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Posted by Malcolm Hoar on January 23, 2007, 12:43 pm
>On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 11:52:57 -0500, Jeff Wisnia
>
>>Bob Simon wrote:
>>
>>> For the past several months I've had an occasional leak from my second
>>> floor bathroom into the front hall. After completely caulking the
>>> area (thanks for all the great caulking advice on 12/29 and 12/30) the
>>> problem remains.
>>>
>>> Last weekend I opened the ceiling over the hall and was able to
>>> actually see it happen. When my wife shut off the shower, a thin but
>>> steady stream of water came down for about two seconds. I cannot
>>> repeat the problem by opening and closing the valves or diverter,
>>> which makes it difficult to know how to proceed. My wife says she
>>> opens the diverter before shutting off the water. This is a three
>>> handle system and it's around 30 years old.
>>>
>>> Given all this information, is there a clue that I missed as to the
>>> likely cause of the leak? Is the best course of action to remove the
>>> splash panel and replace the mixing body along with valves and
>>> diverter? I suppose it's also possible that the leak could be from
>>> the hot or cold water feeds, or the lines to the shower head or tub
>>> spout.
>>
>>
>>I'd suggest you first check the diverter valve's shaft packing gland (or
>>perhaps it's an O-ring seal).
>>
>>I had the same sort of problem on one of our showers, and after changing
>>the diverter valve seal I made a little sheet brass chute fastened in
>>place with silicone caulking. That chute will direct any future leaks
>>from the same source out in front of the tiled wall, behind the single
>>handle valve's trim plate. That plate already has a notch on its bottom
>>to accept any leakage from the main valve shaft, whose seal's leakage
>>point is already in front of the tiled wall.
>>
>>Jeff
>
>Is there any way to tell if the diverter seal was the cause of the
>problem other than by replacing it and seeing if the leak stops?
If the leak started some time ago, you'll likely see some
evidence -- limescale deposits and corrosion around that
area of the valve.
It was very apparent when I had a leaking valve stem on
a shower faucet last year.
--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| malch@malch.com Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
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