My shower faucet and handles had some minor dripping problems, so I decided to repair the hot and cold stems (2 handle shower stall). I got a repair kit and replaced the washers and changed the seats, but when I put the stems back and turned the water back on, there is no flow to the shower head! Any ideas what happened and how I can fix it?

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Originally Posted by hopeless homeowner

My shower faucet and handles had some minor dripping problems, so I decided to repair the hot and cold stems (2 handle shower stall). I got a repair kit and replaced the washers and changed the seats, but when I put the stems back and turned the water back on, there is no flow to the shower head! Any ideas what happened and how I can fix it?

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... introduced a large blockage into the showerhead pipe (unlikely) or installed the wrong kit. It sounds as if the faucet is not coming far enough away from the seat (washer too thick) to allow water to pass into the pipes. Try losing one of the faucet nuts while the water if yet turned on and turn the faucet further 'on' to see if you get some flow before the faucet starts leaking. If it does start flowing the seat/washers are too snug.

Happily, we solved the problem last night. When we took off the showerhead, water was flowing freely through the arm. A soak of the showerhead in vineager solved the problem