My bathroom tub fixtures have seen better days. Pretty sure they’re original to the house (~60 years). We have fairly hard water, and the prior owners were not the best at maintenance so no clue how long these slow leaks have been going on. But the shower handle is stuck hard on the valve, and the bath spigot is crumbling away and similarly fused in place. Hot and cold come off easily.
Does anyone have any tips for freeing the one handle and spigot? I’ve tried light tapping with a mallet on the back of the handle to no avail. The spigot seems bound pretty tightly, to the point where I’m concerned about damaging the pipe if I apply too much torque.
As for the leaks, I haven’t decided if I’m going to just replace the valves, or try fiddling with/replacing the packing nuts. This is my first time messing with plumbing, but either way seems straightforward enough after watching a few videos.
Any tips/tricks/suggestions appreciated, thanks!
I’d just replace the whole thing if I where you. Are there replacement valves even available anymore, if there 60 years old there might not be?
If you do just want to fix the old ones, spray then with a penatrating oil (WD-40) and let it soak in for a few hours and try again. If that direct doesn’t work try heating them up with a torch. Don’t forget to turn off the water to the house before trying either lol
I am by no means an expert… I just kind of assumed everything was standardized, and new valves would be interchangeable.
Good call on the WD 40. I should be able to get behind the shower knob. For the spigot, it’s more of a spray and hope lol.
hahaha… sobs uncontrollably 😭
Plumbing is famous for being the least standardized craft in the world…
Nope, if it really is that old I doubt you’ll find a replace. At best you could try to replace all the o-rings in the old valve and put it back in. If you want to try to find a replacement anyways, take out the old valve and take it to a plumbing supply store and ask someone behind the counter if they have any. Also, avoid buying plumbing supplies from Home Depot/Lowe’s or any big box store, it’s all garbage.
I worked a few years in plumbing in my youth and in these type of situations we’d always replace the whole setup.
Heat did the trick for the spout, no dice on the diverter knob. Same with WD-40… there’s no place to really access the problem spot. It’s on there good.
Noted on big box vs dedicated supply store.
I did some more research and I think I’ll be able to be able to replace the washers and re-pack the compression nuts, and keep the original valves. But I’m not attempting that until I can get an early start on a day when the supply store is open for any running back and forth that may be needed. And even aside from that, none of the local big box stores have any packing nut material in stock.
Thank you again for the insight!
I forgot to mention, when you use heat to try and loosen it up to drain the water out of the system first. Otherwise all the heat will just get transferred to the water in the pipes. So try turning off the water to the house, then turn on the shower and open a sink or shower in the basement so all the water will drain away from the shower you’re working on.
Be aware that this might melt any plastic or rubber in the shower valve causing it to leak or make it unusable until you fix it. It might be smart to have a replacement shower valve on hand just in case you can’t fix the old one, best case you can return it if your successful fixing the old one.
They make specific replacement shower valves sets that come with a large trim piece that cover up the hole you would have to make to replace the old valve.
Sorry I wasn’t more specific about all that, I haven’t worked in plumbing for like ten years 😅
All good, I appreciate it.
I did not turn off the water (calculated gamble), but I did drain the diverter/mixer before starting any work, and didn’t apply heat for a while after that. The piece that’s frozen is right at the front of the handle (pic is elsewhere in the thread), and the stem head is right behind it. It should have gotten to temp pretty quickly. I didn’t go too crazy since I wasn’t planning on disassembling anything until I had access to replacement parts, just gave it a few tugs.
Just finished putting on the new spout… and at its tightest, it points straight up ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ So I backed it off a half and am now waiting for the caulk to cure. I packed the tile hole with putty so the caulk is more for looks than anything. If the diverter valve sprays everywhere… guess I’m going knocking until someone says I can use their shower lol.
Edit: all is well. Or at least no worse than it was.