Central Faucet/Diverter Questions

Hello,
I've been reading about diverter issues on this forum but have not seen one like mine, so please accept my thanks in advance for reading and for any advice offered.

My house was built in the 30's and although someone has remodeled the hall bathroom within the last 10 years, I suspect the faucet setup was not replaced. It is a 3 valve bath & shower system that looks rather like http://www.centralbrass.com/documents/specsheets/S0968Z.pdf . I have no idea if that is really it, of couse. When the hot water is turned on with the diverter in the bath mode, (hot) water leaks out the back of the diverter knob. I removed all 3 taps and replaced washers (stem packings) on the hot and cold. The diverter washer was also in bad shape as well as an O ring that essentially disintegrated, and which I've yet to figure out how to replace. The bigger problem tho is that once I removed the stem, it appeared that within the diverter assembly is residual bits of what might be leather. Is this possible and if so, how do I replace or repair this? In addition, putting the hot and cold nobs back together has introduced a new problem - knobs that are now very difficult to turn on and off. Ugh.

Any comments or advice would be most welcome.

Thanks,
tal

Take the valve stems out again and lubricate the inside threads with plumber's grease. This will make them open and close very easily. You may have to separate them into two parts to do this by unscrewing the outside part from the inside.

As for the diverter, you'll need to rebuild it completely or replace it in order for it to stop leaking. Bring it into a real plumbing supply house to try to match it up.

Eric, thanks very much. I did lubricate the hot and cold stems and it definitely helped. In addition, since I could not match the diverter, I bought some leather packing and O rings and rebuilt it. Success! However much like peeling an onion, now I can see, since all other sources of water are routed properly, that the spout is dripping from the back of it as well as from the front. And there is also a small leak in a junction of the copper piping for the hot water that will need to be addressed, probably caused by my jostling them when taking the taps off and on (and off and on). Thanks again for the advice.

tracie

Just taking the valve stems off shouldn't've caused the pipe to leak unless it wasn't braced properly. As for the tub spout, if it's the screw-in type, you can unscrew it by using a large channel locks over a rag (to keep it from marring the surface). Then put teflon tape on the threads and screw it back on. If it's the push-on tub type, there's a hidden set-screw underneath that may need to be tightened. Or, you can just replace the spout.

A screwdriver handle up the spout should give you enough leverage to unscrew it, and no chance of scratching up the spout.

Thanks for all the advice. Just wanted to close the thread with an update. I could not budge the spout for anything; so I closed the gap behind the spout where some drips were happening with caulk, the plumbing equivalent to duct tape. I also caulked the flange that connected the tub to the overflow drain, since that looked very suspicious. As for the leaking hot water connection, after sanding off the oxide it became clear it was a threaded connection. Pressed as it was (as all the pipes are in fact) to the drywall of the bathroom wall, my choices for repair seemed quite limited. So I applied a liberal amount of “plumber’s goop†which has never before helped me in any situation. 7 days and it is still holding. I seem to have got off lightly and will not tempt fate further by worrying about the last little drip from the spout.

Thanks again for the advice I received on this and in general for the informative and entertaining commentary on this site.

Tracie