Q. Beverly asks: The bathtub knobs for hot and cold water are separate and then there is a stopper to allow the water to go to the shower. When the stopper is pulled up, the shower works, but there is still water coming through the spout in the tub. How can I stop this water from going into the tub and redirect it to come from the showerhead?
A. Your showerhead and tub spout are connected to the same pipe. When you toggle the valve lever on the spout (the diverter valve), you redirect water from there to the showerhead. Once in the redirected position, this type of valve often leaks to some extent.
However, if you are experiencing excessive leakage, you might want to replace the tub spout, thus ending up with a new valve, and possibly, less leaking. Cleaning your showerhead also should help. Improving the heads ability to freely pass water can help. Clean the showerhead by filling a plastic bag with straight vinegar of any kind. Place the bag around the showerhead like a feedbag for a horse. Fully immerse the head in the vinegar. Tie the open end of the bag in place around the shower arm with a twist tie or a rubber band, and let sit for 24 hours. Run the shower for about a minute once you remove the bag; it should run more freely.
To replace the tub spout, you first must determine whether the spout is held onto the plumbing pipe with a threaded connection or if it is a slip connection. Look at the underside of the spout. If there is a screw, remove it, and the valve should slip right off. If no screw is visible anywhere on the base of the spout, simply turn it counterclockwise and unscrew to remove it. If a screw exists and you can't seem to slip it loose, try unscrewing it. Some have both a threaded connection and a retaining screw. There is no better diverter than the kind that works exactly like the hot- and cold-water valves themselves. Single valves are available for this purpose. Unfortunately, installing such a valve at this time could be expensive since you would have to gain access to the wall interior to perform the installation.<
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.