How to Identify Your Grohe Shower Valve [2026]

Knowing how to identify your Grohe shower valve before ordering a replacement cartridge is the difference between a clean one-trip repair and an expensive wrong-part return. Grohe makes this harder than most brands — its US site emphasizes finished trims more than loose internal parts, and the same “pressure balance cartridge” label appears on several different article numbers depending on the valve generation. Order the wrong family and you get a cartridge that either won’t seat or won’t control temperature.

Grohe shower valves fall into four internal-part families. This table is the fastest orientation:

What you see on the wall	Valve family	Internal part	Key identifier
Separate temperature dial + volume control	Grohtherm thermostatic	Wax thermo-element	47439000 (compact) vs 47450000 (full-length) — not interchangeable
One lever, holds temperature on toilet flush	GrohSafe pressure-balance	One-piece ceramic-disc + balancing spool	Generation-specific — confirm the number on your cartridge
One lever, squat all-ceramic cartridge comes out	Single-lever ceramic	Diameter-keyed ceramic disc	46048000 = 46mm; 46374000 = 35mm — measure
Two separate handles (hot + cold)	Two-handle, handed	Ceramic head-parts, right vs left	45882000 = Right; 45883000 = Left

This article walks through five identification methods in order from easiest to deepest — brand mark on the trim all the way to the rough-in valve body behind the wall — so you can pin down your family and confirm the 8-digit article number before you touch a checkout cart.

---

How to Identify Your Grohe Shower Valve: Start at the Trim

The fastest Grohe identification clue is visible with no tools and no water shutoff. Stand in front of your shower and study the control layout.

Grohe stamps the GROHE wordmark on the handle or escutcheon, but the model name rarely appears on visible trim. What the trim does tell you is the control layout — and that’s genuine identification data.

Ask one question: does the trim have a separate temperature dial?

If the trim has a dedicated temperature control — a knob or dial separate from the on/off volume lever, often with a red button or scald-stop limiter at one position — you have a Grohtherm thermostatic valve. Its internal part is a wax thermostatic element. There are two: the compact 47439000 (current TurboStat) and the older full-length 47450000. They look similar in photos and are not interchangeable — you confirm which by measuring element length once it’s out.

If the trim has one lever that does everything — push/pull or lift for volume, rotate left-right for temperature — you have a single-lever valve. That puts you in GrohSafe pressure-balance or single-lever ceramic territory. Photograph the trim straight-on and at an angle before removing anything; the handle shape is data you’ll want documented.

---

Method 2: Lift the Handle — One Stem or Two?

Pull the handle to see what’s underneath the escutcheon. On most Grohe shower handles there’s a set screw under a snap-off index cap, or a hex screw on the lever. With the handle and escutcheon removed, look at the spindle count:

• Two separate spindles — a temperature spindle and a volume spindle side by side — confirm a thermostatic valve. The internal part is a thermostatic element (47439000 or 47450000).
• One cartridge stem — confirms you’re in GrohSafe pressure-balance or single-lever ceramic territory. Continue to Method 3.

This check takes 90 seconds and costs nothing — it’s worth doing before pulling the cartridge, because the two-stem thermostatic layout gives you certainty before you buy.

---

Method 3: Read the 8-Digit Article Number on the Cartridge Body

Once you’ve removed the bonnet or retaining ring, the cartridge slides or unscrews out. The article number on the cartridge is the gold standard for Grohe identification.

Grohe internal parts carry an 8-digit number — printed, etched, or laser-marked on the plastic body or a metal collar — in the form 47439000, 47450000, 46048000, 46374000, 45882000. Grohe also writes the same number in short form: 47439000 appears as 47.439 and 47439 on some packaging and website URLs. Either version works in the lookup tools.

Where to look: check the plastic body in the middle of the cartridge, the metal collar near the top, and — for thermostatic elements — the end cap. The digits are small and often filled with mineral scale; good lighting plus a phone macro shot will usually recover them. Look for any 8-digit string starting with 46, 47, or 48 — that’s almost certainly your Grohe article number.

What to do with the number: type all 8 digits into the GROHE Spare Parts Finder. It accepts the article number as a direct lookup and returns the confirmed part name and fitment notes. This is the single most reliable path to the right replacement.

One honest note to carry into your purchase: do not assume one universal GrohSafe pressure-balance number covers all Grohe showers. Multiple article numbers — 48491000, 47080000, and 47995000 — all appear across retailers under the “Grohe pressure balance cartridge” label depending on the valve generation and trim. The article number on your cartridge is the only reliable fitment confirmation; confirm it in Grohe’s finder before buying.

---

Method 4: Measure the Diameter (Single-Lever Ceramic Only)

If you’ve pulled a squat, all-ceramic disc cartridge — no fat wax element, no visible balancing spool — and the article number is unreadable, diameter is the whole identification. Two Grohe single-lever ceramic cartridges look nearly identical to the eye:

• GROHE 46048000 — 46mm outer diameter
• GROHE 46374000 — 35mm outer diameter (plumbing distributor Consolidated Supply states this explicitly as “Single Lever Mixer, 35 mm Dia”)

Measure the outer diameter across the widest ceramic body with calipers or a ruler. Roughly 35mm vs 46mm — and the wrong diameter will not seat in the valve body. This measurement is more reliable than any “fits Grohe” generic claim from a third-party listing.

For two-handle valves, the ceramic head-parts are handed — right and left are not interchangeable. GROHE 45882000 is the Right; the Left mate is 45883000. Match the side you’re replacing.

---

Method 5: Read the Rough-In Valve Body (Last Resort)

If the cartridge is gone or completely unreadable, the cast valve body carries its own model number — and that number tells you which cartridge family lives inside it, even with zero internal parts present.

Grohe GrohSafe pressure-balance rough-in valves are the 35110–35116 family. If you can read that model off the valve body (usually only accessible during a remodel or with the trim fully removed), you know you’re in GrohSafe territory and can cross-reference the correct cartridge generation. This is the deepest identification clue — use it when every other path has failed.

---

How to Identify Your Grohe Shower Valve: The Visual Decision Tree

Use this sequence from the top and stop as soon as you have a confirmed family and article number:

1. Trim has a separate temperature dial? → Thermostatic. Pull the element. Compact (visibly shorter) = 47439000. Full-length (older) = 47450000. Confirm in Grohe’s Spare Parts Finder.
2. Two separate handles (hot + cold)? → Two-handle, handed. Right side = 45882000. Left side = 45883000. Match the side.
3. One lever, temperature holds steady when a toilet flushes? → Likely GrohSafe pressure-balance. Read the 8-digit article number on the one-piece cartridge (ceramic discs + balancing spool). Confirm the exact number — do not assume one universal GrohSafe number covers all generations.
4. One lever, squat all-ceramic cartridge comes out, no number readable? → Single-lever ceramic. Measure the outer diameter: ~46mm = 46048000; ~35mm = 46374000.
5. Nothing applies, or cartridge is missing? → Read the rough-in valve body model (35110–35116 = GrohSafe), or use the GROHE Spare Parts Finder camera tool on the visible trim.

Before you finalize your order, find your exact Grohe cartridge with our free Repair Finder — enter the article number or family and it confirms fitment so you don’t make a second trip.

---

Grohe Lookup Tools

GROHE Spare Parts Finder (grohe.com) is the authoritative tool. It accepts three input paths: by product name or number, by spare-part article number, and by AI camera recognition via the Grohe app. The camera path works best on visible trim; for an internal cartridge with no readable number, fall through to diameter measurement, then confirm back in the finder.

GROHE US Parts Store (grohe.us) lists per-part pages for current cartridges — useful for US pricing and availability. Some legacy parts live only on the grohe.com finder, not the US store.

Home Depot carries several Grohe cartridges with the key spec in the title — 46048000 and 47450000 are straightforward cross-checks. Use Home Depot for availability and price; trust grohe.com for fitment.

Plumbing distributors — Ferguson, F.W. Webb, Consolidated Supply — are worth consulting when you want spec text beyond what the manufacturer’s own pages state. Consolidated’s listing explicitly names the 46374000 as “35mm,” which grohe.us does not.

Reliability ranking: grohe.com Spare Parts Finder → grohe.us part pages → Home Depot and distributors for spec cross-check and availability.

---

When You Can’t Identify It

Try the camera recognition path in Grohe’s Spare Parts Finder before reaching for a generic replacement. The camera tool reads the trim and often recovers the product identity even when the cartridge body is completely blank.

If you’re looking at a single-lever ceramic cartridge with no readable number, measure — don’t guess. The 35mm vs 46mm diameter is the identification, and a caliper reading is more reliable than any “universal fits Grohe” claim from an aftermarket listing.

For pressure-balance cartridges: retailers list a “Grohe Universal Pressure Balance Cartridge” (47080000) and grohe.us lists 47995000 alongside the GrohSafe 3.0 number 48491000 — the fact that multiple numbers wear the same label is the warning. Match to your valve generation via the article number on your cartridge or the GrohSafe rough-in valve body model before trusting any “universal” claim.

When chasing a legacy cartridge costs more in uncertainty and repeat purchases than a known-good fix, replacing with a current GrohSafe 3.0 rough-in valve (35110–35116 series) plus a matching trim is the clean reset. That’s a behind-the-wall job — see how much it costs to replace a shower valve before deciding.

---

When to Call a Pro

A few Grohe scenarios are genuinely pro territory — and recognizing them before you start saves a bigger repair bill:

• The valve body is behind tile and you’d need to cut to read the model number. A plumber can often identify from the trim and camera tool without opening the wall, and can cut and patch correctly if it comes to that.
• Thermostatic valves you can’t disassemble with confidence. Grohtherm valves require a temperature recalibration step after reassembly; installing the wrong element length (compact 47439000 vs full-length 47450000) or skipping recalibration can leave the scald-stop incorrectly set. If you’re unsure which element you have, a pro confirms the number and recalibrates.
• A cartridge that won’t release. A stuck or scaled cartridge that resists a careful pull is a pro job before you crack the valve seat.
• Multiple GrohSafe cartridge numbers fit your trim family and you can’t determine the generation. Because the GrohSafe article number is generation-specific, a plumber familiar with the platform will disambiguate faster than trial-and-error purchasing.
• Any sign the valve body itself is damaged. Body replacement is a behind-the-wall soldering job — not a cartridge swap.

For escalation criteria on each major shower repair type, the Shower Repair Guide has the full decision framework.

---

What’s Next

Once you’ve confirmed your cartridge family and article number, the repair path is straightforward. For side-by-side Grohe identification alongside Moen, Delta, and Kohler valves, see How to Identify Your Shower Valve and Cartridge. For other brand-specific walk-throughs in this cluster, How to Identify Your Symmons Shower Valve uses the same outside-in method for Symmons Temptrol, Safetymix, and Symmetrix valves.

---

Sources

• GROHE Spare Parts Finder — by product name, part number, or camera recognition
• GROHE 47439000 — 1/2” Thermostatic Compact Cartridge (TurboStat)
• GROHE 47450000 — 1/2” Thermostatic Cartridge (full-length, older element)
• GROHE Pressure Balance Cartridge — GrohSafe, double-ceramic mixing discs + balancing spool
• GROHE GrohSafe Pressure-Balance Rough-In Valve 35114000
• GROHE 45882000 — Ceramic Cartridge Right (two-handle valve)
• GROHE US Parts Store
• Home Depot — GROHE 46048000 Single-Lever Ceramic Cartridge (46mm)
• Home Depot — GROHE 46374000 Single-Lever Ceramic Cartridge (35mm)
• Ferguson — GROHE GrohSafe Pressure Balance Cartridge 48491000
• Consolidated Supply — GROHE 46374000 (35mm diameter stated explicitly)
• F.W. Webb — GROHE 45883000 Ceramic Cartridge Left (two-handle)

---

Educational content only. Not a substitute for licensed professional advice. Local plumbing codes vary by jurisdiction. Use of any guidance from this guide is at your own risk.

Get the homeowner’s plumbing repair toolkit checklist — the tools, parts, and decisions every homeowner should have on hand. [Free download — enter your email]