Toilets, Sinks, Showers, Tubs and Disposals - hot and cold reversed

We had to replace the walls in a cultured marble shower. We had to have a plumber come in to replace the shower fixture. He seemed pretty second rate but the shower installer set it up. We immediately noticed that he installed the back plate on the shower control upside down. we thought no big deal we will just change it when he is done. well he apparently did it for a reason because now the hot is on the right and cold on the left. this is a single post control with just a control handle that rotates, no pull out etc. Is this fixable now that the wall is up or are we forever going to have to explain our shower to unsuspecting guests. BTW with the plate installed upside down the weep hole faces up so we cannot even have the shower labeled correctly. We have to rotate the plate to its normal position. It is a Delta faucet. the showerhead also leaks but we will go to the Delta website to try to find that answer.

Maybe you should skip Delta & have a serious talk with
your shower installer-what do you think????????????

He obviously goofed on the hook-up but it should not be your problem.
I agree that you should call whoever you contracted for the job.

In addition, he has the shower coming from the tub outlet on the valve, which has no restriction plate installed, thus your constant leaking after turning it off. This thing has to be completely redone. Sorry for the bad news. Is there a possibility of accessing this area from the wall behind the control valve? I'd rather repair sheetrock than replace marble. Good luck with the installer/plumber/contractor; hope you can find them.

IMHO the plumber installed it upside down. If you have an access panel you could get a new plumber to re-pipe it right side up with out messing with the tile. If you do not have an access panel you will need to remove the tiles and durarock around the valve body to gain access to correct it.

If the plumber is legit and licensed he should fix it for free and have liability insurance to repair the tile if needed.

Chandler, why do you say he has the shower coming from the tub outlet? This is a free standing shower. there is a tub in the room but separate from this. the shower head did not leak at first so I suspect it is a simple fix.
we have already told the 'marble' installer about the quality of work his subs do but REALLY dont want to take that wall back down. We could get to it from a sheetrock side but it isnt that important to us. If it was an easy fix just at the fixture, but to take a wall down... we will just keep our little funhouse trick. It isnt worth the fighting required to get it done by them either.
BTW this was done in October and we just recently discovered that a bottle of pain meds that we seldom use is missing, guess who we suspect.

Most all mixing valves have 4 ports, whether they are packaged for shower only or tub/shower use. You just plug the tub port when you install it. When installed properly, the shower port has a small strainer in it and the port necks down a little, whereas the tub port is full flow at 1/2". Since it can be accessed from behind, you still have the future option of correcting it, so all is not lost. Sorry about the bad experience. If you decide to do this switcheroo yourself, let us know, we are here to help.

Plumbing is not something we DIY unless it is the final installation process but attaching to the main lines it out of our league and a very expensive lesson if we mess up. This shower has been a nightmare. we bought the house 10 years old and after about 3 years we noticed some outside bricks that never seemed to dry. they got worse and found that one of the heads in the shower (two head) was the culprit. Had one joint in the wall that was never soldered. Had to have the walls taken down to get to it. Easier that taking the brick exterior wall down. The cultured marble is like a house of cards, when one wall comes down you better hope it was the last wall up, it wasnt. this leaky one is the other shower head so at least we have sheetrock to work thry.

We finally tackled this shower. There was no port for the tub ( thank God) but the cartridge needed replaced. We found a tiny piece of metal in the ?mixing valve? that we think caused the springs or seats to leak. Either way easiest to replace the whole cartridge and it works like a dream and stops working when we turn it off. we were not able to undo the hot and cold reversal but at least we know how it works. When we took the old cartridge off there was a strainer over the shower port but the directions from Delta say to take it apart and remove it before installation and say nothing about installing the strainer in the mixing valve. (I hope i am using the right terminology.) should this be there or can it be left out as Delta implies?

The Delta shower control should have the pressure balancing assembly that can be rotated to reverse the hot and cold, correcting your reversed H/C issue. This reversible feature is designed in for back-to-back shower installations. If you don't have the installation instructions, just go to the Delta website and download the install instructions. It's an easy fix.

Take a look at Reverse ball for single acrylic knob (http://www.plumbingsupply.com/deltabathvalves.html) here.

Agree with Formula1, you should be able to reverse the orientation of the diverter assembly to compensate for the reverse hook up. What is the shower assembly model number and did it have a universal pressure regulator
assembly? If this assembly was used, you may be OK.

http://www.plumbersurplus.com/Prod/Delta-R10000-UNBX-Universal-MultiChoice-Valve/31487/Cat/281

Let us know.

It was a Delta multi-something with Monitor on the estechuan. We dont have the box anymore. We did see the intructions for back to back installation which is what I think the plumber unknowingly did but when we placed the cartridge in rotated 180 degrees we only got cold water. I think we needed to move the hot water limit but we were really just so pleased to stop the leak we didnt want to mess with anything. Imagine a completely reconstructed shower that was mildewing every day by the time we got home because it was constantly wet even with a bucket catching the drip (drips splash)
I really appreciate everyones help, this site is great. We wouldnt have even tackled this if I didnt have back up.

I googled Delta Faucets and then searched within the delta website for Monitor Series and got 3 hits. All three of the monitor series use the same Universal Pressure Rough In Assembly (link in my previous post). The Installation Instructions indicate that the cartridge orientation can be reversed for back to back installations where the hot and cold are crossed. Here is the link to the install instructions

http://www.deltafaucet.com/media/Product_Tech_Docs/Maint_Installation/25001to50000/51975RevA_dafb.pdf

Hmmmmm...
Just re-read your questions in this post, Remove the strainer to the shower port, put the cartridge back in oriented with the "hot side" indicator on the right and see if it works. The strainer may be getting in the way of full rotation of the cartridge.

We have all the instructions. We did put the cartridge in without the strainer and put it in with the hot side as they indicated but we still just got cold water. I think it would take moving the hot limit thing. We had such time getting a replacement cartidge that we really dont want to mess up this one. The replacement that the big box store carry that says it will fit this wasnt even the same size, it was about 1/4 shorter! We ended up buying a new faucet and taking the cartridge from that and going to have to deal with the swap with Delta since the store refused to work with us. I am sorry but who keeps original receipts for 6 months! They suggested we send the original cartridge to Delta and wait for the replacement. My husband asked them if we just leave the water off for 6 weeks or what and the people at the store told us it would be no trouble turning the water back on without the cartridge!! Of course we dont take any of their advice.

If we have to take it apart again we may try the switch again but right now as long as it doesnt leak I can deal with the dylexic shower, at least it doesnt limit the cold to the point where you get scalded.

Play around with the hot water limit gear before you put the final cap back on the trim. Also, keep in mind, that because the lines are reversed, you may have to move the limit toward the cold setting in order to make it hotter, if that makes sense.

I think you can turn the water on and manually play with the inner gear that limits the hot water setting until you achieve the results you desire.

OK, my turn

First of all Delta faucets have a lifetime warrany against factory defects, drips, and finish wearing off to the original owner. (I worked at H--e De-ot in the plumbing dept. for a short time). All you have to do is call them and tell them the faucet is leaking and you need a new cartridge. They should send you a new one without removing the one you have now. I am a master plumber and have done this for my customers before, otherwise you need to pay about $65.00 for the new cartridges.

Delta montor series faucets can easily be reversed by reinstalling the cart. in the correct possition. also you should get instructions either with the new cart. or get them online and they should be able to walk you through the repair including re setting the anti scald temperature control. If all else fails, call delta technical assistance and have them on the phone while you make the repair. they are usually pretty good at helping out.

I hope this helps you out... M2589

Delta is great as far as replacement. we were a little disappointed in the store you mentioned with their lack of willingness to swap this out. My husband also worked retail for years with an auto supply store and they did it all the time. We both own our own business and both work with the thought "dont make it the customers problem" We will swap back the new cartidge from Delta to the new faucet we bought and return it to the store, just like the store could have done for us. Oh well, one more DIY story for the campfire.
You all have been great!!!