how to fix a leaky shower faucet?

[stutters]

so i tried to replace the shower head in the house i'm renting. using a pipe wrench, i torqued where the shower head and gave it a couple good yanks. some banging, cursing, and a beer later, and it wouldn't budge. it's been a while (8+ years) since anyone has touched this, so i'm guessing it's seized up better than i first thought. either way, i let the shower head win that round.

 

now the faucet leaks...just faster than a steady drip. not from the shower head, but from the faucet in the tub. help?!

 

[Bubblegum Bandit]

so i tried to replace the shower head in the house i'm renting. using a pipe wrench, i torqued where the shower head and gave it a couple good yanks. some banging, cursing, and a beer later, and it wouldn't budge. it's been a while (8+ years) since anyone has touched this, so i'm guessing it's seized up better than i first thought. either way, i let the shower head win that round.

 

now the faucet leaks...just faster than a steady drip. not from the shower head, but from the faucet in the tub. help?!

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What kind of faucet do you have? And I'm still not totally sure where the leak is coming from?

 

Do you have a single knob or dual (H/C) knob faucet? Is the water coming from behind the knob(s) or from the neck where the water actually comes out?

[appalachian_fox]

If you want to finish the job with the shower head, I suggest a liberal application of WD-40 and time. Then, work the showerhead back and forth to get the WD-40 into the threads (ah, finally came up with a way to say it that doesn't sound overtly dirty).

 

BGB seems to be on the ball with plumbin, but some other questions I would throw out:

(1) Has there always been a leak? Sounds like not until you played with the showerhead.

(2) Does it leak all the time? Only when the water is off? I presume the faucet is off when the showerhead is on, or mostly: Does it leak when the showerhead is on?

(3) Is it leaking from inside the faucet (where water normally comes from) or from around the faucet (Dear God why is water coming from there?!?)

 

Please excuse the questions, I'm slow, so I have to get these things visualized well.

[stutters]

single control faucet. in america, hot to the left, cold to the right. bliss in the middle.

 

if the shower is on, and water is going to the showerhead, nothing comes out of the faucet. if the shower and water is off, it leaks directly out of the spout of the faucet.

 

the end goal is to get the new showerhead on, but without ripping the pipe out of the wall. off to the garage to get the wd40 for the cracks, er knob, er threads, well, you know.

[appalachian_fox]

Hehe, it's not important that I know as long as you know. You're the one applying torque to the offending object.

 

Okay, that's weird. I'm no plumber by any stretch of the imagination. Fixing things like this in my house usually involves a ridiculous amount of Teflon tape and a large metal wrench which I use to perform percussive maintenance. If the leak started after you started messing around with the old showerhead, my inkling would be to try to finish the job with some WD-40 and patience, using some Teflon tape on the threads before applying the new showerhead (and maybe a wire brush to clean up the threads, depending on how they look), and then I'd see what happened there.

 

Again, I'm probably the furthest thing from a plumber, but that's my take on it.

[shep48]

if the water is coming out of spicket then control valve is bad. if its somewhere else u tweaked the soldered joints

[stutters]

here's a visual assement of the situation:

 

this is the showerhead, no leaks.

 

this is the water in the off position. notice the "drip"

 

control valve? can i use a sledgehammer to get to this?

[Bubblegum Bandit]

From the looks of it I'd guess either one of two things with the leak. Most likely shep's right, its in the control valve. A seal or something got tweaked while you were jerking on the shower heard.

 

A lesser thing that I would hope you could figure out; Sometime in our shower when you turn the water off the plunger in the faucet doesn't disengage and let the water out of the showerhead pipe. The head pressure from the water still sitting in the shower head pipe will then make water leak around the plunger in the faucet until that water has drained. Its an extremely nub thing but I figured it was worth mentioning. FIX: disengage the shower head plunger after you take a shower!!!

[stutters]

what do i look like, and AVS fan? sheesh bub, sheesh.

 

yes, i did try that. it leaks 24/7 now x amt of drops in picture (<1sec) x water shortage. shoot, how do i do this control valve thing?

[Bubblegum Bandit]

1st things first....Tub Cleaner and brush; meet John!!! :-)~

 

How much of a handyman are you? If that valve is bad you MAY have one of two choices. If you can figure out the make and model info you can maybe go in and get the o-ring or whatever creates the seal and just replace it. Otherwise you talking a new valve.

 

(maybe give the landlord a call)

[Lord Chip Douglas]

To get the shower head off you'll probably need to put some heat to it, like a heat gun or small propane torch, at the threaded area. Heat expands metal and loosens things right up

Edited October 11, 2005 by Lord Chip Douglas

[MrDuke]

Don't torch the pipe because you are expanding the male end of the shower conncection. If you're using heat, it needs to be applied to the shower head and that is usually bad for the head. Use a monkey wrench and tap the wrench w/ a hammer as you apply the torque to the shower head. If you happen to twist the whole pipe, just continue to twist the whole pipe out of the wall. There will be a threaded female joint just inside the wall. You should be able to see it w/ a flashlight. Teflon up a new pipe and screw it in. Attach a new shower head to said pipe.

 

Look at the shower connection. Do you see hard water build up? If so, use some CLR or something similar to get rid of it. That might loosen it up.

 

As far as the tub leak, you probably need new valve stems...no big deal. The hardest part of the job is figuring out who the manufacturer of the assembly is. Go to home depot or Lowes and ask the plumbing guy how to replace the stems (valves). After questioning your manliness, they'll help you out.

[Lord Chip Douglas]

Heat

[Lunk]

If it's a Moen faucet. They have a tube type valve that goes in behind the knob(you know that thing you pull & twist to start water flowing, erm..that doesn't sound good ) Anyways, they run between $20 & $30 at the home depot. I had to replace mine last year.

 

Also, check your water pressure. I just had to replace my pressure regulator valve in the front yard. Water pressure was 120 . Found this out the hard way. Feeder hose on upstairs toilet blew out. Flooded bathroom, which in turn found it's way down thru my ceiling fan in the living room.