Shower Rough-in Valves
Shower rough-in valves control the flow of water through the head. Different models control different elements of the flow, from volume to pressure to temperature.
Shower Rough-In Valve
Rough-in valves are the units that regulate the flow of water through your shower. At their simplest, they control the temperature and amount of water that passes through your shower system. More complex models will also regulate both pressure and temperature. A pressure balanced valve, for example, will keep the temperature static, even if other demands are placed on the system, like running a faucet in another room or flushing a toilet. Shower rough-in valves include:
- Thermostatic valves
- Control valves
- Transfer valves
- Diverter valves
A thermostatic rough-in valve controls the temperature of the water in your shower system. It mixes the hot and cold water to provide the desired shower temperature. Every shower system must have one. Some thermostatic valves control the on/off of the water flow--but not all thermostatic valves have an off position. In this case you would use one or more control valves to control the on/off of the flow, see control valves below.
A pressure balanced thermostatic rough-in valve will not only keep the pressure balanced, but it will also keep the temperature regulated, so you won't be hit by freezing or scalding water, no matter what other demands are being placed on your plumbing at the time. New homes must include these models, but many older homes don't have them. If you're concerned about consistent water temperature--you should be if you have small children or elderly people living with you, then you should invest in a pressure balanced thermostatic unit.
Control valves are rough-in valves used to control the flow in various branches of your system. You might add one to control the shower head, another to control a hand shower and others to control body sprays or rain shower heads. You would add one valve for each zone, controlling the whole zone together--like a group of body sprays. With a control valve you can also modulate flow so all the items in a zone do not need to be full on or off.
Transfer valves are rough-in valves used to transfer water flow between various zones. Most transfer valves have three outputs allowing the flow to go to any single zone or any group of two zones. As an example, one zone could be a showerhead, another zone for a hand shower and a third zone for body sprays. The transfer rough-in valve would allow the shower head to operate by itself or add the handshower or body sprays--or any other combination of one or two zones, but not all three.
A diverter valves is a rough-in valve similar to the transfer valve. It will divert the wateter flow between two zones. You will get all the flow to one or the other of the two devices or zones. As an example the divereter valve could work together with a thermostatic valve to regulate the water temperature and send the temperature controlled flow to a shower head or hand shower.
Complete systems, like those by Kohler, Grohe, Hansgrohe and Moen, include all the faucets, fixtures and valves you'll need to install a performance shower. These units generally come with a pressure balanced thermostatic valve instead of a simple volume control.
Kitchen and Pantry sells everything you'd need to replace or install new rough-ins. Faucet and accessory orders over $40 always ship for free. Let our engineers help design your system: (620-3331-3366).
Manufacturer List
- Kohler
- Grohe
- Hansgrohe
- Pegasus
- Delta
- Moen
