Hello. Tub spout recently replaced, as well as the showerhead (needed new ones of both anyways due to bad diverter valve, and I didn't like the old head).
Anyways, I find water pressure coming out to be very low. It's so low that when the shower is being used, and I turn the showerhead upside down, the water only goes a couple of inches in the air.
I started reading about repairing faucets and such. I got the handle off, and the compression nut, but I don't know where to go from here (in fact, I think I'm going the wrong way for this problem).
Behind the faucet are two valves that still let drips of water come out when fully closed (I hate that, old plumbing, etc).However, there are stainless steel supply hoses coming out of the valve and into a brass-looking body with 2 inlets and 2 outlets (hot/cold, tub/shower). After removing the hoses and aiming them into a bucket, and turning the water back on, I get a massive amount of pressure (that I would expect). This is true for both hot and cold. Also, not that it matters, but I get great water pressure out of the bathroom sink as well.
So I guess my next step is getting this brass body off. Am I correct? It appears the body is screwed into the tub's pipe, but the other three ports have the steel hoses and the shower pipe screwed onto them. The fitting on the shower pipe refuses to budge though, and I'm afraid of causing more harm than good.
It's an Aquasource single-handle faucet. If anyone needs pictures I can gladly supply them. Thanks!
Just noticed that BOTH nipples below the shutoffs are black....so both need to be replaced...
I don't know why I thought the hot water nipple was brass, but it's not!! Sorry I missed that!
I'm betting the real issue will be at the shutoffs themselves being choked down by sediment/deposits when you open all this up. Let me know...OK?
Good luck Tonglebeak
PS...You should also put some caulking around the tub spout. In your picture I can see where water has dripped from around the tub spout and down onto the plywood and finally onto the tub waste...just more F.Y.I...
Just noticed that BOTH nipples below the shutoffs are black....so both need to be replaced...
I don't know why I thought the hot water nipple was brass, but it's not!! Sorry I missed that!
I'm betting the real issue will be at the shutoffs themselves being choked down by sediment/deposits when you open all this up. Let me know...OK?
Good luck Tonglebeak
PS...You should also put some caulking around the tub spout. In your picture I can see where water has dripped from around the tub spout and down onto the plywood and finally onto the tub waste...just more F.Y.I...
There is.I just bought the house as-is and I'm finding a lot of the work was half-assed. I Had to replace the tub spout and it is indeed sealed. You're probably seeing some residual water that came out of the flex lines when I unhooked those.
I think to save time I'll just cut the pipes, because I now have a different issue where the pipes are held down on the other end by a strap and screws. Only accessible if I remove the wall in the tub...
With that said, what are everyone's opinions on compression fittings? Seems like it's easy enough to do so long as the surface of the pipe is clean. I'll need to probably do so anyways, due to how the shower and the tub are connected.
If you remove the wood going across the stud bay you should be able to pop the whole valve out in one piece.
After that, I would suggest that you purchase some SHARKBITE push-fit fittings instead of the compression fittings....see images. These fittings just get pushed onto the copper pipe with no need to solder them afterward.
Sharkbite or gatorbite fittings are usually available at all home supply stores. You will also want to purchase some 1/2" copper tubing (type L), some plumber's sandcloth to clean the ends of the pipe before pushing into the sharkbite fittings, and a copper tubing cutter to make clean cuts to the copper tubing.
Remember to use some teflon tape or pipe dope on all threaded fittings.
I went and bought the brass unions at lowes ($3 for each one? wow..). At this point I'm a bit intimated about replacing th stainless steel flex. But god almighty what I've found so far (still in the process of doing this). Every union: filled with crud. The smell of iron was strong. The shutoff valves were also filled with iron. The input fittings are filled with crud (but thankfully it looks like it's confined to just the iron to copper connection).
Update: unions are on. The shock of turning water pressure back on (whole house) must've knocked some crud loose in the pipes. Out of the bathtub faucet was loads of black sand-like material (iron perhaps?) I had lost hot water in the tub at one point but now that's back. However, I somehow managed to lose hot water in my bathroom sink now (it was originally working just fine before I shut the main valve on the output of my well pump).
I guess tub wise, I still have to replace that black elongated union as well as the elbow going to the tub spout. I must say, pressure still is the same out of the spout, but out of the shower it's noticeably better. Still not fantastic by any means...I suppose I can remove the valve body totally once I get an elongated union and an elbow for the tub spout pipe.
If you purchase the sharkbite fittings and some copper pipe the rest of the job will go quickly and easily...
As you mentioned, it will be a good idea to replace the tub spout piping even though pressure is normal because it will also clog up with sediment as the other fittings did never mind that the rusty water that you barely see now will start to stain that tub sooner than later.
The hot water at the bathroom sink will require you to shut the main off again, remove the hot water stem and then pulse the main water supply on (rag over faucet) and clear the line of any sediment. Otherwise, the shutoff below may be clogged.
More of an update (this has been in bits and pieces due to my crappy motivation to get anything done).
Well...my new tub spout has a bunch of crap in it now, because...the original tub spout pipe was iron (so I have to go to Lowes yet again when they open tomorrow). I have everything removed from the faucet EXCEPT the shower pipe. Looks like I'll need to spin the faucet off of that, but the problem now is the faucet handle stem and body is protruding out, so of course the wall will not allow the faucet to spin. Any ideas on how to remove the rest of the faucet so I can pull the valve body out and unscrew it?
Thanks for the reply, but what I'm asking is how to get the faucet disassembled so that I can untwist the valve body off the shower fitting. The faucet is still protruding through the wall, into the tub, and I don't know hwo to disassemble it further. I can't untwist it off the shower pipe because the faucet protrudes through the wall and obviously cannot turn since the wall will stop it.
Tonglebeak...why would you unscrew the valve...? The pipe is copper pipe so no need to remove it...??
If you still want to remove it for some reason, you can shut the water off, remove the guts from the valve and then pull the screws from the wood and you should be able to spin the valve off. Hold the copper fitting against yourself as you spin the valve. You may need to cut the wood...
Finally, worst case, you would ned to cut the copper pipe and then use a sharkbite coupling to rejoin later.
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