Delta shower lever ball questions..

topspin · 08-14-2008, 11:29 AM

Hi - Have to repair (first time) a early 90's delta lever ball shower faucet. Was taken apart once for a re-pipe job and then hastily re-assembled. Am planning on replacing ball, and rubber seals/springs but have some questions.

I recall the lever use to be cold at 9 o'clock and hot at 3 o'clock. Now lever is cold at 12 o'clock and hot at 6 o'clock, like it was rotated 90 degrees.
1) How does this happen - is there is some alignment procedure?

2) Cover plate was removed...in back has a styrofoam strip around perimeter that seems to be a seal to keep water from getting behind plate. Does this eliminate need for caulk behind plate? Replace styrofoam?

thanks in advance to all....

Alan · 08-15-2008, 09:57 AM

I don't know about other people, but we never caulk our shower trim. Shouldn't really need to with that seal on the back of the plate IMO, unless you plan on spraying it directly with a fire hose, it probably won't leak. It wouldn't hurt to replace that little foam with some decent weatherstripping I guess since you have it apart.

As far as the ball, i've not had extensive experience replacing those yet, but so far, the ones that i've done were dummy-proof, IE : there is only one way that they will go into the valve.

did you compare the ball with the old one to make sure it's exactly the same?

other than that, if you didn't tweak anything else, i don't know.