Lesson Learned...Get Pressure Balancing Valves
So remember how we were really excited about our bathroom fixtures from Chicago Faucets?
Well, our contractor came over to discuss the bathroom plumbing and tile work. Everything was going very well and it looks like he's ready to start next week. (!!!) We showed him the tearout work we'd done, told him the tile patterns we want, and discussed replacing the supply lines with new copper pipe.
Then he asked if we wanted to go with the old or new fixtures. I said we'd be keeping the tub, sink and toilet but that we'd chosen new plumbing fixtures. Remembering how some folks on Fine Homebuilding's "Breaktime" discussion boards spoke highly of Chicago Faucets, I walked over with pride to show him what we'd gotten.
"Yeah, Chicago Faucets makes a really solid fixture," he said. "But the bad news is that shower faucet isn't up to the new Chicago code changes." I was crushed.
As it turns out, Chicago code now requires that all new shower installations include a pressure balancing valve. The device, included in the fixture has a mechanism that prevents rapid shifts in water temperature. Our Chicago Faucet was a traditional design that didn't include pressure balancing.
To make matters worse, we got the faucet online (found a great price at faucet.com) and the refund policy isn't promising. "Yeah," he said, "that's going to make it tough to get rid of."
So, I broke the news to J when she got home and we started researching new faucets. Our contractor used Grohe fixtures in his own home, which we'd also heard praised in the Breaktime forums. But the thought of paying a 20% restocking fee made us cringe.
The payoff might be that our Internet research ended up uncovering a solution. We're still waiting to check with our contractor, but we think we've found a fix that would allow us to still use the fixture we bought...
We found an "Automatic Pressure Compensating Valve" manufactured by Tempura available at A-Ball Plumbing Supply.
The valve is installed "upstream" from the shower fixture, the valve regulates the water flow of both the hot and cold water supply lines. A single moving part senses changes in water pressure in one line and adjusts the water flow in the other supply line accordingly.
Accomplishing the same goal of compliant fixtures, the valve is marketed as a way to stay compliant with codes but still use traditional fixtures.
We haven't run it by our contractor yet, but we're crossing our fingers that it will work and that we haven't just spent a bunch of money for a really well manufactured faucet we'll never use...
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Comments
Yeah. One mistake we made when we redid our bathroom was not to listen to our contractor about one tiny detail.
He said, "Don't get a shower faucet with a single control" vs. two separate hot and cold knobs (like yours).
He explained that in order to have a single control mixer the shower body would have very small pipes to mix the water which would affect the water pressure in the shower.
When we went to choose our fixture, the guy in tne plumbing supply promised us that this was not the case. Well, it's 7 years later and our shower's water pressure has never been what it was before. *sigh*
Posted by: Tony F (SCNT) | January 16, 2004 5:36 AM
Tony Fross? Good to see you! You're the early bird catching the worm this morning :)
Posted by: jmo | January 16, 2004 5:41 AM
Food for thought -- Shouldn't a good contractor have known about this alternative? Maybe it's something so new that he hasn't heard of it, but I think pressure balancing has been code for several years.
I don't want to bring you guys down any more, but just want to offer something to consider. Even if this is someone you already know and trust, I would be very observant and scrutinize everything you can. Trust yourself and your research. I suppose that's advice for anyone doing work on your house.
We look forward to pics of the re-building! :)
Posted by: kim | January 16, 2004 8:01 AM
Yeah. I had some early meetings today. But also, I'm in EST, so it wasn't quite as early as your CT timestamp would suggest. :-)
I very much enjoy checking in on your site!
Posted by: Tony F | January 16, 2004 1:20 PM
hi guys
if it turns out that you can't use the chicago shower, i'm sure you could find a buyer on the bungalow board who would give you what you paid for it. that might be easier than returning it, in the long run. i'd happily take it off your hands if we needed it, but our 72-year old mix-o-meter is still going strong (knock on tile...)
Posted by: mary | January 17, 2004 4:32 PM