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Just getting ready to try an EZ out to remove the seat. Would it be reasonable to spray something like PB Blaster on it ahead of time in case it is corroded into place and to help loosen it up. Thanks for all the help to date.
My first question would be "How could you 'round' out a square opening in the seat if you had any kind of wrench that fit the opening". I have seen it happen with hex openings, but never with a square one. I would not say it could not be removed until I tried it myself, because I have never had to give up on one yet.
Licensed residential and commercial plumber
I don't know exactly how I did it, but I did. Looking back, my best guess is that I used the hex shaped side of the seat wrench instead of the square side when I first tried to remove the seat. I put a good amount of force on it when I initially tried to remove the seat. It held pretty firm at first and then all of sudden it let go and I was able to turn the seat wrench, as if I had loosened the seat. I then realized as I slowly kept turning that the seat was not coming out, I was just slowly turning the seat wrench in the rounded out opening. I suspect I made some foolish and stupid error in my first attempt to remove the seat. I could post a picture if that would help.
If the taper is too long, and instead of bottoming out tight in the seat, it bottoms out at the back of the valve, the edges can act like a reamer, and mess up the hole. IF it is fully seated and tight (I guess that's redundent!), it's unlikely you could ream out the seat unless you were turing it the wrong way.
Jim DeBruycker
Important note - I'm not a pro
Retired Defense Industry Engineer
Right, its possible it bottom out in the back of the valve and I did not realize it at the time, and that it was not full seated/tight in the square opening. I was turning counterclockwise. This is all good information, as so far I have only tried (and messed up) the hot water valve seat.Originally Posted by jadnashua
Any opinion on using PB Blaster in case it is corroded in place, or is that very unlikely? My only concern using is that I assume any extra will get flushed out when I turn the water back on. I dont want to take a shower later with any of the PB Blaster mixed with the water, obviously.
Thanks.
Just a quick update and thanks to those that helped. Got the valve seat out with a #6 Easy Out as was recommended. The valve seat was about 50% corroded or broken apart. Now I need to see if I can find a replacement. The only identifying mark is on the escutcheon which indicate "Empire".
Just so you know, most plumbers would have slammed in a new single handle and been done with it.
But I guess you're getting close to having a working bath fixture.
Yes. And I should clarify that I found a second plumber that actually got the seat out. I bought the #6 Easy Out and told him it had been suggested as a way to get it out. I am sure he was already was aware of that method. Anyway, he used that and my socket wrench extension to make it reach and had to put a lot of force into it to get the seat out (I had been very hesitant to put that much force on it as I was afraid I would just make things even worse than I had already made them).
He had also suggested the single handle route but indicated a lot of people don't like to do that, and I am certainly one of them. The first plumber I had come out also suggested the single handle method and did not want to do anything other than that.
Hopefully a replacement seat can be found. If so, I will have saved quite a few dollars, learned quite a bit, and have the separate hot and cold handles that I prefer. Apparently I may be one of the few people that prefers this though.
Slowly making progress. Thanks again.
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