Old shower handle replacement is giving me fits.

Sawzall with metal cutting blade or grinder.

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Old shower handle replacement is giving me fits.

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grab with a big assed channel locks, wiggle and pull, it should pull right off.

the wall flanges are often screwed on and need to unscrew, lefty lousy, if not, then they will pull straight out and off as well.

with that much corrosion you may have no choice but to replace the manifold in the wall.

whats on the other side of that shower wall? hopefully its a toilet or something so you can bust out the sheetrock to replace the shower manifold.

as safety precaution i would turn the water off before you try taking it apart as its possible, with that much corrosion, it may break the valve and come out with water blasting all over

Put the slim body of a screw driver across one of the openings and tap it with a hammer or turn it yourself. Or put a screw in opposite ends of the metal and use a plumbers wrench to grip against the screws and turn. It should pop off. If all else fails hit it around the edges to get some corrosion off and go at it from the back side with a flat head and bend the metal up.

Also may try something like CLR or muriatic acid if you have to, to remove the calcium build up. I’m sure muriatic acid isn’t good for copper so be careful.

Dremel with a cutting disk. Just start cutting away

That needs CLR first. Several rounds of spraying along with steel wool sponge to scrape it clean. That’s a cheap and easy first step.

Then you’ll have a better idea of what you’re dealing with.

It’s not difficult to find the plumbing. Just have to get this shite off to see what kind of cartridge I’m dealing with. I’m going to hit it with some CLR tonight and see how it goes.

Soak a wash cloth with white vinegar and wrap it on the nub. Wait 30 mins and that crud will be loose enough to remove. I did this process with several crusted over fittings.