Shower Faucet not approved by MA Plumbers?

Question

Hello!

So, I'm doing a flip and I brought a stylish shower faucet, but when the plumber was about to install it, he said that the faucet would not be approved by the inspector.

Have any of you guys come across this?

I appreciate any thoughts on this.

Thank you!

Colleen F. · Answer

@Mike Romano did he say why?   The biggest issue with shower faucet I have had is that you can no longer put in the hot cold version when you have a shower. You have to use the single handle with mixing valve and scald protection.  No way you are going to get around that.     I had leaking faucets and every time I have had to put in a new single handle faucet.

Will Stewart · Answer

It’s either what Colleen mentioned or it isn’t a low flow shower head. I think MA requires less than 2.5 GPM.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

AH until your burnt on this issue very few people other than plumbers know this.. IN most states plumbing fixtures etc are stamped state approved from shower inserts to all other things..  the big supply houses like Fergusons ONLY sell state approved .  Thats in some instances why they are more expensive than say going to Home depot and buying the cheapest thing you can find.  You can sell anything you want in these states they dont have to be state approved to sell them.. Although I find it hard to fathom that an inspector is looking for the state approved stamps a lot of times they would have to take the fixture out to see it.

Where I learned all this is a shower pan in a flip in PDX.. the buyer of the home was over 400 lbs and he cracked the brand new plastic shower pan.. upon taking it out.. HIs father a licensed OR plumber noted it was not stamped approved.. Next thing I know I get a Lawyer letter I research it and sure enough.. what i describe above is true at least in ORegon..  so cost me 2500.00 to replace repair and attorney fees. and we will never buy off the shelf plumbing from Home depost unless its state approved.. we buy very few items actually from home depot.

Although my supply house right now cant get liquid nails for framing and I made run to our home depot and bought every box of liquid nails they had enough to do about 10 of the next 30 homes i am building thats how crazy things have gotten on the supply chain issues.

Matt Devincenzo · Answer

Like Jay mentioned this is a pretty common issue. The two items that are generally at play are the GPM flow and the lead content in any fittings attached to potable uses. I know a couple years back the lead content % changed for any brass or copper units (not sure if it was just CA or an EPA change) and any 'old' fittings became useless overnight. Now obviously the supply houses and manufacturers knew this was coming for a couple years and stopped stocking in advance, but that doesn't mean that some of these older fittings aren't still around.

On the flow you'll probably find that more of the designer items you may find online like rain showers etc are often not in compliance. The reality is these get used all the time because people buy them and change them out at home without a permit and it isn't actually caught. But new build etc it's big doings to make sure everything complies.

Mike Romano · Answer

He said the model # is not on the approved list of Massachusetts

https://licensing.reg.state.ma...

Shower Faucet not approved by MA Plumbers?

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