Background and Nature of Operations - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Sep. 29, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012	Sep. 29, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Oct. 01, 2011	Jul. 02, 2011	Apr. 02, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012 Segment	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Shares issued for stock acquisition		213,000,000				98,622,564				213,000,000	98,622,564
Conversion of stock description	At the effective time of the Merger, each Pentair, Inc. common share was converted into the right to receive one of our common shares, resulting in 99,388,463 of our common shares being issued to Pentair, Inc. shareholders.
Common shares being issued as a result of conversion of Pentair, Inc. common share	99,388,463
Net sales		$ 1,750,932,000	$ 865,512,000	$ 941,525,000	$ 858,177,000	$ 865,692,000	$ 890,546,000	$ 910,175,000	$ 790,273,000	$ 4,416,146,000	$ 3,456,686,000	$ 3,030,773,000
Income (loss) from continuing operations										(107,186,000)	(7,450,000)	185,539,000
Increase in goodwill for fair value adjustments to preliminary purchase price allocation allocation		32,600,000
Reporting segments										3
Water & Fluid Solutions
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Net sales										2,638,403,000	2,369,804,000	2,041,281,000
Technical Solutions
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Net sales										1,231,036,000	1,086,882,000	989,492,000
Valves & Controls
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Net sales										546,707,000
Tyco Flow Control International, Ltd
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Percentage of ownership	100.00%		100.00%
Shares issued for stock acquisition	110,898,934		110,898,934
Goodwill	2,520,110,000		2,520,110,000
Intangible assets	1,400,000,000		1,400,000,000
Tyco Flow Control International, Ltd | Water & Fluid Solutions
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Goodwill	321,400,000		321,400,000
Tyco Flow Control International, Ltd | Technical Solutions
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Goodwill	856,100,000		856,100,000
Tyco Flow Control International, Ltd | Valves & Controls
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Goodwill	1,342,600,000		1,342,600,000
Tyco Flow Control International, Ltd | Customer Relationship
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Intangible assets	905,700,000		905,700,000
Weighted average useful life	14 years 2 months 12 days
Tyco Flow Control International, Ltd | Proprietary technology
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Intangible assets	115,900,000		115,900,000
Weighted average useful life	13 years 8 months 12 days
Tyco Flow Control International, Ltd | Customer Backlog
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Intangible assets	41,200,000		41,200,000
Tyco Flow Control International, Ltd | Customer Backlog | Maximum
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Weighted average useful life	1 year
Tyco Flow Control International, Ltd | Trade names intangibles
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Intangible assets	362,300,000		362,300,000
Flow Control
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Net sales		886,500,000
Income (loss) from continuing operations		$ (117,000,000)
Pentair Ltd.
Nature Of Business [Line Items]
Percentage of ownership	100.00%		100.00%