I need to change the washers on the shower valves: How do I get the valves out??
On each faucet there's a nut in front of the tile that gets loosened and the stem unscrews. There's some stem packing inside but the valve will not screw out. Tryed turning it in both directions and neither valve comes out.
Now it just so happened that an inspector from the water company came in to repair the valve at the water meter which could now not be turned back on. He was nice enough to take a look at the shower and thought that the stem(s) should just unscrew and come out to expose the washers. He also thought that there was nothing else to loosen because it appeared to be "sweated" on behind the wall.
Any ideas what's going on here? I've got wrenches, a socket kit and plenty of washers but can't get the stems to come out.
And now the hot water side is clogged & won't work. I suspect that some valve stem packing may be stuck in the line somewhere.
Is it time to call a plumber?
On each faucet there's a nut in front of the tile that gets loosened and the stem unscrews. There's some stem packing inside but the valve will not screw out. Tryed turning it in both directions and neither valve comes out.
Now it just so happened that an inspector from the water company came in to repair the valve at the water meter which could now not be turned back on. He was nice enough to take a look at the shower and thought that the stem(s) should just unscrew and come out to expose the washers. He also thought that there was nothing else to loosen because it appeared to be "sweated" on behind the wall.
Any ideas what's going on here? I've got wrenches, a socket kit and plenty of washers but can't get the stems to come out.
And now the hot water side is clogged & won't work. I suspect that some valve stem packing may be stuck in the line somewhere.
Is it time to call a plumber?