Woodsborough Homes Association, Santa Clara, CA

Website of Woodsborough resident Wesley Dudzinski

How to Repair a Leaky Shower?

There are at least two types of leaks:
1. When the shower valve is off
2. When the shower valve is on

1. You might notice some wetness in your bathtub or you might hear water dripping when it is very quiet at night. The lever that opens and closes the water flow has a small set screw. Adjusting it sometimes stops the leak but usually does not. If it continues to drip, you need to replace the Cartridge and the Pressure Balance Valve. They are:

American Standard 051337-0070A Cartridge

American Standard 077171-0070A Pressure Balance Valve

2. When you turn on the water to you bathtub, you can divert the flow to the shower head. This should send all of the water to the shower above and cut of the flow to the bathtub spout. In my case the spout leaks a lot and it has gotten worse with age. I have already replaced the spout twice but even the brand new spouts leak way more than I would like to. I have spend some time trying to learn how for fix it. It turns out I have used a cheap spout from the Home Depot, which even when new is junk. Now I know there are three types of spouts with diverters.

Type1. With a front lift-up diverter. This is what I have.
Type 2. With a rear lift-up diverter. Better but still not great.
Type 3. With a front pull-down diverter. The best design.

Each type comes in two variations: threaded or slip-on. We have a slip-on type, to be used with 1/2" pipe. 1/2" refers to the internal diameter of the pipe sticking out of the wall. Adding the copper wall thickness, the size becomes 5/8" O.D. or Outside Diameter.

Since I want quality, I have decided to buy a Type3, slip-on, solid brass unit. After a long search I realized nobody makes them anymore, all you can get are chrome platted plastic ones. So until somebody tells me where to get a solid brass unit, I will have to live with a plastic one. I have just bought: Delta Faucet RP5836 Tub Spout Pull-Down Diverter, Chrome

The installation has been quick and easy. To tighten it to the copper pipe you need 1/8" HEX (Allen) Wrench.   

Where to buy? Amazon