esoteric problems with pressure balancing faucets.  The old PP double handle faucets seemed really nice to me.  They are cheap and highly reliable. 

The building has copper plumbing and high water pressure and nobody has ever complained about sudden temperature changes while they are showering. 

So now I'm having second thoughts about switching to a pressure balanced shower faucet.  One little worry that I've had is whether a pressure balanced faucet could exacerbate water temperature changes for people without the pressure balanced faucets.  When the faucet senses that the pressure has dropped on the cold side does it reduce the flow on the hot side to maintain a constant water temperature or does it increase the opening on the cold side to maintain a constant temperature.  If it increases the cold side flow it seems like there might be a cascading effect where people without the pressure balanced fixtures experience an even higher temperature transition than they would otherwise when water pressure drops.


----------



## handyguys (Jul 9, 2008)

I would not replace the old ones. They can be rebuilt with new washers, seats, stems, handles and trim as required. Your inspector may have different thoughts though.


----------



## manhattan42 (Jul 10, 2008)

davefoc said:


> Over the years I have renovated several bathrooms in an old apartment building I own.
> 
> I have replaced the existing Price Pfister compression type faucets with similar washerless styles.  The shower sets cost about $65.00 and they have been perfectly reliable (meaning that in the five years or so since I installed the first one I have never had a problem with them).
> 
> ...



NO shower faucets manufactured in the US today allow you to adjust the volume or flow.

Shower faucets are required by law to be manufactured to allow a maximum of 2.5 gallons per minute. Period.

Pressure balanced faucets have absolutely NO effect on other faucets in the system.

Save your energy.

Use the temperature and pressure balanced faucets and be glad you did.


----------



## MoreTime (Feb 1, 2009)

Pressure balance will keep the shower from going cold when someone uses the hot water
keeps the pressure the same between the hot and cold, worth every dime.  Plus they wil also be single handle.  good luck


----------



## Obama the Plumber (Apr 13, 2009)

Plumbing Codes call for temperature protection for safety reasons.  
They don't affect the neighboring units either.  

The pressure balanced valves are much nicer to use.  
The temperature stays pretty locked in.  
With low flow shower heads, it doesn't really matter if you get the volume control.  
Though the volume control is nice.  It's just not something I would lose sleep over.  

You can still get parts for the two handle Price Pfister, but I don't know for how long.  They are no longer code, so how long do you think parts will be available?


----------



## Redwood (Apr 13, 2009)

With the Delta R-10000 universal valve you can choose the cartridge and trim you want to use.

There are cartridges and trim sets for the R-10000 available that have 2 levers with temperature on one and volume on the other.

Davefoc, We've met on the other forum where you posted...
If you were asking there I could give you a link...
But unfortunately here I'm a Nube and can't post links yet...

A few more posts to go then I could help ya...


----------

