Sierra9093
New Member
Hi,
I have what I think is an old Gerber shower diverter that I have to service from time to time, usually for leakage around where the valve attaches to the valve body. Ordinarily a nylon washer of about 3/32" thickness belongs there, but for some reason (I don't remember when or why) I have a very thin nylon washer on top of a thick stiff rubber washer which seems to have stopped any leakage - for now. Problem is the shower stream it tends to peter out after a time. What I do is pull it out of it's housing, mess around with it by replacing washers, etc. I put it back in the housing and it tend to work fine for a while before slowly petering out again.
The type of diverter is something like this one:
.
Note the black rubber washer along the stem with the thick thread. I have the same washer on my diverter and it is fairly new.
I am beginning to understand some of the workings of of it; namely that I have the washers stacked at the valve-valve body connection for spacing as well as for sealing. When there is not enough of a gap between the valve and valve body, the diverter seems not to be able to open fully enough to give the shower significant water. My question is why does the shower peter out after a time? Could that black rubber washer along the stem is getting dislodged and screwing up the works in some way? Or is the spacing/sealing washers becoming more compressed over time and slowly shutting off the flow to the shower. Your advice and guidance would be welcome and appreciated. Thanks!
Ray
I have what I think is an old Gerber shower diverter that I have to service from time to time, usually for leakage around where the valve attaches to the valve body. Ordinarily a nylon washer of about 3/32" thickness belongs there, but for some reason (I don't remember when or why) I have a very thin nylon washer on top of a thick stiff rubber washer which seems to have stopped any leakage - for now. Problem is the shower stream it tends to peter out after a time. What I do is pull it out of it's housing, mess around with it by replacing washers, etc. I put it back in the housing and it tend to work fine for a while before slowly petering out again.
The type of diverter is something like this one:
.Note the black rubber washer along the stem with the thick thread. I have the same washer on my diverter and it is fairly new.
I am beginning to understand some of the workings of of it; namely that I have the washers stacked at the valve-valve body connection for spacing as well as for sealing. When there is not enough of a gap between the valve and valve body, the diverter seems not to be able to open fully enough to give the shower significant water. My question is why does the shower peter out after a time? Could that black rubber washer along the stem is getting dislodged and screwing up the works in some way? Or is the spacing/sealing washers becoming more compressed over time and slowly shutting off the flow to the shower. Your advice and guidance would be welcome and appreciated. Thanks!
Ray
