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Started By
Message
Had to fix what my so called plumber repaired
Posted on 10/14/24 at 10:39 am
Posted on 10/14/24 at 10:39 am
Never been so disgusted in my life.
Granted the shower left and right knobs are probably 50 years old and we were in the middle of a huge remodel and the last thing I had time to worry about was figuring out to service this.
The hot water side would not turn off. Had to shut the water off to the entire house until he fixed it.
I should have known when he sent me to home Depot to pick up a set of diverter wrenches to use to pull the cartridge.
Anyway he fixed it but ever since it made loud groaning and harmonic noises when turned on and you would have to slap at the knob to try to get it quieter.
At the time I asked him to do the cold side as well but he was "busy" and said the washer has dissolved on the hot water side because of the heat and I didn't need to worry about the cold side.
Like a moron I believed him because I was lazy and had to much other stuff going on to question it.
Well a couple weeks back I noticed the shower barely had any pressure so I pulled the head and noticed the aerator trap was full of black debris.
Being dumb I rinsed it out put the head back on and declared myself Master of Water Pressure and thought I had solved it without thinking through WHAT that black shite was.
Anyway, 2 weeks later the cold won't shut off and I'm like here we go. I spend the better party of 2 hours trying to figure out how to take apart the spigot housing without tearing anything up because the last thing I need is to break something behind the tile and end to having to redo the entire shower...
Got all the parts out and I'm ready to pull the cartridge right? Right???
No. None of the wrenches fit. There's no "in between" size for the diameter I need so now I'm starting to think the Master Plumber pulled a stunt on me.
Ordered a larger set of tools from Amazon and this set had the right size (imagine Mrs cad and the rest of the family dealing with me constantly turning the water to the house off for 2 days)
It won't budge.
So before I break something I decide to remove the hot water side to see if it will come off.
That's when I discovered they plumber didn't do Jack shite. Her completely rigged this thing so it wouldn't leak but didn't actually replace anything needing replacing.
But I knew the cartridge should come off so I got a breaker bar, prayed and got that cold spigot to unscrew.
Holy crap it was a mess. Anything resembling rubber or plastic had disintegrated.
The hot wasn't much better.
Calcium build up on everything. Bad build up. He didn't bother to even clean the brass.
Put everything in a Ziploc and off to home Depot for an assortment of o rings and compression washers.
Another hour at home Depot, sales guys were zero help "we don't think we have what you need" idiots.
Found everything I needed and put the 73 parts in a large bowl of vinegar and went to turn the water on for a second to blow out any remaining debris in the lines.. Glad I did! Shot all kinds of crap against the shower wall.
Took the head off AGAIN and found more debris.
Cleaned everything, scoured until that brass shined like a new penny.. Carefully put everything back together including silicone grease...
Voila! Both knobs look fantastic and buttery smooth operation.
You seriously can't rely on ANYONE to do the job right. I hate having to do all this shite but you gotta do it.
Dear Facebook....
Granted the shower left and right knobs are probably 50 years old and we were in the middle of a huge remodel and the last thing I had time to worry about was figuring out to service this.
The hot water side would not turn off. Had to shut the water off to the entire house until he fixed it.
I should have known when he sent me to home Depot to pick up a set of diverter wrenches to use to pull the cartridge.
Anyway he fixed it but ever since it made loud groaning and harmonic noises when turned on and you would have to slap at the knob to try to get it quieter.
At the time I asked him to do the cold side as well but he was "busy" and said the washer has dissolved on the hot water side because of the heat and I didn't need to worry about the cold side.
Like a moron I believed him because I was lazy and had to much other stuff going on to question it.
Well a couple weeks back I noticed the shower barely had any pressure so I pulled the head and noticed the aerator trap was full of black debris.
Being dumb I rinsed it out put the head back on and declared myself Master of Water Pressure and thought I had solved it without thinking through WHAT that black shite was.
Anyway, 2 weeks later the cold won't shut off and I'm like here we go. I spend the better party of 2 hours trying to figure out how to take apart the spigot housing without tearing anything up because the last thing I need is to break something behind the tile and end to having to redo the entire shower...
Got all the parts out and I'm ready to pull the cartridge right? Right???
No. None of the wrenches fit. There's no "in between" size for the diameter I need so now I'm starting to think the Master Plumber pulled a stunt on me.
Ordered a larger set of tools from Amazon and this set had the right size (imagine Mrs cad and the rest of the family dealing with me constantly turning the water to the house off for 2 days)
It won't budge.
So before I break something I decide to remove the hot water side to see if it will come off.
That's when I discovered they plumber didn't do Jack shite. Her completely rigged this thing so it wouldn't leak but didn't actually replace anything needing replacing.
But I knew the cartridge should come off so I got a breaker bar, prayed and got that cold spigot to unscrew.
Holy crap it was a mess. Anything resembling rubber or plastic had disintegrated.
The hot wasn't much better.
Calcium build up on everything. Bad build up. He didn't bother to even clean the brass.
Put everything in a Ziploc and off to home Depot for an assortment of o rings and compression washers.
Another hour at home Depot, sales guys were zero help "we don't think we have what you need" idiots.
Found everything I needed and put the 73 parts in a large bowl of vinegar and went to turn the water on for a second to blow out any remaining debris in the lines.. Glad I did! Shot all kinds of crap against the shower wall.
Took the head off AGAIN and found more debris.
Cleaned everything, scoured until that brass shined like a new penny.. Carefully put everything back together including silicone grease...
Voila! Both knobs look fantastic and buttery smooth operation.
You seriously can't rely on ANYONE to do the job right. I hate having to do all this shite but you gotta do it.
Dear Facebook....
13
Posted on 10/14/24 at 12:14 pm to CAD703X
Ain't nobody reading this.
Posted on 10/14/24 at 12:26 pm to Motorboat
quote:
Ain't nobody reading this.
Posted on 10/14/24 at 12:40 pm to CAD703X
TLDR:
his pipes need cleaning and his plumber didn't do it for him
his pipes need cleaning and his plumber didn't do it for him
Posted on 10/14/24 at 12:55 pm to CAD703X
quote:
said the washer has dissolved on the hot water side because of the heat
Posted on 10/14/24 at 2:13 pm to CAD703X
You could have originally fixed it yourself quicker than typing all that shite
Posted on 10/14/24 at 2:46 pm to Jack Daniel
Probably
Well I learned a lot about the diverter.. It's all heavy metal and built to last a lifetime so it just needed servicing to take it apart and replace all the compression washers and o rings. Can't imagine it will have any problems for another 30 years
Well I learned a lot about the diverter.. It's all heavy metal and built to last a lifetime so it just needed servicing to take it apart and replace all the compression washers and o rings. Can't imagine it will have any problems for another 30 years
Posted on 10/14/24 at 3:28 pm to CAD703X
Name said plumber and report his arse to whomever licenses plumbers.
Posted on 10/14/24 at 5:40 pm to CAD703X
Plumbers look out for one another. A perfect plumbing job will fail in exactly ten years and have a valve sweated too close to the wall for a simple repair.
Bonus points for obscure hardware.
Bonus points for obscure hardware.
This post was edited on 10/14/24 at 5:42 pm
Posted on 10/14/24 at 11:00 pm to CAD703X
quote:
I should have known when he sent me to home Depot to pick up a set of diverter wrenches to use to pull the cartridge.
"Get the hell out of my house."---what you should have said.
Posted on 10/14/24 at 11:29 pm to DMAN1968
I’m guessing this was a shade tree plumber?
Fwiw I’ve had 2 different plumbers tell me parts for an older 2 handle shower were no longer made, and a 3rd guy show up to replace the entire thing and he said he could fix it.
Fwiw I’ve had 2 different plumbers tell me parts for an older 2 handle shower were no longer made, and a 3rd guy show up to replace the entire thing and he said he could fix it.
Posted on 10/15/24 at 6:32 am to CAD703X
quote:
You seriously can't rely on ANYONE to do the job right. I hate having to do all this shite but you gotta do it.
That was way too long, but I agree with you. I had very limited home repair knowledge until I bought out first home. I can’t tell you how many times I have said after I paid for a repair, upgrade, etc “I should have just done this myself.” Even fewer times have I been impressed with the work.
Posted on 10/15/24 at 8:07 am to OceanMan
Yeah sorry for the novel but it was a lot of work to remove, clean and rebuild those diverter cartridges and I'm just a hack.
Just floored at the complete lack of follow through. There was so much calcium build up that was bound cause more problems and you can't be bothered to spend 30 extra minutes to dump them in a bowl with $1 worth of vinegar?
Surely calcium build up is a routine issue plumbers find when fixing older plumbing fixtures right?
The cool thing is these are so old they are built like a tank and can probably be serviced over and over for another 100 years and made like new.
but it was a lot of work to remove, clean and rebuild those diverter cartridges and I'm just a hack. Just floored at the complete lack of follow through. There was so much calcium build up that was bound cause more problems and you can't be bothered to spend 30 extra minutes to dump them in a bowl with $1 worth of vinegar?
Surely calcium build up is a routine issue plumbers find when fixing older plumbing fixtures right?
The cool thing is these are so old they are built like a tank and can probably be serviced over and over for another 100 years and made like new.
This post was edited on 10/15/24 at 8:10 am
Posted on 10/15/24 at 2:00 pm to CAD703X
I have two toilets I need to replace. When are you available?
As frustrating as it was, doesn't it feel good to learn something new?
As frustrating as it was, doesn't it feel good to learn something new?
Posted on 10/15/24 at 2:17 pm to CAD703X
How old is your water heater? That might have something to do with the corrosion you're experiencing as well. Sediment gets trapped in those crevices on the orings and eat away at the rubber/ nitrile or whatever you have.
Posted on 10/15/24 at 9:43 pm to CAD703X
I had an electrician (well... a guy who works with electricity) out about a month ago and I pretty much had to give him a pep talk to get him to do the job. He told me he "really only knew AC" and wanted to charge me for the visit and not do anything . I told him I knew DC myself and between the two of us we'd get through it. This was not some fly-by-night handyman, either... legit electrical contractor with lots of shiny new vans.
. I told him I knew DC myself and between the two of us we'd get through it. This was not some fly-by-night handyman, either... legit electrical contractor with lots of shiny new vans. Posted on 10/16/24 at 12:27 am to idlewatcher
New water heater 2023. Shower fixtures 1978.
Posted on 10/16/24 at 1:07 pm to CAD703X
quote:
Shower fixtures 1978.
Code for galvanized lines?
Posted on 10/16/24 at 10:02 pm to CAD703X
I didn’t read all of that shite, however, this cracked me up!
quote:
made loud groaning and harmonic noises when turned on and you would have to slap at the knob to try to get it quieter.
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