I have a leak in the HOSE of my hand held shower that is mounted on the edge of an oversized bathtub. We would happily replace the whole unit, but the supply end of the hose is inaccessible; it may run to the side of the whirlpool tub. There is no good access panel. (What were they thinking when they put this in?)

We have changed the gasket in the shower head piece; we tried exchanging just the hand held piece with one that we know works; we tried adding vaseline to the gasket; etc... No luck.

Any ideas for a fix that might work? My first floor ceiling is a mess. Help!

Hi there... plumbing can get pretty frustrating, huh? Many times with tubs and showers, the only way to repair a leak (causing the least amount of damage or repairs) involves accessing the water lines through the wall from an adjacent room. It's much easier to patch a hole in drywall than tile, resin or whatever your tub and shower are made of. Good luck.

That's the way we are headed, but believe me, the access option is ugly in this case.

Seems like there would be a way to install some sort of waterproof sleeve inside the hose. Oh well.

Thank you for the response.

Hi Lisabalex:

Try using 4 or 5 wraps of teflon tape to the threads of the hand-held shower unit and then tighten the hose with the new gasket on again... see if that helped.

They also sell THICK hand-held shower washers... may need to check with a local plumbing supply company... should be able to order these for you.

If these solutions don't work then pop back and we can discuss more... OK?

Mark

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There is no good access panel

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Most of the whirlpool tubs I've worked on have a removable front apron panel. Regards tom

Thanks to each of you so much. This is a great forum where I have come to read answers before and learned quite a bit.

I forgot to list that my husband had tried teflon tape and the gaskets appear to be the oversized ones massplumber2008 mentioned. I'm guessing the hose itself has pulled away from the handheld shower piece due to tugging on it over the years. I am passing the answers on to my husband anyway just in case.

You would have thought there would be an access panel right? But no. We contacted the previous owners who had marble installed all around the tub. I have told my husband not to touch the marble. If it breaks we have no way to match it.

Please, give me the brand name of your faucet and hand-held shower - or snap & post a picture of it...

The leak does not have to be at the threads. It can be that the hose itself ( inside the metal flex tubing ) slipped from its mounting piece. No amount of teflon tape will fix it...

No access doors ? Is the tub sitting on concrete slab ? Is it Self-Rimming tub ? And how exactly did the original plumber connect drain and faucet supplies w/o access doors ? Look harder... chances are there is one somewhere...

Our plumbing Code mandates access door for faucet and drain. If they are not on the same side of the but - we have to install 2 access doors...

Also note that you can install an access door yourselves... ;) Home depot sells a nice spring loaded access panel... see image. These can be painted or wall papered.

Let us know more... OK?

Mark

Good advice, Mark.. Indeed, if you cut carefully, you don't have to paint or patch - just snap the door in over the hole !