Replacement for Tempress II Pressure Balancing Tub Shower Cartridge, Gerber Grohe

When a hot water pipe had frozen and burst behind the wall of our bathroom, a plumber disassembling the shower fixture to see if he could find the break. Well, he didn't find it, but once tampered with, our old Tempress II valve developed a persistent drip from the shower head. Within a few days, that slow drip turned into a trickle. Instead of calling the plumber to come back, I decided to troubleshoot the issue myself. First I checked to make sure the cartridge didn't get turned somehow, but that didn't solve the drip. Then I went to a local plumbing store and bought a Grohe OEM cartridge, which was three times as expensive as this one on Amazon. Wouldn't you know, the OEM part dripped too! I must have installed and reinstalled it 5 times before deciding it was faulty. Then I figured I'd take a chance on this less expensive alternative on Amazon and also get some genuine Grohe non-return valves (also available on Amazon, but they cost as much as this valve, which is mind blowing). Wouldn't you know... NO MORE DRIP! This cartridge worked!For those folks who haven't dealt with pressure balancing cartridges before... they can be fickle. Here are a few tips: Be sure the "O' rings on the side of the cartridge are perfectly in place and grease the heck out of them (grease is included, but the grease is a bit thin so I used the stuff that came with the Grohe non-return valves). Be sure the cartridge goes in perfectly straight and that the "O" rings on the sides don't get out of alignment when sliding the cartridge past the non-return valves (non-return valves are the white things inside the valve). Don't crank the cartridge too far OFF (counter clockwise if cold is on the right when cartridge is installed) to avoid damaging it (be sure to put in a stop... a stop is not included). If you still have a drip from the shower head or tub, try replacing the non-return valves and/or their rubber gaskets (grease those gaskets heavily too). Replace the gasket (gasket included) that goes on the inside of the valve cover and grease it generously (gasket prevents water from leaking out of the valve and behind the wall). And lastly, alternate tightening the 4 screws of the valve cover to get a good seal (don't crank one down at a time).I was so pleased that this inexpensive (at least relative to the OEM) cartridge did the trick on the first try! The instructions were clear, and the screw threads of the shaft even worked with our original fixture.

My shower had been leaking for the longest time. I finally had the time to replace the cartridge this weekend and it appears the problem is fixed. The installation was mostly problem free. Here are some tips. 1) Take pictures as you disassemble. I lost 20 minutes trying to figure out which part goes back in first. 2) Use Sakrete concrete mortar dissolver if you want to remove some of the hard to remove water stains/scum inside the valve. I figure that you want the areas where the cold and hot water comes in to be as level as possible to get a tighter fit with the o-rings. 3) Before installation turn the cartridge stem/axle back and forth but be gentle at the fully closed and open positions. When I first installed the cartridge, I found it very difficult to turn. I thought it was broken. It just needed to be loosened up a bit.

This installed just fine and worked great for a month. But then all of a sudden the know would turn but no water would flow. It felt stripped.As a hedge I ordered another one to have on hand once I had everything apart to examine this one. Well, sure enough the plastic gear teeth on the first one had failed so when you turned the knob the valve ball was actually not doing anything.When I compared the new one I had on hand to this one I saw the teeth were metal not plastic. It installed just fine as well and I expect will last much longer since it's not cheap plastic.Note that I had ordered the exact same thing both times but one time it arrived with plastic teeth and the second time with metal teeth.Caveat emptor.

My bathtub have been leaking constantly and I finally had to do something about it when the old Grohe shower cartridge broke during usage. I needed a replacement shower cartridge immediately, so I bought this replacement due to it arriving the next day compared to the OEM that will arrive in a week! The installation was fairly straight-forward and simple, where I just had to remove the face plate/shower handle, pull out the broken shower cartridge, put in the new shower cartridge, and put everything back together. It has been two months since I installed it when there have been no leakage at all. Definitely a faster shipment and a great cost-alternative compared to the OEM!Note: If you have extra lubricant/grease lying around, I would recommend you to use more than the small packet they shipped with the shower cartridge. It took me a few minutes of slowly nudging/pushing the cartridge in place because I didn't want to accidentally break it if I tried forcing it in.

The shaft on this part was very slightly larger than the shaft on the cartridge I was replacing (a tempress II from the early 1990s). All the parts fit except for the brass mechanical stop clip. I ordered two replacement stop clips, a faucetshark-tempressclip and a sigma-18.30.058. One of them fit and one was too small. Unfortunately they were not labelled and were shipped together in a zip-lock. I'm not sure which one was the correct part. Took a few extra days, but worked out in the end.

This is not something you’ll likely find at a big box hardware store. I had never seen a shower valve like this. Mine froze over the winter and was letting water by. This fit perfectly and fixed the problem.

Good replacement valve for the Grohe 4780000. It fits and works. Poorly made plastic gears could strip/break if user doesn't have the stop tabs set correctly. Pressure balance "baffles" made of plastic get stuck in and restrict hot flow to a trickle. 2 out of 4 valves I bought failed within a week. 1 lasted 6 months. Not a great result. Unsure if the Grohe factory replacement would be any different as they are 2x as expensive. These Tempress ones say made in Mexico on the box and have Grohe stamped on the valve stem. I'd like to think maybe just a bad batch or redesign?