pasadena_commut
Well-Known Member
Short version. American Standard 3 handle tub was dripping a lot out the spout. Replaced the washers on both the hot and cold sides with Danco "1/4M0" which seemed to fit the 2K-4H/2K-4C stems perfectly. Still dripped a lot. Felt the seats with a finger and the cold one was chewed up, the hot was still smooth. Replaced the cold seat (after wrapping teflon around the threads 3 times) with a Danco seat. (It seemed to be identical to the damaged one which came out of the wall, the damaged one was very scratched up.) Reassembled. It still drips, just not as fast. Took it apart again and examined the washer on the cold side (the new washer), it was not obviously damaged but the "1/4MO" raised letters were still there. So I think that it is either caused by the slightly raised letters (unlikely), it is leaking around the seat (most likely), or there is a hair line crack in the fixture itself (let's hope not). Assuming it is leaking around the seat for some reason how would one prevent that if teflon tape didn't already do the trick? Pipe dope? Pipe dope over teflon tape? Some web advice said not to use tape on these, in which case the only seal for the threads would be from the flange on the seat sitting flat on the valve body. Is it possible the teflon tape moved around/bunched up on insertion so that the flange of the seat did not sit flat? It was a little tricky getting the seat into position with an Allen wrench down its center because it would slide up and down the wrench shaft, I had to use a paper Q-tip stick (no cotton) at the same time to push it around a little so that it would stay in place and screw in. So there was an opportunity for the tape to move around a bit.
Thanks.
Long version and more details at the end of this thread:
https://www.plumbingforums.com/threads/american-standard-3-handle-shower-balancing-c-h-water.13013/
Thanks.
Long version and more details at the end of this thread:
https://www.plumbingforums.com/threads/american-standard-3-handle-shower-balancing-c-h-water.13013/