How it works
What are the parts of a shower called? What you see: the showerhead on its arm and flange, the handle on a trim plate, a diverter, the pan and the drain. What the wall hides: the valve and its cartridge.
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Parts of a shower faucet
The handle turns a cartridge inside the valve, which sits in the wall where the hot and cold supply pipes meet. The cartridge sets how much water flows and how hot it is. The trim plate covers the hole round it.
Parts of a shower system
From the valve a pipe rises inside the wall to the shower arm, which leaves the wall through the flange and carries the water to the showerhead. The pan slopes to the drain.
- The cartridge comes out from the front once the handle and trim plate are off; the valve body stays fixed in the wall.
Questions and answers
What is the plate behind a shower handle called?
The trim plate, or escutcheon. It covers the opening in the wall around the valve and cartridge.
What does a shower diverter do?
It sends the water from the valve to one outlet or another: the showerhead, a tub spout or a hand shower.
What is the difference between the valve and the cartridge?
The valve body is the brass fitting fixed inside the wall where the pipes meet. The cartridge is the removable insert inside it that the handle turns.