Newport Brass Faucets
Roman Tub
The term “Roman Tub Faucet” refers to a faucet mounted on the rim of a tub or the deck behind the tub. It is used to fill the tub with water. Another term synonymous with roman tub faucet is “deck mount faucet”.
The standard drill hole size for all of our roman tub sets is 1-1/4”. Roman tub sets do not come with hoses or a tee assembly; these will be provided by the plumber since it depends on how the plumber is going to rough in the valves either using a sweat connection (copper) or an IPS connection (threaded). This allows the plumber to place the handles wherever the customer wants, with the only exception is that the hand shower does have to be located somewhere near the diverter as the hose which is included is a 5 foot hose with another 2 foot under-mounted hose.
As with shower valves, there are two components that comprise a roman tub faucet:
Rough – the rough is the valve under the deck of the tub and is not seen. It is the working mechanism and controls the flow of water along with the quick connect to attach the spout to the deck. Approximate flow rate for ” roman tub valves are as follows; 8-12gpm @ 45-60psi, these flow rates are affected by the PSI rating (water pressure) and the design of the spout. Roman tub faucets, like shower faucets, require you to give the plumber the correct rough-in specifications. This is critical so the trim will attach to the rough correctly; please refer to the stem length handout.
Trim – the trim is all of the finished pieces of the faucet and is what is visible to the eye. It gives the customer the opportunity to select what they personally like in terms of style and finish.
In some cases, the rough and the trim are shipped and purchased separately or the rough and trim will be packaged together depending on how the dealer orders it. As with shower valves, most often the rough is shipped to the job site before the trim. This is because the rough is one of the first items that the plumber installs and is needed to pass the first inspection. Most plumbers want the trim shipped at the end of the project so they don’t have to worry about theft or damage, also if the trim is not in stock, getting the valve ahead of time allows most of the work in the bathroom to be completed and then just attach the trim at the end when it arrives.
We offer two different 8” wide roman tub spouts (2-231 & 2-238) which do not have any specific trim associated with them, it can be used with any roman tub trim with or without a hand shower that is offered by Newport Brass. However you do have to be careful when selecting the trim where as the handle and escutcheon may have to be ordered separately depending on what series that they are trying to have the handles match. Also with these roman tub spouts there is no quick connect included, they attach with either one or two ” IPS nipples threaded directly.
Common Issues and Solutions
Quick connect
Quick connect nipple
Most of the time when the customer states that the nipple is missing from the quick connect it is located inside the deck housing. When looking at the quick connect, if the opening is 1” diameter hole than the nipple is missing, if the opening is ” then the nipple is there and they just need to pull it out of the deck housing.
Teflon tape
Always make sure that they put Teflon tape on the nipple as instructed on the installation instructions. If they do not then the spout will leak at the base, also if they overload the Teflon tape then it has the ability to leak from there as well, but that is typically not going to be the case.
Correct rough-in kit for trim
Always make sure that you know exactly what trim is going to be used before installing the rough in kit. If the customer or dealer is insisting on ordering the rough in before knowing what trim is going to be used try to discourage this as best as possible. If the dealer orders the wrong rough-in to fit the trim or if the customer decides to change the trim at the last second after the rough-in is installed then they have to choose trim that uses that same rough-in kit. If they choose a trim that uses a different rough-in the spout may not fit because of the spacer that is used on certain sets and also the stem height will differ between series for the handles.
Water Pressure
The max water pressure for the roman tub valves is going to be 60psi, if the PSI is greater than 60psi it will cause either the spout to leak when the hand shower is on or the hand shower to leak when the spout is on. Water pressure min/max is 45psi–60psi.
Water Hammer
A common complaint that we receive from customers is that the valves are causing “water hammer”. Basically “water hammer” is the loud banging noise occasionally heard when a valve is quickly shut off. With non-ceramic disc valves, this could be caused by a loose seat washer, however Newport Brass only offers the ceramic disc type of valve where this problem would no longer exist. “Water hammer” today is often found to be caused by the pipes not being properly held place or it is the sudden stop of the water from closing a ” turn cartridge in a ” valve. The other possible cause for this is to make sure that the piping underneath is strapped down securely, other than that they would just need to turn the handle slowly when turning the water off.
Inlet/Outlet
If the dealer, plumber, or end user calls and complains about the spout or hand shower leaking or no water is coming out at all after the water pressure has been verified and the diverter cartridge has been replaced, another cause could be if they plumbed the inlet/outlets incorrectly. Please see the diagram which shows the correct way to plumb the tub set and make sure that it is installed accordingly.
Cartridges & Misc.
Cold = 1-003
Hot = 1-004
Long Stem Cold = 1-093
Long Stem Hot = 1-094
Diverter New Style (1999+) = 1-021
Long Stem Diverter New Style = 1-098
Diverter old style (1993 – 1998) = No longer available.
See handout for pictures of difference between old style and new style diverter cartridges.
Cold Extension = 1-517 (4” extension)
Hot Extension = 1-518 (4” extension)
Diverter Extension = 1-519 (4” extension)
Spout Extension = 1-035 (10038, 10037, 10029 – these parts make up the 1-035 extension, order them if 1-035 is not in stock) (4” extension)
Quick Connect = 1-016
Quick Connect Spacer = 10382
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