Hidden Plumbing Problems: What to Look for

Is Your Bathtub Faucet Leaking While The Shower Is Running? Here's How You Can Replace The Shower Diverter And Fix It

10 July 2019

Herbert Chambers

When water comes out of the faucet instead of the shower head, you'll experience reduced water pressure from the shower. If the majority of the water is coming out of the faucet, you may not even be able to take a shower. Thankfully, this is an easy and inexpensive problem to fix.

Determine Which Type of Shower Diverter You Have

When water is coming out of the bathtub faucet when you're trying to use the shower, it means that the shower diverter valve has failed. When the shower diverter is engaged, it blocks the flow of water through the faucet and causes it to rise upwards through the pipes and out of the shower head. There are two types of shower diverters in common use: a spout shower diverter and a 3-way shower diverter valve. If you have a lever between the hot and cold faucet handles that needs to be turned in order for water to come out of the shower head, your faucet uses a 3-way shower diverter valve. If you need to pull up or outwards on a lever that's attached to the faucet spout in order to turn the shower on, you have a spout shower diverter.

Replacing a Spout Shower Diverter

Since the shower diverter is part of the faucet spout itself, you'll need to replace the entire spout, in order to correct the problem. The first step is to turn your home's water off and put a drain cover over the bathtub drain. You don't want screws to accidentally fall down the drain and become lost forever, after you've removed them. Next, you'll need to remove the spout. In newer homes, most bathtub spouts are connected to the plumbing behind the faucet by a setscrew near the base of the spout. You can remove this setscrew using an Allen wrench. If you don't have a correctly-sized Allen wrench, you can purchase a set at any hardware store. Simply turn counterclockwise with the Allen wrench and the spout will come right out. If your spout doesn't have a setscrew, that means it's threaded into the copper pipe behind the faucet. Cut away the caulking around the spout using a small utility knife to loosen it, then very gently turn the spout counterclockwise in order to remove it from the wall. Once you've removed the spout, take it to a hardware store and find a replacement that has the exact same diameter on the end that attaches to your home's plumbing. Install it by reversing the above steps—either screw it into the wall using a setscrew or gently thread it back into the pipe by turning it clockwise.

Replacing a 3-Way Shower Diverter Valve

As with the above, you'll first need to turn the water off and place a drain cover over the drain, to stop any screws from falling into it. You'll first need to remove the center handle on the faucet in order to expose the 3-way valve. Using a small screwdriver, remove the screws that attach the handle to its plate. Try different sockets from a plumber's socket wrench set until you find one that fits your 3-way shower valve snugly, then turn your socket wrench counterclockwise to remove the 3-way shower diverter valve from the wall. Take this 3-way shower diverter valve to the hardware store to find an exact replacement, then attach it to your plumbing with the same size socket that you used to remove your old one. Screw the center faucet handle back into its plate, to complete the repair.

If you feel uncomfortable performing such a repair like this for any reason, a company like Eddie B Plumbing can help.

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