Repair Shower Faucets
How to repair leaking shower faucets? Leaking faucets in general is annoying, waste a lot of water, can cause damage to your home and can cost you a lot of money. So, if any of your shower plumbing faucets are leaking, they are in need of repair. P.s: Before rushing to repair leaky shower, try to determine what type of faucet is installed in your bathroom. In general, shower repair is a pretty simple task and can easily be accomplished by anyone that can follow directions.
Determining The Faucet Type:
Before buying anything, you must first determine the type of leaky faucet is currently installed in your shower. Why? Due to a large variety of faucets available in the market today, you want to make sure that you will be buying the correct parts to replace the broken parts of your current faucets. What is the best way to determine the brand of your leaking shower faucets? What can you do if can’t determine that? Most shower faucets will have the name of its brand right in the plate or handles, if that is not the case, then, you best option would be to take a picture of it. Taking a picture of the faucet is probably is the most effective way to assure that you will buy the correct replacement parts. Why? Well, a picture is worth a thousand words. If you go to your supply store and explain them perfectly well what you need, chances are that, they will sell you the wrong parts. Why? Because people assume too much about things in general, so, be smart and avoid wasting your time. If you have a picture of the faucet and old parts with you or if you have the old parts with you, they will be able to know exactly what you have and what you need, this will reduce trips and time wasted because you will likely get right what you need the first time.
Tools And Parts:
This is just a list of the most common tools that you will likely need to accomplish your task, it is likely that you won’t use all of them, but if you have them, make sure that they are close to you in case if you need them. Screwdrivers (Phillips and Flathead), Phillips screwdriver straight, channel locks, pliers, pipe wrench, caulking gun, replacement rubber washer, replacement packing washer.
1 – Turn Off The Water Source:Since that you have to dissemble the shower faucets handles, make sure to locate the closest water shut off valves that leads to the shower and turn them off prior to removing any parts. In the case of bathtub shower faucet, your best option will be to turn the hot water at the water heater valve or if you want hot and cold side off at the same time, turn off the main water valve in the basement or outside at the meter. P.s: Before doing any work, go to the lower floor in your home and turn some fixtures on, this will allow the rest of the water to drain out, then only then, you should proceed with your leaking shower faucet repair.
2 – Expose The Cartridge:Most leaky shower has a cartridge inside it, it is one of the main mechanisms of the whole system, so, the first thing that you will want to do is to remove the cartridge from inside the faucet. Removing the cartridge can be a bit tricky but it can be done with the help of a flathead screwdriver and, you do that by: a) Open the plastic cover located at the top of the handle. b) Pop off the cover. c) Locate the screw in the hole and with a Phillips screwdriver loosen and remove it out with the handle. d) Pull out the sleeve and unscrew the backing plate.
3 – Adjust The Valve Stops:a) First, locate the valve stop for the hot water, however, if you can’t find it, then, go to the step 5. b) Insert a flathead screwdriver in the hot water valve stop and turn one quarter to either side to shut off.
4 – Check Water Flow:a) Install the handle back the same way that you took it out. b) Turn on the water supply and check to see if the water flows out, if not, re-start the whole procedure from step one but, skip step 4.
5 – Adjusting The Temperature:a) Pull out the limit disk, if there’s one, and sleeve it. b) Pull forward the limit stop and rotate it to the left to increase temperature. Keep it in the range to prevent malfunctioning of the part. c) Push the limit stop back to close. d) Check the water flow, just like in step 4, if it doesn’t work repeat the procedure again from step 1-2 then, jump to step 6.
6 – Cartridge Removal:a) Pull out all the remaining clips that hold the cartridge in place. b) Using a pair of pliers, hold on the tip of the old leaking shower faucet and, pull it out of the valve.
7 – Flush Valves Out:a) Turn the water back on and allow it to flow out of the valve for a few minutes to remove debris out of the pipe. b) Check cartridge for damage or water deposits. c) Clean the old cartridge if it is still good to put back on replaces the old cartridge for a new one.
8 – Re-InstallingThe Cartridge:a) Insert the cartridge back in the faucet valve. b) Put back the retaining clips and backing plate. c) Put back the plastic stops, if you have one and make sure to align it to the close position of the faucet.
9 – Replacing The Handle:a) Install the faucet handles back on. b) Turn on the water. c) Re-open the water valves but control the flow of the water in the house.
|
