What’s the best thing about a shower diverter?

If you're doing a bathroom makeover and installing a shower-bath combo, a great way to save money on tapware is by installing a shower diverter. They're very convenient and offer many benefits, but what’s the best thing about a shower diverter?

First it might be good to clarify just what exactly a shower diverter is. In case you didn't know, it's a lever, knob or handles next to the shower mixer or on a bath spout, which allows you to redirect where the water comes out.

The key to how it works is what’s inside. Hidden out of view is a diverter valve. When you activate the shower diverter, the valve simply shuts off one outlet and opens another outlet. It’s a clever idea that makes it easy to redirect the flow of water.

The many types of shower diverter valves

What if you want more than two outlets in your shower-bath combo? You might want a bath spout, a showerhead, and a hand shower. Problem solved. Manufacturers have designed different types of shower diverter valves making it possible to redirect water to more than one outlet.

Here are the 4 most common shower diverter valves on the market:

• Tee-diverter
• 2-valve diverter
• 3-way diverter valve
• 4-way diverter valve

With the luxury of choice, you can redirect water to up to 4 different outlets. This enhances your bathroom experience.

Why shower diverters are very convenient

In a world where consumers want everything to be as easy to do as possible, shower diverters certainly fit the bill. They're easy to use, and the most convenient tapware in shower-bath combos.

Here are the most common types of shower diverters:

• Tee diverter is generally found on a bath spout. It's usually a knob. It serves 2 different outlets. By pulling the knob upwards you can redirect the water that’s filling the bath to come out of the shower head.
• 2-valve diverter is similar to a tee-diverter but it's not on the bath spout. It's generally either a lever, knob or button located on the same plate as the mixer tap. Sometimes it can be on its own dedicated plate next to the tapware or between the 2 hot and cold taps.
• 3-way diverter also comes as a lever, knob or button and serves 3 different outlets. The bonus is, you can send all the water to one of the three outlets, or have the water come out of two different outlets at the same time.
• 4-way diverter serves four different outlets, such as a bath spout, shower head, hand shower and rain shower head. Similar to the 3-way diverter, you can have all the water coming out of one outlet, or from any two outlets at the same time.

As you can see, there are quite a few options available which allow you to have a variety of outlets in your shower-bath combo.

The key benefits of shower diverters

There are many benefits to having a shower diverter, so what’s the best thing about a shower diverter?

Let's summarise the benefits:

• Easy to operate
• You only need one mixer tap for the shower and bath
• You can set the water temperature safely as it's coming out of the spout, and then redirect it to the shower
• 3-way diverter can redirect water to 3 different outlets
• 4-way diverter can redirect water to up to 4 different outlets
• 3-way and 4-way diverters can have water coming out of any 2 outlets at the same time

What’s the best thing about a shower diverter? As you can see there is more than one benefit. Most people would say the best thing is the ease of redirecting the water from the bath to the shower.

Additional protection in the shower

We’ve spoken a lot about shower diverter valves. There’s another important valve worth mentioning. The Thermostatic Mixing Valve.

This valve doesn’t redirect water. It’s designed to protect you from hot water surges. You’ve probably experienced one of those when you’re taking a shower and someone uses the cold tap in the kitchen; your shower suddenly becomes a lot hotter, which can seriously scald you.

A thermostatic mixing valve in the shower controls the temperature of the water to keep you safe when taking a shower. It’s an important valve to add to your plumbing.

Plumbing Sales is your online plumbing supplies store

When you’re doing your bathroom renovation, there are some impressive shower diverters you can choose from, such as the Dorf Villa Bath Shower Mixer Diverter in gunmetal grey, available at Plumbing Sales.

Being Australia’s largest online plumbing supplies store, Plumbing Sales gives you the biggest range of plumbing supplies from leading brands.

You also get the best prices. Plumbing Sales has been offering tradies and DIYers the lowest prices for over 60 years.

PLUS – there’s free delivery on orders over $300.

For quality plumbing supplies, you can’t go past Plumbing Sales.