I have a problem with my shower. When I turn the diverter knob no water comes out of the shower head. I have the type of knobs that are three one for hot one for cold and the middle to turn on the shower. What is going on and can I easily fix it? It isn't brand new but not very old the handles about 7 years old. It worked until recently. Any help? please!
Shower – My shower doesn’t turn on when I turn the diverter
shower
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If you get warm water out of the spout and cold water out of the shower head, then I sounds like you've isolated the potential problem to the diverter (only other thing that comes to mind is some kind of water pressure based issue, but I can't think of where that would happen on the hot water side only since you have separate hot/cold knobs).
Since this is after the hot/cold knobs, you can probably fix this problem without even shutting off the water, just place something over the drain (don't want to lose a screw), disassemble the diverter, see if it's just an o-ring or dirt, and if not, replace the entire part (take the old one to the hardware store to find an exact match).
What you need is a valve designed just for shower only. Not a valve assembly with a diverter, which are specifically designed for tub/shower combination:
No diverter here, most any manufacturer that you have seen offering the tub/shower valve sets also makes the shower only units. To answer your question, the point of the diverter valve is so you can fill the bathtub without water spraying on you out of the shower head.
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Best Answer
It sounds like there is a problem with the diverter valve. When you turn on the hot and/or cold water valves they flow through the diverter valve on the way to the tub spout. When you turn the diverter valve, it redirects the flow up the pipe to the shower head.
When a diverter valve malfunctions, initial symptoms usually include partial diversion, where some water comes out of the tub spout and some comes out of the shower head, it is unusual for there to suddenly be "no water out of the shower head" like you describe.
Special tools are usually required, like a shower valve socket tool which reaches deep into the wall to facilitate removal. If you want to DIY you need to give more info and post pics. If you are not ambitious, call a plumber.