I am having the same problem as others water coming out of shower head but only when the valve is in the neutral position to fill the tub. I have removed the spout to expose the copper nipple I have replaced the cartridge also removed the showerhead. however I still have a small amount of water coming out of the shower head when filling the tub in a neutral position when running hot or cold water it will not leak. I ran copper to the spout and shower head any suggestions if I had done anything wrong in the set up.
Plumbing – Water dripping from shower head
bathroomplumbing
Related Solutions
Diverting the leak up to the shower head using the diverter valve should not be a problem, but your assumption that fixing it will be "pretty easy" may not prove to be true. You are correct in that hot and cold supply to the tub/shower valve needs to be shut off. Sometimes apartment shower valves have built in shut-off valves called integral stops.
Sometimes apartments are equipped with individual remote shut-offs. Sometimes the whole building will need to be shut down. Removing the valves may require special tools like deep valve sockets.
The repair may be simple washer replacement or may require more complicated cartridge replacement.
I do recommend that you try it but make sure your landlord is cool with it in case something breaks, and have back up shower facilities available in case it ends up being out of service for a while.
Hardly any noticeable difference; though a "high flow" showerhead would make any difference WORSE, not better, as well as increasing your water use needlessly.
The water is already traveling through many feet of pipe to get to the bathroom. Whether there's 4 more feet of pipe to the showerhead or 9 more feet of pipe to the showerhead makes very little difference, particularly at the typical 2.5 GPM flow. At a more efficient 1.5 GPM flow, even less.
4 feet of 1/2" plastic pipe @2.5 gpm = 0.625 feet added head. (0.27 PSI)
9 feet of 1/2" plastic pipe @2.5 gpm = 1.406 feet added head. (0.61 PSI)
4 feet of 1/2" plastic pipe @1.5 gpm = 0.243 feet added head. (0.11 PSI)
9 feet of 1/2" plastic pipe @1.5 gpm = 0.547 feet added head. (0.23 PSI)
There's also no particular reason to put the valve set closer to the spout - so you could just put the longer pipe on the spout, and take advantage of the pipes in the shower wall.
Best Answer
The problem is that the "back pressure" at the tub spout is too high. Remove the tub spout and check/remove any debris. If there is no debris in the pipe or spout, then there are a couple solutions for this. Adding a water flow restrictor to the pipe that runs up to the shower head might work. This would require cutting into the wall, though. But I believe that the better solution (in my humble opinion) is to raise the height of the pipe that goes to the shower head, because it involves no painting. Plumbing is all about gravity and pressure. If the pipe going up to the shower head is high enough, the evil back pressure from the tub spout will not be able to push the water to the top of the pipe, to overflow to the shower head. Adding a couple feet of pipe (into the attic maybe) might not require cutting dry wall, provided that you can cut through the top plate of the wall and reach and remove the FIP adapter (or drop ear fitting). You will first need to unscrew/remove the shower arm and probabaly use a stubby screw driver and small pipe cutter to detach the adapter or fitting. You will then need (in a difficult to reach area) to use a "sharkbite" coupling to add and extend the pipe. Add as much vertical pipe as necessary; generally, a few feet should do the trick. If you want to be sure it is high enough, have a helper turn on the water (after you have connected the extension). It should not overflow. Connect two elbows with a 2.5 inch nipple, to form a "U" shape. Attach the FIP or drop ear to a length of pipe- the same length as the extension pipe that is now connected to the "sharkbite" (minus the added length from the "sharkbite"). Finish connecting the pipes so that you form a "loop", up then down to the hole for the shower arm. Reattach your shower arm. Use 2x4s to build a support bracket for the loop and be sure to support the missing chunk of top plate (top of the wall).