Newbie Question on Bath Tub Spouts

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bskepnek

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Hello,

I am doing some bathroom remodeling and removed my bath tub spout. I beleive that the fitting from the old spout is stuck to the pipe stem (rusted on). Any suggestions on how to remove it without damaging the pipe stem? I was thinking about taking a hacksaw and cutting parallel to the stem. Is this a good or bad idea?

Thanks A Lot!
Bob
 

Jadnashua

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Do you have a digital camera? Post a picture! Much easier to try to figure out what's going on. Use a low res setting, or crop it so that the size is <50K or so. Scroll down to additional options, attach files, and click on manage attachments.
 

bskepnek

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Jim,

Here is a pic - let me know what you think.

Thank You,
Bob
 

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Jadnashua

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Well, I'm not a pro, but I'd use two wrenches, one holding the nipple so it wouldn't unscrew, and the second one on the fitting, and unscrew it. You could try to hacksaw it part way through then peel it off. Unscrewing it would possibly clean up the threads a little. You could try some penetrating oil or WD40 on it first, and let it soak in. Since you don't know what's in the wall, you don't want to turn that pipe - you might end up with a leak in the wall. The hassle is finding a new spout with the same offset (depth) from the wall to the internal threads so it can be screwed on with no gap at the wall, and tight enough so it doesn't leak. If you have access to behind the wall, then you could take out that galvanized nipple and replace it with a new one. That would give you more flexibility in choosing a spout.
 

hj

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spout

Getting that piece off would be the easy part, except that if you do not remove the pipe and replace it with a brass one, it will either rust off inside the wall some day and give you a major problem, or the first water when you turn on the faucet will be red or brown from the rust inside that pipe.
 

JDkimes

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Try heating it up with soldering torch and cooling it off a couple of times with a wet towel. The expansion and contraction can sometimes loosen things up.
 

resq944

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What Hj Is saying is that its probably galvanized pipe. Galvanized pipe + water+ plus brass/copper = electrolysis, and the rusting you see. Are all your pipes galvanized? Or is it only that nipple running into the wall? You have 3 options, and really only one that is a good solution.

1 Replace Galvanized with copper. (if the supply inside the wall is copper and only the nipple is galvanized) it should be a fix that while messy requiring demo of the tile if there is no access from behind it will yeild the best lasting fix. If you have galvanized supply lines you could get a dielectric fitting or put in a galvanized to-CPVC fitting then run and inch or 2 of CPVC then a CPVC to – Copper Fitting and run copper to the spout. This would break the connection between the 2 dissimilar metals causing the electrolysis.

2 Get a galvanized Spout, and cut and try to re thread the the rusty pipe. (BAD IDEA)

3 Find Some sort of Dielectric pipe fitting that will fit inside the tube spout between the steel pipe and the brass tub spout, again you will still have to try to either salvage those threads or cut and re thread the pipe which in its condition would be difficult to say the least. (BAD IdeA)
 

Master Plumber Mark

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heat it up

use a torch on it and get it red hot...

then it will most likely come off pretty easy....

If you are just changeing out the tub spout only ,
quit while you are ahead..

that nipple will
probably last you another 10+years anyway...till
you are in the mood to change out the faucet.

as long as you match up the tub spouts pretty close it will
change out ok.

if you try to change out that nipple you could also end up
changeing out your tub faucet.....if it twists off in the wall.

leave sleeping dogs alone....ect

so you can either make it easy,
or you can make it a whole Satruday project...
 
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