American Standard Town Square S 1.75 gpm/6.8 L/min Shower Trim Kit With Water-Saving Showerhead, Double Ceramic Pressure Balance Cartridge With Lever Handle - AMS-TU455507

The TU455507 is trim only: the lever handle, escutcheon and the 1.75 gpm water-saving showerhead. The working parts named on it, the double ceramic pressure balance cartridge with its ceramic disc mixing valve and ceramic balancing spool, integrated check valves and the adjustable hot limit safety stop, are what the trim dresses out. You order the rough-in valve separately, so on a new install budget for both lines. On a replacement where the existing American Standard pressure balance rough-in stays in the wall, the trim is the only piece being changed.

Flow is 1.75 gpm (6.8 L/min), so it sits under the 1.8 gpm ceiling that California and similar conservation specs use, and American Standard states the head saves 28 percent water. For a property manager or institutional buyer standardizing a retrofit across units, that is the number to put on the submittal. Anyone who wants full 2.5 gpm flow should pick a different trim, because the head shipped in this kit is the water-saving one.

Yes. The cartridge has back-to-back capability, meaning hot and cold supplies can be reversed quickly without swapping parts. That matters on hotel and multi-family stacks where two showers share a wall and one side comes in with the supplies flipped. Same trim kit either way, no separate reverse part number to order.

The Town Square S trim uses a pressure balance cartridge with an adjustable hot limit safety stop, which caps how much hot water can mix with the cold and cuts scald risk. It is set at the trim, so a maintenance tech can dial it down without opening the wall. The ceramic balancing spool holds outlet temperature steady when a toilet flushes or another fixture draws, which is the other half of the same complaint.

A pressure balance trim like the Town Square S reacts to changes in relative hot and cold supply pressure and holds the outlet temperature you set, which is what a single showerhead in an apartment, hotel room or house needs. It is one handle, one control. A thermostatic valve is the different animal: it holds a set temperature by sensing the water itself and is what you specify when you are running multiple outlets (head plus body sprays plus hand shower) or need a repeatable dialed-in temperature. For a straight one-head shower, pressure balance is the normal call and the simpler service item.

The mixing valve and the balancing spool are combined into a single one-piece cartridge, so a service call is one part out and one part in rather than assembling separate pieces in the wall. Ceramic is unaffected by mineral deposits and hard water, which is the usual reason a shower valve starts dripping or turning stiff in a building on hard supply. For anyone stocking a maintenance shelf across a portfolio, standardizing on one cartridge across the units is the point.

No separate check valves are needed. Check valves are integrated into the cartridge to eliminate cross flow, so hot does not migrate into the cold line through the valve. That is the item a plumbing inspector looks for on a shower valve, and it is built in rather than an add-on fitting.

Lever handle. That is the single-lever control for the shower, and for ADA-conscious work in a healthcare, senior housing or hospitality bathroom a lever is the handle style you want over a knob or cross, since it operates without tight grasping or twisting of the wrist. Handle style is fixed on this kit, not a selectable option, so what varies from part number to part number is only the finish.