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.

Worked easily, arrived quick to solve the valve problem with our shower. Appears identical to the oem one for the most part. We’ll see how it holds up but happy for now.

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.

Water dripping from my grohe faucet. Was very easy to install and water drip stopped. Been about 6 months and still working well

Stem threading depth was to short for my application. I have a custom Tempress II cover and hardware. This includes a stem extender that is about 3 inches long. The screw in side the stem extender needed the exrta depth to fully mate the extender to the cartridge stem. YOU will NOT find a screw with that threading anywhere. You have to make what you have work. I opt'ed to buy a small plasic bushing that threaded onto the screw and cut it to length. (AKA a stack of washers). The plastic piece essentially made the screw shorted. You won't find a replacement stem screw, treat your's like gold.

It worked!

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.

I'm on my 2nd and now looking at replacing ith OEM if available. I like the price, and everything seemed fine, but each time i replace it works great for 2 weeks to 4 months. Then it starts dripping again. I don't think it's and issue with the valve body. It would likely leak right away upon replacing the valve cartridge if so. When first replaced, even though they don't leak it doesn't turn smoothly which tells me it just doesn't fit right. I would give one star but am reserving a little in case im doing something wrong but it is a pretty simple installation.