I’d like to hear opinions about who makes the best shower/tub valves. I’m about to replace the valve in one of our bathrooms as I re-tile the shower/tub, and I really want to buy a good one. I don’t care what the trim looks like, I simply want a single lever valve for a shower/tub.
Are they all the same? What should I look for, and who makes the best? Does price matter? I plan to buy online, so home center availability doesn’t enter into it much.
If it matters, much of my house has 60 year old galvanized pipe that flakes off bits of small metal into the water supply, but I’m very seriously thinking about replacing everything with pex soon, so that will hopefully not be an issue for much longer.
Thanks for any opinions!
Replies
I trust Kohler and Delta.
Price does matter! Good valves give good contol over water temp. and flow. A good valve will also give a good range of temp. eg. move the handle 1/4" and experience a 10 degree change in temp., that's bad. Unfortuneatly, you can't tell until you install, if your buying online. Buy somewhere in the middle of the price range, and you should be safe.
Well, as I pull the valve on a brand new American Standard mixing valve today that's whistling like a smoke alarm, I can at least tell you to steer clear of that brand if flakes are flowing through your system. Of course, debris like that will mess up anyone's ceramic valves. Sounds like you've got a bigger project ahead of you.
In addition to the good people here, check out the http://www.plbg.com forum.
The better major brands (Kohler, Delta, Moen) produce, essentially, two grades of valves;
The contractor grade is a higher quality valve than the retail/homeowner grade.
The price difference (for the valve bodies) is about $30-$40 with the contractor grade being a bit higher.
The biggest varience in valve systems cost is with the trim.....generally speaking, a $5000 fancy trim kit will sport the same valve body as the $120 chrome trim kit.
One feature I go for when buying tub/shower valves is what we call around here the "motel" valve.
It features a screwdriver operated shutoff valve for the hot and cold inlets so you can isolate the valve for in-place repairs without having to shut off and depressurize water to the entire house. Just remove the handle and escutcheon plate and removal of the valve components is right in fron of you.
I use mostly Moen, but have used the other two I mentioned. The only problems I've ever had was with the mixing spool seizing up, usually caused by minerals in the water. These can usually be cleaned up and fixed in a few minutes, but the better valves have lifetime guarantees and the supplier/manufacturer will replace the parts at no cost.
I don't have a big box near me, but a good plumbing supply store will usually have an assortment of bodies in stock or can special order them quickly.
Edited 3/5/2007 11:16 am by Notchman
Edited 3/5/2007 11:19 am by Notchman
Thanks everyone! But if anyone else has an opinion, I love to hear it too.I currently have a Price Pfister kitchen faucet and American Standard shower valve in the second bath. I'm having problems with both. Maybe I should tackle replacing the old galvanized pipe with Pex before doing the shower.
Well I'm glad you asked for best opinion & not fact.
Price does matter, but can also be misleading.
Someone mentioned Jado, good brand, very expensive, hard to get parts for & customer service is lackluster.
Moen is a good standard apartment grade & spec houses for tract builders.
Kohler is a bit better , but the box store stuff is the bottom of their line.
Delta---- same as Moen
Lefroy Brooks---- very very expensive, metric connections, customer service sucks, did I mention expensive.
Grohe USA, always has performed well, more high end, parts are much easier to get than when they first hit the US market.
Hans Grohe--- the pissed off brother of Grohe USA--- same quality, twice as expensive---- a bit more foo foo“When politicians and journalists declare that the science of global warming is settled, they show a regrettable ignorance about how science works.” Nigel Calder, editor of New Scientist
We love our Delta Monitor 1700 series (we have 3) The have pressure balance and scald guard. The best feature is that the water temp stays set unless you move it, and the single lever just controls volumn. They should be around $100.
Jaclo.
It's a fixture supply place item. Very heavy solid brass.
Ten years ago, I might have recommended American Standard, when I bought one of their high end single handle systems (Amerylis, or something like that). Two cartridges and one mixing valve later, not so sure. Seems the Grohe elsewhere in the house, just as old, hasn't had any problems. Now that American Standard has spun off their plumbing brand and changed their name to Trane, for air conditioning, I wouldn't own any of their stock. I've ordered a couple extra carts for the future, since I don't relish ripping out the tile to replace the fixture. Moen may be fine. You'll be replacing carts every few years, but they're cheap, and it's easy to do. AS isn't either.
Kohler
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"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
The few plumbers that I know in my area all say "Moen"
I prefer Kohler, followed by Delta. I've done Moen lav faucets but IMHO the trim was a little bit on the cheap side.