Confession of an over-doer:

When we bought the 30’s house, I decided to get the best fixtures I could afford for it, because I was getting close to retirement, and I didn’t want to fiddle with stuff later and didn’t want to spend big bucks when I was likely not to be as able to do so (as now, given this economy). So, I had an expensive at the time American Standard Amarylis shower set installed 16 years ago that has gone through three valves and four pressure balancing units in that time. It has far too many sections connecting to each with o-rings in between — bad design, but I didn’t sense it at the time. And they all must be balanced as you assemble them and adjust the screws (sort of like screwing down an engine’s cylinder head) or you get a leak.  There’s the pressure balancing unit in the brass housing, then a spacer (why?), then the valve. Two sets of o-rings between the three. The final screws settle the spacer and the valve against the pressure balancing unit’s face. What a joke, but I didn’t appreciate this at the time that I ordered it the system, as it’s quite good looking otherwise.

I have softened water, not a factor, as I never see minerals when I replace these units. I’ve gotten quite good at it, by the way. Can even do it during half time if set up beforehand. I also get to cycle the supply ball valves frequently, which is probably better than if they’d sat static for a decade.

AS is good about sending me free replacements, so I got ahead of them by one by buying a replacement for each on my own, as it takes them a week to send the new parts, and we still like to be clean (one full bath in my 30’s house).

Has anyone else had this experience?

I guess I should have gone for the old reliable Moen that needs cartridges fairly regularly, but they’re quick and easy to fix. Just ugly, in my mind. I saw too many of them when traveling and just didn’t want one at home. Maybe it’s the red and blue signals that tell dummies like me what’s hot and cold. Or the plastic handle and ugly screw cover on the control.

To replace the current AS unit with something else would mean tearing out the tile surround, but my DW would probably prefer a solid surface like Avonite (cleaning and grout deterioration issues), so maybe that’s the solution. I’d really like the shower diverter to be in the control, not the spout. Any suggestions? By the way, it’s a hand shower system. The control is to the right of center, and the wall outlet for the hand shower is to the left of center, mostly to allow the control to be out of the spray from above and to allow a natural loop of the hose from the supply on the left to the shower bar. We went only hand shower after an Army stint in Germany and found them more likable to us than stationary shower heads.

Thanks — BarMil