About The Shower Pan Tester
Have you ever tested a shower pan with a flat rubber stopper and flooded or almost flooded a bathroom at the home inspection you were performing. Well… We have done both and it makes for a very stressful situation while trying to clean up the initial mess, make calls to the water extraction company, all while your client, the agents and homeowner are trying to get answers on how a Professional Inspector flooded their house during the inspection. Trust us on this, extracting water from an accidental flood costs hundreds of dollars and the loss of future referrals.
The ShowerPanTester is designed to help test shower pans for leaks in the pan and lower shower wall area without accidentally flooding a bathroom. Professional Home Inspectors have used this shower pan tester all over the country with good success.
The ShowerPanTester has a flat lower flange that covers most shower drain screens with a 1.75-inch raised wall and a 1.75-inch opening at the top for the water to flow through. This keeps the top of the ShowerPanTester well below the building codes minimum 2-inch required curb. (Most international building codes require shower pans to have a minimum of a 2-inch curb at the shower entrance and the liner material to extend a minimum of 2-inches above thresholds to insure that the enclosure is water tight around the base of the shower pan.)
Instructions for ShowerPanTester
The ShowerPanTester is easy to use, just follow these simple steps:
- Test the height of the ShowerPanTester to the height of the showers curb. (If the tester wall height is higher than the showers curb, DO NO USE to test the shower pan.)
- After verifying it is safe to use, place the ShowerPanTester center over the shower drain screen. Turn the shower faucet on and allow the water to fill the pan until the water reaches the opening at the top of the tester. TIP: If the grout lines are too large it may be necessary to place a piece of notebook paper with a hole torn in the middle under tester to help it seal better. The opening at the top of the ShowerPanTester helps prevent you from flooding the bathroom if you forgot about the running water in the shower while working in another room.
- Turn off the water and allow the water to rest in the pan for at least 20-minutes. (In some cases it may be necessary to add more water due to larger grout lines or pan design.) After 20-minutes has passed, check the adjacent walls to the shower enclosure for water standing on the floor or leaking to the exterior wall if applicable.
- If you are using thermal imaging during your inspection, be sure to scan the lower level below the shower pan before and after the pan test.
