After having my last dilemna solved here, I figured it was worth another shot. We are attempting to pick out a shower valve for our shower stall. The one set that we like includes a tub faucet that we don't need as the space has a shower stall only, no tub. My question is... is it possible and OK to use that set and not use the faucet? Can I simply cap off the lead that would go to the faucet and simply use it strictly as a shower head unit? For clarification, the faucet in the set has the lever on it to activate the shower. It is not on the valve piece. We are looking for a brushed nickel finish and can't find any sets without the faucet.

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Originally Posted by dbmiller

After having my last dilemna solved here, I figured it was worth another shot. We are attempting to pick out a shower valve for our shower stall. The one set that we like includes a tub faucet that we don't need as the space has a shower stall only, no tub. My question is...is it possible and ok to use that set and not use the faucet? Can I simply cap off the lead that would go to the faucet and simply use it strictly as a shower head unit? For clarification, the faucet in the set has the lever on it to activate the shower. It is not on the valve piece. We are looking for a brushed nickel finish and can't find any sets without the faucet.

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Good morning Mr. Miller, (May I call you DB?)
Before we take our relationship to the next level. Let's get on the same page with definitions, ( you'll have to pardon me, you're my first post and I feel chatty.)
Tub Faucet does not = Tub spout.
Having cleared that little matter up. The valve body should have a 1/2" threaded opening in the bottom of the valve body. To change your tub and shower valve into a shower valve simply purchase a a brass 1/2" threaded plug and some teflon tape, screw in the plug and you're free to rub-a-dub in style. Cheers, Tom

Not an answer but a question with a situation similar to Mr MIllers.

Got a Gerber GS-305 shower/tub single handle valve at a price too good to pass up. It is the solder connection type vs the threaded type inlets. Since I will not be using the tub outlet port I want to seal it, but without threads I will have to solder something in the port. There was a little brass, I'm going to call it, plug included in the package that fit right into the port. I assume that this can be soldered into the tub outlet port. But I have never soldered brass to brass (valve is a brass body). Can I assume it will act similar to Copper and I can use the same lead free solder used in a normal copper joint? Or would you suggest another option to closing off the tub outlet?

Thanks,
Jim

Yes, you can solder brass to brass with lead free solder. A little more heat is required; brass is more dense than copper, and the mass of the shower valve body will absorb some of the heat away from the point of attack. I would suggest that you remove the cartridge before making any solder connections to the valve. After the valve is cool, turn on the water & flush the valve body before installing the cartridge...

Hi Jim

Mike's suggestions are spot on, so be sure to remove the cartridge before soldering and flush the valve for best result.

Before soldering the brass plug, clean it with sandcloth, clean the valve body with a cleaning brush (or sandcloth) and then flux both the valve body and the plug... insert the plug so it leaves about an 1/8" of the brass plug exposed and then solder like any other soldered joint.

Good luck!

Mark

Thank you both for your advice. Having never soldered brass I was unsure if you needed a special solder or other material to get a good joint. I actually am going to solder the plug and water line fittings in on my workbench first for ease of work (sometimes not much room in the wall), and yes I will be removing the cartridge, seal, etc first before soldering.

Thanks again,
Jim

Late reply but thanks for the comments and advise. Soldering the brass was easier then I thought. You do have to put more heat into the body to get it hot enough. I used a combination of CU fittings and then went with PEX and sharkbite fittings between the CU from the value to the incoming water supply. Made it a lot easier to deal with the mismatch of existing incoming pipe locations and the valve (new valve was much wider which put it on the wrong side of a stud).

I expect the same thing in our other 2 bathrooms that I am redoing so plan on using the same scheme.