A Waterless Tub!

I hope someone can help me with this. I had a new tub/shower installed about 5 months ago. It looks beautiful. I saw the contractor try it after it was installed and I tried turning the tub on once after that and it worked great. I went to use it for the first time last week and no water came out!

Water to the toilet and faucet work fine. The handle turns nicely. Just no water, air, nothing!

I told the plumber who installed it and he seemed to think it was my fault. He said, "You must use your plumbing fixtures every once in a while or they will freeze up."

This doesn't make sense to me. People have summer homes, winter homes and vacation homes that go months at a time without turning on a faucet and they still work. In this house I have a shower that was not used for almost a year and turned on fine, the very first try. I live in an area that will get frost, but the pipes have never frozen. In twenty years, I have had a garden hose freeze once, a few years back.

I can't see or here any water running. Does any have any idea what may be causing this?

In this case, I believe he was using the term "freeze up" in a mechanical, not a literal, sense. For example, your shower probalby is pressure balanced type, and from lack of use the spool could be stuck, although typically this might cause water to be all one temp, but not necessarily no water at all. Nonetheless, there could be some other malfuncion such as that to cause no water.

We will need the brand name of the faucet and probably a pic if you can post one or a link to one.

jimbo said:

In this case, I believe he was using the term "freeze up" in a mechanical, not a literal, sense.

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That's why I say seize rather than freeze.

The valve is Price Pfister 0X8-310A Pressure Balance Valve, Universal Fittings, Less Stops. If you google it , lots of retailers pop up with pictures.

Pp

A bad balancing spool only stops water from one side. The only way it could stop both hot AND cold would be if it split in two and moved both ways, which did not happen. You have some other problem but we cannot diagnose it from here. We need to actually try the valve.

hj said:

We need to actually try the valve.

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Is that something I can do or do I need to call a professional?

Just an update. I ended up calling out a plumber for this and another problem. After taking off the trim, the plumber realized it was a pull out valve. Did I feel stupid!! So did the plumber.
........yes I was a natural blonde.......guess the hair dye isn't working.

Don't feel bad. That is a very familiar call to most of us.

?

Try telling someone who cannot get their shower to work, that they have to pull down on the ring where the water comes out of the spout, with the water running, and then have to go show them.