Upstairs Tub/Shower Leak

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donnieu

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Dallas, TX
I had a fairly heavy leaking in the upstairs bath/shower which is about an 11 year old house. It was showing wear so I bought a new Moen spout/handle set which included the Moen 1222 cartridge. Old cartridge required a puller to get out. Didn't see anything unusual in the cartridge pipe. I replaced the cartridge, but not the whole valve unit. Now no leak when using the tub spout. But when I pull the diverter and use shower, it is still leaking. Any ideas? Could the pipe the tub spout fits on be loose at the valve? Does it just twist off? Any ideas on what to check next? I cut a small hole in the lower bath to see up into the upper bath.
 
leaking where? let's presume you mean from the ceiling below tub.
slip on spouts are notorious for o-ring failure. Loosen up the allen set screw on bottom of spout. if the copper tube is not damaged sand it clean and slip a new spout on.
 
Spout is screw on, no allen wrench used. There is a small hole on bottom base of spout and no water is coming out there. Yes, I am viewing from bathroom below that one and can see the water leaking down. I think I see one problem. There is a crack in the end of one of the 2 inch PVC pipe segments (A T joint I think). See pic. Can that crack be patched or what is needed?
I don't understand why it doesn't leak when tub spout is running though?

DSCN0223.jpg
 
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remove the spout and cap the nipple. remove shower head and arm flange from wall. cap the shower arm, remove the valve cover plate so you can peek inside the wall turn on valve. any water dripping down from shower arm above. This will check to see if you have any pressurized leaks on the riser to shower head or piping to spout. Look into wall penetration and check nipple connection inside wall.

NO LEAKS?

Remove the cap on tub spout nipple and fill tub half way and release some water. NO LEAKS ?
Fill tub to overflow. Over flow gaskets are the #1 leaks from tubs.
 
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It looks like a slight crack where the seam is. I will get a couple of 1/2 inch caps tomorrow and try that. I'm not sure what you are saying about tub overflow? It starts to leak immediately when diverter is pulled to start the shower. I replaced the pipe going into the shower connection. The old one seemed to be good and tight. Testing again now. There are leaks at top and bottom of that T joint area. Seems to be a big problem with it in addition to that possible crack. It does not leak when the tub spout is running though? Can someone explain why? I need to cut the hole in the ceiling a little large so I can get my arm better into that area to sure there is no leaking above the T joint area.
 
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Because the drain was horizontal. I fixed it! Does it leak now??

I smell fish. Not saying you're wrong because you can see more than I can.
You would be surprised at how many times I go look at a leak and the customer says it's leaking from there. I have to tell them NO! it's not, It's leaking from There.

DSCN0223.jpg
 
Yes, that's possible. I need to cut the hole bigger so I can get one arm and my head up in there to look better. I tested again. When water starts dripping down at you, it is very hard to see where it starts as you said. So I will get the 2 stoppers and try again tomorrow night. The hole around the valve area is very small. I would need a tile chimper to increase that hole size. But I can stuff some kleenex in around the valve area and see if it gets wet.
 
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i did the stopper test and that caused quite a bit of water to come down. I took a couple of 4" tiles off at the handle/valve area. I reach in and don't see or feel and wet there. I look at the shower connection and don't see any wet there either. When the stop is on, it does show a small drip there. I guess I will have to take some more tiles off around the spout area to look further there. Is the spout pipe usually a removable threaded connection at the back end or welded? The overflow is looking old and not to good a condition. I suppose I would have to be able to get in behind it to replace the gasket?
 
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tub spouts can be installed 2 ways, some have an allen set screw under bottom near the wall. loosen that and it should slip off. the other way it is just threaded on and you just unscrew it from the wall.

You shouldn't have to take tile off the wall, yet!
have any pics of your spout and valve?

Over flow gasket can be changed through the tub hole if there is a little flex on the overflow.
 
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Thanks for the info. I already took one vertical row of 4" tiles off from the valve down. The tub pipe does not twist on. It is a right angle pipe soldered to the valve. There are two small leaks spraying out the side of the right angle on that pipe. Obviously best to replace that pipe. But is patching an option? The leaks are 2 very small sprays close together spraying out to the left. I guess a later question is "any way to replace just one vertical row of 4 tiles"? Not much backing left there to put the tiles back on. I will probably get a couple estimates on replacing the pipe.
 
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