10 Different Types of Shower Diverters
The modern shower was invented in 1767 by William Feetham. He was a a stove maker from Ludgate Hill in London. Fed by a hand pump, it worked by forcing water into a vessel suspended above a user’s head, and then releasing it from a faucet.
Feetham’s shower had numerous flaws. Among them, the shower had to be fed by hand before it could be used. Furthermore, existing as it did before pump-fed indoor plumbing was invented in 1826. Feetham’s shower was doubly impractical as it could function from cold water only. It also recycles the same dirty water over again rather than being constantly fed by clean water. Overall, Feetham’s shower was a failure compared to the baths of the day. But the shower continued in development.
The development of pump-fed indoor plumbing in the 1820s created a world where the shower as we now know it can exist. Fed to begin with by a separate set of pipes from a bathtub tap. It quickly became apparent to designers that the two should coexist. With the development of a valve that could divert water to the shower head or the tap, the diverter, and the modern shower, was born.
What is a shower diverter?
A shower diverter is a valve that diverts the flow of water in bathtub plumbing from the spout that feeds into the bathtub. This is found is generally down low, into the shower head. It is possible, but rare, for the shower head to have its own independent controls.
For the most part, the same plumbing feeds both the spout and the shower head. So it makes sense to have a diverter to control flow to them. The shower head being generally located above the spout will never get water if it has an easier path to leave the supply plumbing through the tub spout. The diverter closes the tub spout, forcing water through the shower head.
What are 10 types of shower diverters?
There are many types of shower diverters. Many shower diverters will in fact be of more than one type. A shower can be pressure-balanced, for example, and contain thermostatic valves.
1. Pressure-balanced shower diverters
Pressure-balanced shower diverters are useful in households with many people, with multiple showers being used. With a pressure-balanced diverter, the person showering does not have to worry about another faucet or shower being turned on and suddenly dropping the pressure in the cold or hot water.
Too little water pressure in the hot pipe can chill a bather, while too little pressure in the cold pipe can scald. Commercial showers, such as in apartment buildings, hotels, and gymnasiums usually use pressure-balanced diverters. It makes business sense to have a shower tap that any customer can use at any time without fear of either harming another customer or being harmed by another customer.
2. Thermostatic shower diverters
One of the newest innovations in shower design is the thermostatic valve. Using a mixer cartridge behind the valve, a thermostatic shower diverter is designed to maintain a constant temperature at the tap, without becoming hotter or colder than the temperature it’s set for.
One of the most important and difficult complaints about showers is that if pressure either spikes or drops in the hot or cold water, the water coming out of the shower can either suddenly become scalding hot or freezing cold. The latter is unpleasant, and the former is dangerous.
A thermostatic cartridge alleviates this stress by using a bimetallic strip inside the cartridge that flexes or relaxes according to the temperature of the water coming out. With the thermostatic cartridge, if the water becomes too hot, additional cold water is allowed into the mix and if it becomes too cold, the opposite is true.
3. Single Valve (or T) diverter
A single-valve diverter is the most common type in homes and commercial businesses. In a single-valve diverter, one valve controls both the temperature and flow pressure of the water. Single-valve diverters are simple and robust. Their function is to both control the flow of the water and to control its temperature.
Single-valve diverters can be tricky, because there’s often only a few settings in the diverter that both give a satisfying flow of water and are within a comfortable temperature range. But if the single-valve diverter begins leaking or is otherwise damaged, it’s the simplest type of diverter to replace.
4. Double Valve (or Cross) diverter
Becoming more common, the double valve, or cross diverter, is included in many new homes and businesses. With a double valve diverter, there are two separate taps, one for hot water and one for cold water. The double-valve diverter mixes the water from two sources before it enters the tub.
A double valve diverter gives finer control of the mixing of water than a single-valve diverter, since each water source is mixed individually rather than together. Double-valve diverters are easier to handle in normal operation than single-valve diverters for the same reason. A shower with a double-valve diverter is, however, harder to maintain than a single-valve diverter, because of the additional number of pipes that may need to be troubleshot if something becomes damaged.
5. Manual shower diverters
A manual diverter is a popular style of diverter because of its simplicity and ease of use. With only a single faucet lever to control the shower valve, and no mixer pipes, the manual diverter is easy enough to understand even for a novice. Its drawbacks are in households with children. If they enjoy playing with the water supply is can be dangerous. The single nozzle to control both flow and temperature can result in high-pressure water that is too hot and can cause injury if left unsupervised. Likewise, when bathing pets, a manual diverter can easily be
6. Dual-purpose shower diverters
A dual-purpose shower diverter can divert water between one of two outputs. In a dual-purpose shower diverter system, the body is designed to take the water from the mixer control and divert it to either the tub spout or the shower head. Dual-purpose diverters easily handle multiple inputs and multiple outputs with only a minimal addition of complexity versus a standard shower diverter.
7. 3-Way Diverter
A 3-way diverter is technically a type of dual-purpose shower converter. It can connect to as many as three different showers and water outputs to form a customized shower system. 3-way diverters can connect to a tub spout, shower, handheld or body spray, in any combination. Because the 3-way diverter is generally a brass fitting, it can be cut to the desired dimensions using even simple tools down to a hacksaw. The 3-way diverter is usually built into the wall during a renovation.
8. Integrated Diverter
Popular in high-end bathrooms, an integrated diverter is a specialized type built into the trim of the tub valve. The integrated diverter is built into the entire tap assembly, and it can dial the intensity of the shower as well as have far less leakage than a normal diverter tub spout. Integrated diverters can be conventional diverters or 3-way. Like the 3-way diverter, is usually built in during a renovation, rather than added to an existing fixture.
The integrated diverter gives a sleek and streamlined look to a shower and can be easily combined with a 3-way diverter.
9. Shower Arm Diverters
A shower arm diverter is one of the more common types of diverters. Used in showers with a handheld shower head. The arm diverter is used to divert water from the fixed shower head to the handheld nozzle. A t-shaped valve, it takes water from one source and allows the user to divert it to one or the other destination.
A shower arm diverter is typically used in combination with another type of diverter to control the flow of the water from the tub spout to the shower heads. Shower arm diverters are perfect for reaching difficult spots or if people of varying heights use the same shower. Many handheld shower heads use pulsating attachments, allowing people, especially athletes, to use them for massage purposes.
10. Diverter tub spout
The most common kind of residential shower diverter. The diverter tub spout is a simple valve operated with a plunger that can be pulled out to flow from the shower. It can also be pushed in for an uninterrupted flow from the tub spout.
Tub spout diverters leak a small amount of water when the shower is in operation. The national plumbing standard sets an allowable leak rate of 0.2 gallons per minute at the end of the product’s life. Most installed bath and shower diverters leak much more than that, some more than the flow rate of a typical shower head.
You can also read:
