justforfunorama
New Member
I have a 1961 ranch home with slab construction. Two weeks ago I started noticing water coming up inside the floor in the laundry room and the floor was hot. You could hear hissing when you put your ear to the slab. I busted up the slab replaced the mess of kinked up pipe, pressure tested the line for 2 days and then covered everything up (with sand and 1.5" of concrete in case I needed to access things again).
As soon as I turned everything back on, the debris that was in the pipe (some crusty mineral stuff) got dislodged and the nearest sink's hot water slowed to a trickle. So I removed the valved under the sink removed the debris and everything works fine.
Now it's been a week or so and there is another shower and a tub that are having significantly restricted hot water flow. So I assumed that I would have to change out the stems on the two faucets & bleed the debris. I thought this would help a number of things. First it would improve the restricted flow and 2ndly make the faucets easier to turn off.
The problem is that I can't get the old stem out. I've heated it with a torch. I've taped it with a hammer. I've tried liquid wrench and still it's so frozen that I can't turn the thing with a stem wrench/driver. I've bent 2 screw-drivers and am hesitant to move onto a 'larger lever' with my cheater pipe for fear that I will break the fitting in the wall and end up having to remove the tile. I've read a few things online and they say to try PB Blaster.
I bought a can today and hit it generously this afternoon. So, I'm looking for advice. How do I remove the stem without breaking the fitting and being forced to tear into the wall?
Do I just muscle the heck out of it and hope for the best?
As soon as I turned everything back on, the debris that was in the pipe (some crusty mineral stuff) got dislodged and the nearest sink's hot water slowed to a trickle. So I removed the valved under the sink removed the debris and everything works fine.
Now it's been a week or so and there is another shower and a tub that are having significantly restricted hot water flow. So I assumed that I would have to change out the stems on the two faucets & bleed the debris. I thought this would help a number of things. First it would improve the restricted flow and 2ndly make the faucets easier to turn off.
The problem is that I can't get the old stem out. I've heated it with a torch. I've taped it with a hammer. I've tried liquid wrench and still it's so frozen that I can't turn the thing with a stem wrench/driver. I've bent 2 screw-drivers and am hesitant to move onto a 'larger lever' with my cheater pipe for fear that I will break the fitting in the wall and end up having to remove the tile. I've read a few things online and they say to try PB Blaster.
I bought a can today and hit it generously this afternoon. So, I'm looking for advice. How do I remove the stem without breaking the fitting and being forced to tear into the wall?
Do I just muscle the heck out of it and hope for the best?
Last edited: