Water splits half shower/half spout
I new so be patient. Last weekend I replaced, with new both hot/cold water valves and the show diverter in my tub. Water works great but now the shower splits the water, half from the head and half from the spout, in the shower on position. Yes it is a knob type diverter (turns), not spout activated. Before I changed it the shower worked great even though later I found the old diverter was missing an O ring. I figured why not change all three and be done with it. Ok, I put the OLD diverter back in and now it does the same thing whereas before it worked great. Today I took the head off, diverter valve out, then blew 100psi from the shower pipe backwards and turned on the water to flush it but it's still split half/half. I can take the head off, turn on the water/shower, and most comes out of the pipe. If I put the head back on it splits. I've taken a washcloth in the palm of my hand and placed it under the spout but the water from the head does NOT increase. Yes I've even taken the head apart to see if there's a restriction. There is not. I've heard there's a restrictor of some type in the water manifold but I don't see one. Replacing the spout with a diverter built I don't think will help as my hand/washcloth blocking the spout acted as a diverter and it changed nothing. As for the brand of fawcet...haven't a clue but it's from the early 70's. The bathrooms are laid out as in one tub backs up to the sink/vanity in the other and the reverse for the other bath. To replace a tub fawcet means tearing out one sink/vanity and tile in one bath to access the fawcet of the opposing bathroom's tub. This is SO simple in principal yet VERY frustrating because it won't work correctly and all I did was replace the diverter. I've searched the net for an exploded view of a shower fawcet for an idea of how the diverter functions but found nothing!!!! ARGGGGGGGGGGG ! Anyone with ANY ideas will be GREATLY appreciated. I KNOW someone out there has encountered this problem before and it's hard to believe no one hasn't besides me and that no one has replied with anything. If someone said they too have the same unsolved problem at least I'd know I'm not the only one......for what good that'll do me. C'mon all you vastly experienced people, HELP PLEASE! Or is it so simple that I'm an idiot for not figuring this out? I replaced the spout with one having a built in shower diverter and as I figured, that didn't help either. It did stop the water from coming out of the spout but did nothing for increasing the shower output which is still half strength of what it was. Is there a restricter inside the working somewhere that cold be stopped up? As I said earlier, I've taken the shower head apart and found nothing there to cause this. Sometimes we have to read the longer posts a few times to make sure we can answer them well, so be patient with us, too. First, you stated you changed out the valves on all three. Did you replace them with the same style that came out? I know it is a simple question, but you wouldn't believe the number of valves out there, and there are minor size differences that make a great deal of difference in how they perform. If all is well with the valves, then it appears you will have to resurface the face of the diverter valve housing with an appropriately sized reamer, available at most hardware and big box stores. What can be happening is the valve is closing properly, but against a poor surface, thereby allowing water to still flow past it to the spout. Look into the housing with the diverter valve pulled out and see if it is cracked or deformed. Post back with the results and lets see if we can get it fixed. And check the head of the shower and see/clean out any debris Hey, the same thing is happening to me. I just had the faucet replaced and all three valves. Then my handyman added a new faucet with another diverter. It still doesn't stop. Now he says he has to replace the manifold? Also for some reason my pipes are knocking (very loud noise). And my water pressure is low in the whole house. Did you find out what the problem was? If by the diverter valve housing you mean the actual seat, I replaced that already with one supplied with the diverter. As I said earlier, I took both the old and new valves plus the diverter completely apart comparing each piece to piece as I went. All are identical. I am going to try and post a pic of the old diverter this evening if that'll helps somehow. Like I said, the old one worked great before I changed it but after this started, I put it back in and the problem continued. I did not replace the old seat until this occured but it contiuned after I installed the new seat. As mentioned earlier, there are hundreds of different brands of valves out there, and few, if any, of them are exactly the same. What I do in this situation is look very carefully at the diverter stem. It has a simple function, water goes up or water goes down. Look at the mating surfaces to see why it's not sealing front back. There may be a missing rubber part, or one that's not thick enough. If you can determine how it's supposed to do it's job, you can figure out why it isn't. Take your time. You can also try going to the mfg's website to look for a parts diagram. BTW, the knocking pipes indicate that there may be a loose part in the assembly. Thanks for the reply....I hired a master plumber. It was the seat and new stem of the diverter that was installed incorrectly by my handyman. Unfortunately, I have paid double now for this job. The pipe noise he said was apparently from the bracket that held the pipes which is either loose or fell off behind the wall. I can't really know for sure without taking the shower tiles off. There is no other access. Thanks again. p.s. I love this sight. After several postings, untold searches, and some ideas/advice, the tub water splitting between the shower and faucet (with the shower turned on) is solved. It all came down to a simple BUT missing O-ring. The faucet is a Sayco and has a center knob for the shower. I bought the replacement from a MAJOR home center and after discovering this missing, I took a trip there and found the same valves, on display pegs, missing this O-ring too. The kit came with a new diverter, a new seat, and a new threaded inside/outside ring that screws into the manifol and the diverter screws into it. Everything you would need to do a rebuild BUT this O-ring. The Sayco diverter has a small barrel with two small opposing slots in it and that fits on the working end of the stem. The barrel has a step down ridge and THAT'S where the missing O-ring fit. When I pulled mine out originally this O-ring wasn't there. Before installing the new one l compared the old one to the replacement and it too didn't have the O-ring so I had no clue it was SUPPOSE to. Plus I've gone back to the store and looked at more valves and they too don't have this ring. Shows to go ya, just 'cause it's new doesn't mean it's ready to go! I have spent coutless time on the Internet searching with no luck to find out my brand new part was missing a piece. How did I discover this? I did a search today and found lockplumbing.com and found exploded view of my diverter and it showed an O-ring mine didn't have. I put one on and now the shower works as it always did. So, thanks to all for your ideas and your time. I gotta go take a shower now!!!!!!!!!! Originally Posted by ss62 Everything you would need to do a rebuild BUT this O-ring. The Sayco diverter has a small barrel with two small opposing slots in it and that fits on the working end of the stem. The barrel has a step down ridge and THAT'S where the missing O-ring fit. Now that you've figured it out....help! I have the exact same problem! When I pulled the old diverter out of the barrel to replace the packing washer, I noticed the small O-ring came out as well, but I didn't see from where. I've tried to replace it in every conceivable place in this contraption, but to no avail. It fits snug on the stem itself, so I know it must go somewhere on the stem and my guess is it goes inside the barrel with the opposing slots? I see no step down , unless you mean on the outside of the barrel just above the flange where the flat washer sits? Thanks for any help! Thanks to SS62 .... I had exactly the same problem. Replaced the diverter with a new one and it was splitting the water between shower/tub. Followed your directions. Sure enough. No o-ring on the step down. Went to Lowes and found one to fit. Reinstalled and it works perfectly. Thanks for your post. I also found pieces of the o-ring inside the valve. Cleaned it all out by flushing with diverter removed. Yee Ha!! Love my shower now! I've had the problem since yesterday, Sunday. This evening I did some searching and happened upon your thread and viola! Problem fixed. Thank you so much. The mysteriously missing O-ring did the trick. It was unbelievably simple!! I too have had the same frustration with replacing the Sayco 9B-5D Diverter Stem and still the faucet leaked. I did go to my Lowe's and bought a package of #35 O-Rings (15/16 O.D. x 9/16 I.D. x 1/16) and put one of those on that step down portion of the barrel of my old diverter stem and fixed the problem. Thanks to all who contributed to this post. For your information, I found a picture of the stem with an o-ring at: DANCO 9B-5D Diverter Stem for sayco NEW/SEALED#15886B - eBay (item 150385385346 end time Dec-01-09 15:35:07 PST) Same problem here, missing o-ring on a no-name diverter in a three knob type faucet. No pieces emerged when I pulled the valve, so no clue that something was missing. After long searching and much grumping of unshowered family members I saw the post from ss62. Grabbed the valve and looked... sure enough the place where the o-ring should have been showed a ring of brighter brass where the o-ring seats. Quick and easy fix. Much gratitude and a million thanks. Keywords for the next guy: shower diverter half on tub faucet still running OMG! I had the same problem and spent a full afternoon trying to figure out what I did wrong. I put the project aside for two weeks and took the new valve out of the handle and returned to HD. I closely inspected the remaining assemblies on the rack. It turns out that my Sayco 9B-5D replacement assembly DIDN'T include a key O-ring at the end. I found two other assemblies missing the same O-Ring and four that included them. I brought this to the attention of the HD employee and he took one from another assembly and handed it to me. (He then removed the incomplete assembly from the rack so no one else would buy it.) The employee stated that sometimes the assemblies are missing a part or two. (BTW My assembly was made in China.) Special thanks to DUNBAR PLUMBER and Void Main and everyone else who posted on this subject! Here are a few helpful things i have learned about water coming out of shower and spout. - if it is hot water coming out of the spout, it is most likely a missing or broken o-ring that goes under the slotted sleeve. - if you have replaced the o-ring and it keeps breaking after a week or sometimes a month...... the slotted sleeve is most likely warped and it is pinching the o-ring everytime you open the diverter. (this was my issue and has kicked mt butt for a while). i tried to use pliers to reshape the sleeve but made it worse and just replaced the diverter. hope this helps.
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