Plumbing help.

[N80]

I've got a 30 year old bathtub faucet that is leaking. It is one of those deals with one knob that has hot and cold on it, some sort of scald guard deal. I know nothing about these things but I think they are washerless. Is there any way to repair or replace these (what are the odds I can find a replacement to fit in the original casting?). I'm hoping there is some way to do this without going into the wall and putting in an entire new assembly.

Thanks for the help. I can post pics if needed.

For what its worth, I've plumbed a whole house myself, but working with old stuff is beyond me.

Also, if the whole assembly has to be replaced (casting, cartidge and all), the wall of this tub unit backs up to a shower unit so there will be major demolition required to access it! I'd like to strangle the doofus that came up with that plan!

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin George,
If it is a Moen or other similar style, you need to take the outer cover off the pull knob. That will give you access to a philips head screw. Remove the screw and knob. There is usually a chrome style sleeve that is slipped over the valve. Remove the sleeve, and then remove that round coverassembly. That should give you access to the valve. There will be a U shaped retaining clip that holds the mixing cartridge in position. Remove the U shaped clip and then reinsert the philips screw that held the knob on. This will give you a way to remove the cartridge. Just pull the cartridge oot, BTW turn your water supply off first

Let us know how you make out !

 

[scott_vt]

Forgot to mention that Home Depot carries replacement cartridges, Im sure that Lowes does also.

BTW If the whole valve assembly needs to be replaced, just cut out enough sheetrock to gain access to the valve and be able to work on putting in the replacement. Then splice in a new piece of sheetrock. Granted it is a PITA !

 

[czechsonofagun]

Forgot to mention that Home Depot carries replacement cartridges, Im sure that Lowes does also.

BTW If the whole valve assembly needs to be replaced, just cut out enough sheetrock to gain access to the valve and be able to work on putting in the replacement. Then splice in a new piece of sheetrock. Granted it is a PITA !

My comment got lost - but while ago my wife broke off the handle of hot water in shower - long story - and I took the stem with broken screw in it out and tried to find replacement. That piece was say 20 years old - no luck in HD, Lowes, local HW, even Ma and Pa local shops. I ended up drilling the stem and retaping it.

Good Luck N80 - you are gonna need it)

 

[dmccarty]

...
Good Luck N80 - you are gonna need it)

I'm afraid Mr Czech is right.

I had a similar problem in our old house which was built in 1977. The danged %^&* never really worked right. The temp was never right and &deity help you if you got the thing turned just righer, errrr, wrong, cause then the water would not easily turn off. POS.

Eventually it finally just would not work anymore. Since the builder used green board as the tub surround the wall was rotting so I had to tear out the tile and drywall and rebuild. In both bathrooms. I wanted to take that faucet and put it somewhere painful to the builder. If ya know what I mean...

Good Luck. Hopefully one problem won't lead to finding another....

BTW I messed up my back retiling the bathroom. The faucet would be turned, turned, and turned in the builder if I could find him. He needs to suffer like I have because of his work.

Later,
Dan

 

[N80]

Scotty, I'm not at home right now, but I've had the cover off of this thing before and I think you're description is accurate. And I can get it out, my concern is finding a replacement. Is there any way to repair the valve itself?

Like I said, this is in a fiberglass tub unit that backs up to a fiberglass shower unit. So if I need to get in there it is going to involve cutting into or removing one of the units. I'm no architect but that layout seems super dumb to me. Almost all plumbing has problems as some point, and in my mind you should be able to access it when it does without dismantling the whole house.

In my cabin I plumbed it so that i can get to everything without tearing stuff up.

 

[scott_vt]

Afternoon George,
Yep, your nightmare is the same one that I ran into !!! I have a fiberglass shower surround on the first floor. By taking off the coverplate doesnt really buy you any working space To replace my valve, I would have had to totally destroy that shower surround. Or go to the other side of the wall which is my laundry room and remove shelving and then cut out a piece of sheetrock to gain access to that darned valve.

Im not lazy by nature, but Im not one to do unecessary work either. I removed the cover plate as I stated earlier and removed the cartridge. I then used some fine emery in the bore where the cartridge rides. Followed with some steel wool, mostly to get a nice smooth surface between the valve bore and the o-rings on the cartridge. Then I bought a tube of O-ring grease. I coated the inside of that bore liberaly along with the new cartridge. Reassembled. turned water back on and voila no more leak.

The long of the short on this story, is that cartridge bore was slightly worn along with the O-rings on the old cartridge. The O-ring grease makes up for that slight tolerance problem.

BTW, any good pool supply will have O-ring grease along with most hardware stores.

 

[N80]

I had problems with my kids bathroom tub too. I was able to access it by cutting a hole in the sheetrock in my clothes closet. No big deal. But pulling out a fiberglass unit, ugh.

But, here is what I did today. I pulled it out just as you said. Cleaned it up real good. And miracle of miracles, I found a kit a Lowe's with a new o-ring and new springs and seats. Replaced all that and slathered liberally with silicone grease (same as the o-ring grease I'm assuming) and so far it is working okay. I say okay because it still looks like I'm getting a drop or so every hour. Not great but still better than the drip, drip, drip before.

I may pull it back out and smooth things out like you said, but at times like this I'm tempted to settle for a partial improvement rather than risk a Murphy's law set up by going in there again. There is no limit to what I can scew up if I set my mind to it.

Truth of the matter is that I could have stayed at work this afternoon (I had the afternoon off) and seen ten more patients and use that income to pay a plumber to do it right. But that DIY urge is hard to overcome sometimes. (Plus I've had some really bad plumbers over the years. Fortunately my current guy is first rate.)

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin George,
Partial success is better than no success at all

One thing I forgot to mention, and you being a DIY type of guy probablly allready know this! But after you use that fine emery and steel wool in that cartridge bore you need to make sure that bore is spotless clean before you use the O-ring grease !

BTW, Im not sure what I dislike more, plumbing or repairing sheetrock
Last weekend up at my Vt house, I arrived on friday night only to find that I had not gotten every bit of water out of my cold water line in the bath ! Thats the second time I froze a pipe up there I got a chance to retest my plumbing skills