The manufacturer (Toto) and my plumber are telling me different things on this.

So apparently the distance between the valve and the spout is too short. Currently the distance is 8 inches but Toto says ideally it should be 12 inches. As a result, when I run the tub, the shower also drips.

The manufacturer tech support says it's ok to adjust the service stops on the valve to change the pressure so that this does not happen (though this may cause lack of pressure on the shower.) My plumber says it's NOT ok to use the service stops in this way because it builds too much pressure and is not a long term solution. Who is right? I would really appreciate opinion on this.

Also, is there any way that this insufficient distance between the valve and spout is causing what looks to be a very small leak in the tub spout? I say "what looks to be" because my plumber thinks there is a chance that the "leak" is actually residual water that is taking several days to come out. This sounds unlikely to us but maybe possible? Perhaps some sort of suction is created that traps the water in the pipes for days??

Re the leak in the tub spout, We've already changed the cartridge 3 times, so we know the cartridge is not causing the leak. The next step would be to change out the whole valve. Unfortunately the shower wall is already tiled.

We're trying to decide whether (A) to replace the Toto valve with another Toto valve (adjusting the service stops to stop the leak from the showerhead when we run the tub), or ( to replace it with a Kohler valve (along with a Kohler trim) which has an allowance of 7 to 18 inches for the distance between the valve and the spout. Our goal is to (1) stop the drip from the tub spout, and (2) stop the drip from the shower when the tub runs.

thank you so much for your time!!



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Pex between the valve and spout will cause the shower head to drip when using the tub filler.

I think someone is feeding you a line of B.S. A LONG pipe between the valve and spout COULD cause backpressure up to the shower head, but a SHORT pipe will NEVER do it. If the drip eventually stops, then it is residual water, (usually the dripping will get slower and slower between the drops). If it is valve leak then it will NEVER stop. Adjusting the service stops has absolutely NO EFFECT on whichever is causing the dripping.



Edited 1 times.

Adjusting the service stops will restrict the flow enough to keep water from coming out of the showerhead when the tub filler is being used.

IT will NOT, however, eliminate whatever is causing the drip, which appears to be the REAL problem.

Correct, and with 3 different cartridges and it still drips, the valve body itself may be faulty.