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Hi
My wife and I just began ripping out our old bathtub to put in a new one. We decided we would also like new faucettes etc. I disconnected the hot and cold taps but the shower pipe will not come loose. Is this a soldered pipe? It appears to have a nut on it but I can't get it loose at all.
Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks
Nathan
The showerhead shouldn't be soldered... it should screw onto the nipple. Is this what you are trying to remove? The fixture?
I don't do plumbing for a living, so I cannot speak for all situations... but I've only seen fixtures screwed onto a threaded nipple which in turn is threaded on the other end and fits into a female 90 degree fitting.
I'm sure somebody more experienced can clarify this.
Absolutely no access to the back side of the wall?
It sounds like it’s a good time to get out the open mesh sand cloth and clean around where the shower pipe enters the valve. Even if it has threads it could be soldered in there. It’s not the standard way to do things but some plumbers do that. The 2 ways to be sure what it is (iron or copper) is size and color. Once you have it clean if it is copper it will be a bright copper color. What plumbers refer to as 1/2" is the inside diameter. It actually measures 5/8" outside diameter whereas 1/2" galvanized iron pipe will be even larger than 5/8" o. d. because it is thicker. When it comes to deciding whether the threads have solder on them or not you really need to clean it and look in there. If you really can't move it heat it up with a torch. As long as you know what you are doing it can't hurt. Then again if you don’t know what you’re doing, stop now and get help. I don't want you to ruin your valve or burn your house down. By the way are you really considering replacing the shower valve or just the handles and stems?
Very few faucets will accept another faucet makers parts so you really need to know who the manufacturer is if you are going to replace parts as opposed to replacing the entire valve, in which case the manufacturer of the first valve won't matter. You may want to go to this site and read a bit.
http://www.plumbinglessons.com/sup/showervalve.htm
Thanks for your replies
I'm pretty sure the shower pipe is copper. It has the same kind of connection as the hot and cold water connections but on the hot and cold connections there is a nut that threads to the old faucet connections, the shower pipe does not have this. This is a pretty old bathtub and pretty old faucets. I need to disconnect from the shower pipe so that I can remove the old faucets and replace them with the new.
Hope that makes sense...
Nathan
Hi Nathan,Quote:
Originally Posted by nmwaldron
By "shower pipe" are you referring to the curved chrome piece that comes out of the wall and connects to the shower head, (the goose neck or shower arm) or are you referring to the copper shower raiser that runs from the shower valve inside the wall up to a threaded drop eared ell that the shower arm connects to? Can you take a picture and attach it to your post?
Regards, Tom
Hi
I mean the copper pipe that runs down the inside of the wall and connects to the back of the faucet.
I actually removed it by heating it up with a blow torch, it wasn't soldered as far as I can tell. Now I just have to figure out how to get the pipe back up through the wall when I install the new fixtures!
Thanks for the help,
Nathan
Quote:
Originally Posted by nmwaldron
Then it would indeed be the shower raiser that feeds the chrome shower arm that connects to the shower head. They are indeed soldered if they are copper. If they are galvanized then they are threaded.
I wish you would have contacted me before tearing everything out. When we change out a tub and shower valve we leave the raiser, shower arm and head intact. We then use a coupling to connect the old raiser to the new valve. Unless you want your shower head to float and not be secured when you reinstall it you're going to have to install a 1/2" drop eared ell soldered on the raiser and secured by wood screws on backing. The shower raiser will then be soldered into the valve. The shower arm may then be screwed into the drop eared ell. Good luck, Tom
Hi
I tried leaving the shower head on but the shower raiser would not come loose from the faucet fittings. The only way I could get it to come loose was to take off the shower head and arm so that the raiser could turn as I loosened it.
I'm taking the bathtub apart right now with a sledge hammer... the tub is one of those old 500lb cast iron ones... fun fun fun! :)
Thanks for your time
Nathan
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