pasadena_commut
Well-Known Member
We have an old American Standard hardware set on our tub/shower. The kind with 3 handles in a row (hot, shower/bath, cold) and below thata plate with a lever which controls the pop up in the drain. The plate also hides the overflow opening. There is a sort of see-saw mechanism attached to the pop up, and the lever turns a cam with a long stiff wire and a spring on the end which pushes down on the pop up to open it.
The problem is that we have very hard water and we rarely put the pop up down to seal the tub. All showers, no baths. Consequently when we do need to move that lever it is inevitably glued in place by calcium deposits. To fix this the lever and its associated parts must come out, and then the whole plate with the lever and the shaft which goes through it to the cam must be soaked in vinegar. It takes around an hour of soaking before the lever will move. Once it will move exercising it back and forth, and then around and around makes it easy to turn. I think the motion crushes the calcium deposit and then the tiny bits wash out easily in the next vinegar dip.
The root of the problem is that the lever is attached to a shaft, and that shaft goes through a sleeve in the plate to the cam, and it is a fairly tight fit. Water gets in there, eventually dries up, depositing its load of minerals, and after a while the shaft is cemented in place in the sleeve. Is there a way to force some water resistant grease into that opening? Even at its cleanest the shaft does not want to come out of the sleeve, so I cannot just pull the shaft out, pack the sleeve with grease, and put the shaft back in. I'm afraid that the best "solution" may be to put a sign on the shower that says "move the lever all the way left and right twice once the water is off". Or to install soft water. Seems like there should be some way to make this mechanism work reliably despite the hard water.
The problem is that we have very hard water and we rarely put the pop up down to seal the tub. All showers, no baths. Consequently when we do need to move that lever it is inevitably glued in place by calcium deposits. To fix this the lever and its associated parts must come out, and then the whole plate with the lever and the shaft which goes through it to the cam must be soaked in vinegar. It takes around an hour of soaking before the lever will move. Once it will move exercising it back and forth, and then around and around makes it easy to turn. I think the motion crushes the calcium deposit and then the tiny bits wash out easily in the next vinegar dip.
The root of the problem is that the lever is attached to a shaft, and that shaft goes through a sleeve in the plate to the cam, and it is a fairly tight fit. Water gets in there, eventually dries up, depositing its load of minerals, and after a while the shaft is cemented in place in the sleeve. Is there a way to force some water resistant grease into that opening? Even at its cleanest the shaft does not want to come out of the sleeve, so I cannot just pull the shaft out, pack the sleeve with grease, and put the shaft back in. I'm afraid that the best "solution" may be to put a sign on the shower that says "move the lever all the way left and right twice once the water is off". Or to install soft water. Seems like there should be some way to make this mechanism work reliably despite the hard water.
