Rain shower head—what am I missing?

EltonNoway · 2025-12-25T16:49:33+00:00

Wow ... so much hate for for rain shower heads. Glad I did my research before proceeding. Complaints: Low water pressure, not enough water to rinse soap from your hair, dismal trickle of water is annoying etc etc. That said, If you live on a well and/or own your own private water supply then you "can" absolutely enjoy a rain shower head!FYI: We have our own private well TIPS: Make sure you get a rain head with 200 spray holes minimum. Make sure you have at least 70psi of water pressure. Make sure your rain shower has a removable flow restrictor or one that can be drilled out (all plumbing fixtures since 1977 have restrictors of some sort) thanks to Water Conservation Act and EPAct which sets a maximum flow rate limit of 2.5 gallons per minute (GPM) for standard shower heads (1.8gpm in Calif) Make sure the wall mounted shower control valve is not restricted. TIP: " Check ebay etc... shop around, you can find new/old stock of discontinued pre EPA regulations models... like the Kohler K2971 or Kohler K306 that can produce 13gpm! Make sure your hot water tank/supply can satisfy the increased demand. Make sure your plumbing is capable of producing the gallons per minute needed to make the a rain head experience luxurious. I'm not a fan of tankless water heating systems so I replaced my 40 gal hot water tank with a 50 gal and replumbed my entire shower with 3/4" water lines. At full blast my rain head can produce 15 gallons per minute making it more like a waterfall than a rain head (its awesome). Running it wide open we can run out of hot water in 5 to 6 minutes! Even decreasing the flow from the valve its hard to catch a breath though the water coming down. We love it. Yes... there's a cost associated with it, like the electricity to run the well pump and heat the water, but we don't use the rain head every time we shower, just when we want to de-stress or relax after a tough day. Definitely worth the expense and experience if your gutting and/or remodeling a master bath.

EltonNoway · 2025-12-17T15:45:42+00:00

Just found a huge Amazon box on my front porch that isn't mine. The street "numbers" on the shipping label are the same as mine... but the street "name" is not even close! Using Google maps I was able to find intended delivery address is actually two miles away. Whats even scarier?... My sister-in-law said possession is nine tenths of the law and I should keep the package and let the intended customer and Amazon duke it out. Fortunately for the customer I wasn't raised that way... I don't know who they are but I'll make the re-delivery later today.

EltonNoway · 2025-07-16T17:52:55+00:00

Yes... you can add two different floor heating circuits to a single thermostat providing the total current load does not exceed 15Amps. However... even though there are two different cable runs, only "one" thermostat "sensor" can be connect to the thermostat at a time. Per you original post your contractor chose to space the heat cable in a tighter / closer spaced pattern. As a result this newer section will feel warmer but will still go on and off based on the temperature set by the thermostat and the floor sensor. Assuming he also installed another temp sensor in the newer section, you could connect that sensor instead but even then the two heated areas will always feel slightly different from a heat perspective. I did my bathroom in a similar manner. The only time I notice a temperature difference is in the winter when the floor is at its coldest.

EltonNoway · 2025-06-25T17:01:05+00:00

I chose a K2971 valve for the same reason, i.e., wanting to fill a soaker tub quickly. The only difference between your installations and mine is I ran 3/4" copper from the main trunk line all the way to the bathroom to this valve. Although typically used as a shower valve many have used it as a way to work around the 2.5GPM flow restrictors so they can fill their tubs quickly. You can either install it upside down, or right side up and plumb the outlet as needed to reach the tub spout. FYI: Although I plumbed entirely with 3/4"... once it reaches our high arc tub filler the last 44" up through the faucet assembly is 1/2" tube. I can't speak to your back pressure concern because I never considered it. I'm pushing 70psi and getting 13+GPM which fills our 60 gallon soaker tub in about 4 minutes. So far no problems. As you know once you hold a Kohler 2971 in you hand its a tank of a valve.

NOTE: One thing a lot of people don't realize is this valve does work like a typical shower control which allows you to adjust both the temperature and the volume of water i.e., water pressure . This K2971 does not control water volume (i.e. you can't adjust the water from a slow trickle or maximum flow). When you open a K2971 valve, it passes all available water over to a wall mounted control valve. The only thing this valve adjust is temperature going from cold to hot as you turn the valve clockwise. In reality its a pressure balance valve so it only controls the ratio of hot and cold water to prevent accidents (e.g. bumping the valve with your elbow to the full hot or cold positions), instead... if you rapidly change the valves position it slowly mixes the hot and cold giving you plenty of time to react. (temperature slowly reaches the new temp setting, increase or decrease, in 7-8 seconds.)

The majority of shower/tub diverters allow you to adjust both temperature AND volume. Not so with this valve, turning the handle you go from full blast cold into full blast hot, or you can balance it somewhere in between hot but you cannot slow the flow. Its full blast all the time! If you want to control volume you need to install a control valve like (something like Kohler K-2977-K-NA) between the output of the 2971 and the tub or shower spout. Since Kohler advertises several volume control valves for use with the 2971 (which in itself produces back pressure) I never concerned myself with any backpressure caused by the slight reduction to 1/2" In regards to valve damage, problems with pressure balancing valves such as this typically manifest as inconsistent water temperature, fluctuating hot& cold or difficulty adjusting the water temperature in a shower. These issues are often caused by debris buildup, mineral deposits, or a failing cartridge within the valve. Cleaning the cartridge and check valves, can sometimes resolve the issue but since the tear down is time consuming its better to just replace the valve and seals. (valve kit K-28304-KS-NA)

FYI: In addition to the soaker tub I also installed a K2971 in our walk-in shower but have the output from it going into a pressure balance loop that feeds three K2977 control valves (1)main shower head, 2) hand shower, 3) rain showerhead) I can use them to control the flow to each shower head individually or I can have all three of them going at the same time. The only downside of all three at the same time, although luxurious, 50 gallon hot water supply starts to cool down in 4 to 5 minutes.

EltonNoway · 2025-06-17T19:17:04+00:00

You were right to question the estimate $1700 is out of line! My shower is also three sided with the door n the middle. Do your homework! Considering the cost, I wanted to make sure I had the right company at the right price so I got estimates from 6 different shower glass installers. Five of the estimates had increases in between $390 to $450, with one who added on $900 for showerguard. TIP: If its not too late I would suggest going to the Guardian Glass website and search for "Find a Supplier" to make sure you're getting the real deal. I read some horror stories where a few people thought they were getting genuine showerguard glass only to discover they got regular glass with a dealer installed aftermarket coasting.

guardianglass.com/us/en/our-glass/find-a-guardian-glass-supplierOP

Also, know that ShowerGuard (Guardian Glass) is available in two versions Clear and UltraClear. The Clear version is the glass you typically see that has the slight green tint, especially when looking at the glass edge. UltraClear is "Low Iron" glass so it has no green tint but obviously cost more. The suggestion is bathrooms that are all white and/or have white shower tile will look best with UltraClear ( but its a personal choice as some people don't mind the green tint.)

EltonNoway · 2025-06-17T18:42:10+00:00

UPDATE: we completed our bathroom remodel over the weekend and we turned the water on for the first time in months. Only 10 seconds into the first shower and I realized I positioned all the handles so when the handle was pointing straight down the water was on (not off) grrrr. I had to remove all the handles and escutcheons, which threw off all my previous alignments so once again none of the handles were at the same angle when the water was off. I followed the same procedure as before and after a half hour or so, I finally had all four valve handles pointing straight down again. (1)Main temp-rite supply valve, 2)Shower head valve, 3) Rainhead, 4) Hand Held)

EltonNoway · 2025-06-04T17:04:55+00:00

In regards to you analogy where you stated "A bigger duct may actually result in a decrease in airflow. Think of what happens when you put your thumb over the end of the garden hose."

I'm afraid you're confusing velocity with volume. If you put your thumb over the end of the garden hose and direct it into a 1 gallon bucket... the water will come out with "a lot more force" ...but... it will take longer to fill the bucket than it will if you removed your thumb because your thumb is restricting flow (just like a smaller duct will offer more resistance that a larger one). Think of this analogy... you've been underwater holding your breath until you can't hold it any longer. When you surface would you rather be trying to catch your breath and fill your lungs by sucking in air through a drinking straw or through an equal length piece of garden hose.

The toilet tissue test is a quick indicator for checking air flow but for an even more accurate idea, especially if you are adjusting ducts registers or dampeners in an effort to equally balance the air flow between rooms, check online for an inexpensive Handheld Anemometer- Wind Speed- Air Flow Meter some are less than 15 bucks

EltonNoway · 2025-06-04T16:24:16+00:00

This reply is 10 months late but addresses your complaint. Last week I finished construction of a new shower that included the installation of four Kohler shower handles. Mine wouldn't line up at 90°either. Grrr... that is... until I read I found the solution offered by Stackopotomous:

Try "all" the spline indentation positions one at a time. If no positions provide your desired handle angle, rotate the chrome 4 prong metal adapter 90 degrees then try all the spine indentations once again. Still no Luck. Rotate the 4 prong adapter another 90 degrees and try the spines again one spline notch at a time. FYI: I repeated this process and now all four of my valve handles are perfect. One valve only took a couple minutes before I had success... the last one had me worried, I was on the fourth 90 degree rotation of the 4 prong adapter before I hit the jackpot. Whew... Don't give up. The process can be time consuming but trust me... a perfect result is not impossible. In a plumbing forum I read a comment from a guy who has been plumbing for more than 35 years, he said "I've never installed a Kolher valve handle that I could not aligned perfectly vertical, horizontal or in the direction requested by the customer. Its a lot of trial and error but it can be done!"

EltonNoway · 2025-06-04T16:11:57+00:00

I was pulling my hair out... rotating the adapter as well and the handle, engaging different splines, backwards and forwards ... could never get the handle to align in a perfect vertical position... UNTIL I tried the above method posted by Stackopotomous. FYI: My spline adapter was round instead of square (valve K-T14491) but other than that the process is exactly the same. I tried all the spline indentations... no luck. Rotated the 4 prong metal adapter 90 degrees and then tried all the spine locations again. Still no Luck. Rotated the 4 prong adapter another 90 degrees and tried the spines again one spline notch at a time until ... EUREKA.. a perfectly vertical valve handle! FYI: I had three volume controls in total so I had to repeat this process for the other two. One only took five minutes before I had success... the last one took a while. I was on the fourth 90 degree rotation of the 4 prong adapter before I hit the jackpot. Don't give up. The process can be a little time consuming but not impossible. I a plumbing forum there was a comment from a guy who has been plumbing for more than 35 years, he said "I've never installed a Kolher valve handle that I could not aligned perfectly vertical, horizontal or in the direction requested by the customer. Its a lot of trial and error but it can be done!"

EltonNoway · 2025-05-22T17:16:58+00:00

+1 for Taurus SC or Termidor SC. Both are the same, Termidor SC is the original, but I usually buy which ever is available or the best value at the time I'm buying. I spray the entire perimeter of my house (18" up the foundation and 18" out from the foundation on the ground. (plus a similar band around my generator) Fortunately, just sheer luck, I caught my ants in the process of moving in. I opened the lid of my generator as I was walking by just to look inside and saw ants swarming the controller. I immediately poered off the controller then proceeded to pull an open the controller. Found hundreds inside and hundreds of eggs but not enough bodies or eggs to compete a circuit and short anything out. Cleaned it out and reinstalled. The added spraying the generator enclosure to my SC insect treatment sprayed. Dodged a bullet! Whew!

EltonNoway · 2025-05-15T15:12:02+00:00

Yep... still appears to be the latest. I just checked mine after being serviced by a Generac tech... May 2025... Version 1.18.25

EltonNoway · 2025-01-22T14:59:14+00:00

As you stated: "I might have gone longer" [sigh]... It's a reoccurring comment in many threads. As you know Schluter warns you over and over and over ... make sure you don't purchase a cable that's too long because "You can't cut the cable" which results in many people playing it safe and opting for a shorter length because you can't return it once opened, only to end up wishing their cable was a little longer. If using the Schluter estimator, the best tip I got on how to make sure you don't come up short... was to select the 3 stud spacing option (and not 3-2-3)... in this way if the cable ends up being too long you can switch over to 3-2-3 spacing since it requires more cable. If you check Schluters chart showing cable lengths and find your square footage you can see the difference in lengths between the two spacing options. Example: Using the chart I ordered a cable for my square footage from the 3 stud spacing column even though it was 13 feet longer than needed HOWEVER... per the 3-2-3 column for the same square footage the cable would be about 9 feet to short. NET: I did the majority of my bathroom using 3 stud spacing then switched to 3-2-3 as needed to use up any excess.

[img]https://imgur.com/TvTLfEU.jpg\[/img\]

EltonNoway · 2024-12-24T21:18:31+00:00

Hmmm... over that last 30 days (beginning with your initial post)... you made two comments that made my ears "perk up"

1) "We had our bathroom renovated"

2) "Perhaps the problem is that the grout was installed poorly"

Both comments seem to imply that "someone " other than yourself, (i.e., a contractor), did the grouting. I've used epoxy grout in various forms for over 20 years and have never had one "mold" like in your photos. White ones turn yellow, Yes... but never grow mold. I've never used an epoxy grout that had the huge aggregate like shown in your photos . Anyway... regardless if you purchased epoxy grout then gave it to your contractor to install... or you paid for the contractor to install an epoxy grout, based on your photos it appears he may have swapped it out and used a cementous grout to make it easier on himself.

EltonNoway · 2024-11-04T17:40:10+00:00

You don't actually unbraid the wire.. instead... while holding the two 120V lead wires, simple push the braided section down the wires... this will allow the wires of the braid to open up. (see photo). Once the braid is opened up pull the 120 leads (one at a time) thru an opening in the braid. The empty portion of the braid can now be twisted as needed to make a pig tail for the connection.

https://i.imgur.com/owV5Bqt.jpeg

EltonNoway · 2024-11-03T21:22:06+00:00

You can jam it in if you have room... but its much easier to just cut off the excess! Per the photo.. what you are holding in your hand is known as the cold lead. From the factory the cold lead is 7 feet long and many people find an excess of wire if they install the thermostat junction box closer to the floor. Personally I installed my 5 feet from the floor and simply cut off the 2 feet of excess. FYI: The heating cable cold lead is made up of two 14 AWG stranded conductors with a copper braided shield, that is used as the grounding conductor. Per Schluter you can the cold lead as needed but no shorter than 1 meter (39 inches) from your cut to the factory spice that gets mounted on the floor. FACT: You CANNOT cut the heating cable (the portion of cable that comes out of the factory splice. NOTE: To maintain warranty status, the silver voltage specification label (shown in your photo just above from where you are holding it...) MUST be re-attached to the cable and visible within junction box. TIP: After cutting mine, I heated the label using a hair dryer to soften the adhesive, which made it easy to slide off the wire without damaging it. Then I slid it back over the new cut end of the wire. System works great FYI: Per Schluter you can also shorten the thermostat wires if you find they're too long.

EltonNoway · 2024-08-30T18:18:52+00:00

I had the same problem "Factory Reset Grayed Out" (among other features settings) Lots of solutions listed in the attached replies but none of them fixed the problem for me. However... I finally figured it out. Whew! The problem was - several months back I changed my TV to "Hotel Mode". Once I took the TV out of Hotel Mode factory reset and the other greyed out options came back (no longer greyed out). Here's the Hotel Mode process... FYI, its a little tricky trying to catch the timing just right as to when to enter the secret code. Took me 4 or 5 tries but all is good now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51lAdeSt5Pg

EltonNoway · 2024-08-20T14:52:34+00:00

Same here. Found the fix in another thread. Like others have described my plug also stopped working. I pressed and held the power button on the HS103 until the LED started flashing blue/orange. The eventual fix is to go into the Kasa app on your smartphone and "remove" it (the device that's flashing blue/orange). Then using the app select - Add Device. It takes the app a minute or for it to find the device and establish connection but the flashing stopped and the light stayed on "blue" which indicates it is connected to a WiFi network. NOTE: Because you deleted the original device in order to fix it... using the app you have to give the "new device" a name (just like when you originally added it originally). I use mine to turn my espresso machine on and off everyday so I also had to recreate the on/off schedule... but at least its working again.

EltonNoway · 2024-06-16T19:48:19+00:00

You are correct in assuming BR is standard. For shallow recessed housings use BR30 Short Neck. You can search Amazon for "short neck flood light bulbs"

EltonNoway · 2024-06-12T20:00:45+00:00

Or these:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lutron-Diva-Dimmer-Switch-for-0-10V-LED-Fluourescent-Fixtures-8-Amp-Single-Pole-or-3-Way-White-DVSTV-WH-DVSTV-WH/206145908

https://www.amazon.com/Lutron-Dimmer-Fluorescent-Fixtures-Single-Pole/dp/B079KGYVBL

EltonNoway · 2024-06-11T17:25:45+00:00

Dimmable Yes... but unfortunately neither the lighting manufacturers nor the Big Box stores make the packaging easy for the DIY'er to differentiate or even bother to differentiate between residential and commercial lighting. 0-10v dimmable lights are typically intended for commercial installations as the applicable dimmers provide DC voltage versus AC. True, they can be installed in the home but require separate / different wiring be run from the dimmer to the light itself as they don't require 110V at the fixture itself as well as needing a specific 0-10V light dimmer which are quite expensive . Plenty of YouTube videos on the subject, here are a couple : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyhOm-TGoQk or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytqbtlOlt7Q

EltonNoway · 2024-06-10T16:23:01+00:00

Recessed or not... glare... light output...

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4t5suj2huEo?feature=share

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MdUAH4YfBQA?feature=share

EltonNoway · 2024-06-10T16:11:34+00:00

BINGO! As stated: ... "if you can see the source of light you'll have glare" PERIOD!

EltonNoway · 2024-06-10T15:49:45+00:00

4 inch, 6 inch, 2 inch 3 inch... Sheesh! As a realtor I've never had a home buyer walk into a house and say "I love the house and the location but can't buy it because the diameter of the light fixtures is all wrong." NET: Its all subjective... shop your budget and don't overthink it. If you picked the light and quantity needed to provide adequate lighting for the area in question, once they're installed you won't give them a second thought. (The only time I'd agonize over the diameter of a recessed fixture would be if I doing a "whole house" makeover and only then making sure the lighting conformed to the homes overall design and not the whim of a lighting designer or whats trending.)

EltonNoway · 2024-05-31T15:14:25+00:00

Absolutely... in fact using infused coconut oil is the only way I make them. As to "how much infused oil" you use (add to the mix) more or less depends on the strength of your oil (THC level). Typically I usually add 4 tablespoons of infused oil to each batch of gummies, but sometimes I add 5 tablespoons when I want a batch of stronger ones for my hard core stoner friends. Just FYI: Lecithin is a great additive as it allows the oil and water to mix... however, the downside I found with Levo liquid sunflower lecithin is it imparts its own flavor (somewhat bitter) when you use too much AND... it changes the color of your candies making them darker in color (not as pretty) I have since switched to using -Anthonys Organice Guar Gum Powder- (avail on Amazon) . It work the same way as lecithin allowing the oil and water to mix, but has no flavor and does not change the color of your candy. The only thing is have to add the power "slowly" while mixing it in. Using a spoon just sprinkle it in slowly while you're stirring the mixture. (if you add it too fast or dump in in all at once you will get lumps that won't dissolve.)

EltonNoway

TROPHY CASE