Shower Valve Replacement

Two facts explain almost everything people complain about in showers, and both are about the valve rather than the water heater.

At a glance

Your shower valve has an adjustable stop that caps how hot it can go, and ASSE says the installer was supposed to set it. Separately, most American showers use a pressure-balancing valve, which holds the balance between hot and cold and cannot correct a temperature change.

Source: ASSE International, Adjustment of Automatic Compensating Valves to Prevent Potential Scald Hazards.

ShowerValve is a referral service, not a contractor. We connect homeowners with independent contractors. Contractors are required to hold whatever credential their state or municipality demands, and valve work opening a wall is often a permitted alteration — ask to see the permit. We carry out no work, we sell no valves, we do not set prices, and we never charge homeowners anything — the contractors in our network pay us when we route them a call. The maximum water temperature is set by your local code, not by this website.

One: there is a maximum, and it is adjustable

ASSE defines a limit stop as an adjustable and lockable means of limiting how far a valve can move toward hot, and says it must be set by the installer. The maximum safe water temperature, usually 120 degrees Fahrenheit, is mandated by the local code.

It is a step that can be skipped without anything looking wrong. What it is, and why it is worth asking about by name.

Source: ASSE International, Adjustment of Automatic Compensating Valves to Prevent Potential Scald Hazards.

Two: most valves cannot see temperature at all

ASSE 1016 covers Type P (pressure-balancing), Type T (thermostatic) and Type T/P. Most American showers are Type P, which holds the balance between hot and cold when pressure changes — and has no idea how hot the hot water is.

So a shower that jumps when a toilet flushes and a shower that creeps hotter over five minutes are two different faults. Which kind you have, and which complaint is which.

Most faults are the part that moves

A shower valve is a brass body in the wall and a replaceable assembly inside it. Almost everything that goes wrong is the second one, which is work done from the front rather than through the tile.

Telling them apart is the question worth asking about any quote, because access is most of the price.

What we will not do

Pick a temperature for your household, publish instructions for adjusting a limit stop, or tell anybody to raise one. The binding maximum is your local code and your valve’s own instructions.

That refusal has its own page, along with the price and the repair-or-replace verdict we also decline to invent.

Where we come in

We connect homeowners with independent contractors who cover their area, and the contractors pay us when we route them a call. You are never charged.

How that works in full, and where we route.

The complete list

Ask whether it is the cartridge or the body.One is work through the trim, the other opens a wall, and the answer changes everything about the job. We will route you to somebody who covers your area, worked out from your ZIP code, and you are never charged. And if trouble elsewhere in the house needs attention, bring it up when you call.

Call (888) 752-7111