Plumbing Question - Bathtub Shower Pipes

Posted by The Sparkster on February 20, 2007, 4:46 pm

Hi,

I'm trying to help out a friend who purchased a house built in the
early 1970's. In their main bathtub, they have a small broken
showerhead that attaches to a shower pipe with a ball on at the end of
it. We could not find a decent replacement showerhead that would fit
it. Apparently, all the new stuff screws on and, with a replacement
showerhead, there are three different size/makes of ball fittings to
choose from. I sweated off the ball and it now leaves an unthreaded
shower pipe behind.

The problem is that the riser pipe and everything behind the wall is
also soldered together. The bathtub is part of a tub enclosure which
makes access from the shower side impossible. Also, there is no direct
way to access the pipes from the opposite wall without doing some
cutting of the sheetrock - it's a wall papered room. This makes
changing the shower pipe or the whole assembly difficult.

I'm reaching out for any help in finding an adapter or other solution
so that I could use the existing unthreaded shower pipe. Possibly
something that would solder on the one side and have threads on the
other.

Would anyone be able to help?

Thanks so much,
Wayne

Posted by Speedy Jim on February 20, 2007, 5:13 pm

The Sparkster wrote:

> Hi,
>
>
> I'm trying to help out a friend who purchased a house built in the
> early 1970's. In their main bathtub, they have a small broken
> showerhead that attaches to a shower pipe with a ball on at the end of
> it. We could not find a decent replacement showerhead that would fit
> it. Apparently, all the new stuff screws on and, with a replacement
> showerhead, there are three different size/makes of ball fittings to
> choose from. I sweated off the ball and it now leaves an unthreaded
> shower pipe behind.
>
>
> The problem is that the riser pipe and everything behind the wall is
> also soldered together. The bathtub is part of a tub enclosure which
> makes access from the shower side impossible. Also, there is no direct
> way to access the pipes from the opposite wall without doing some
> cutting of the sheetrock - it's a wall papered room. This makes
> changing the shower pipe or the whole assembly difficult.
>
>
> I'm reaching out for any help in finding an adapter or other solution
> so that I could use the existing unthreaded shower pipe. Possibly
> something that would solder on the one side and have threads on the
> other.
>
>
> Would anyone be able to help?
>
>
> Thanks so much,
> Wayne
>

You're saying that the shower arm sticking out of the wall
is actually soldered into some fitting (EL) *inside* the wall?
Usually, the arm would be screwed in to a fitting.

Measure the OD of the arm. Then see if a copper male adapter
would fit and solder it on. That will give you threads to
work from.

Or maybe a compression fitting.

Or ream out a shower head which has 1/2" pipe threads (std)
and solder it to the pipe.

Get measurements.

Jim

Posted by dreamchaser on February 20, 2007, 8:46 pm

Just unscrew the pipe sticking out of the wall if you want to replace
it or you may need to replace it if the threads on the end are
different from today's shower heads. Today's shower heads have a
female thread and screw onto the male thread of the shower head stem
sticking out of the wall.

You can remove the one coming out of the wall by unscrewing it, unless
like was said, someone soldered one in but I've never heard of that
being done. If it's chrome plated, it surely isn't soldered in. Look
thru the hole in the wall with a flashlight and verify it is threaded
into a pipe inside the wall. Unscrew it, put teflon tape on a new one
and screw it in until tight and at the position you want. Then screw
on a new shower head.

Posted by Sacramento Dave on February 20, 2007, 9:44 pm

> Hi,
> I'm trying to help out a friend who purchased a house built in the
> early 1970's. In their main bathtub, they have a small broken
> showerhead that attaches to a shower pipe with a ball on at the end of
> it. We could not find a decent replacement showerhead that would fit
> it. Apparently, all the new stuff screws on and, with a replacement
> showerhead, there are three different size/makes of ball fittings to
> choose from. I sweated off the ball and it now leaves an unthreaded
> shower pipe behind.
> The problem is that the riser pipe and everything behind the wall is
> also soldered together. The bathtub is part of a tub enclosure which
> makes access from the shower side impossible. Also, there is no direct
> way to access the pipes from the opposite wall without doing some
> cutting of the sheetrock - it's a wall papered room. This makes
> changing the shower pipe or the whole assembly difficult.
> I'm reaching out for any help in finding an adapter or other solution
> so that I could use the existing unthreaded shower pipe. Possibly
> something that would solder on the one side and have threads on the
> other.
> Would anyone be able to help?
> Thanks so much,
> Wayne

The standard way it should be plumbed the pipe inside the wall than feeds
the shower head should have a Drop eared 90 on it
http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1278953&cp=1254880.1255000.1306326&view=all&parentPage=family&searchId=1306326
The pipe (usually chrome) that sticks out the wall screws into the Drop ear
90, shower head screws to that.

Similar Threads	Posted
'nother plumbing question - strapping pipes	December 17, 2007, 10:16 pm
Custom shower plumbing question	May 24, 2008, 7:52 pm
Bathtub conversion into a shower	September 10, 2006, 7:02 pm
Mysterious Bathtub/shower leak	March 5, 2007, 1:06 pm
How to take out a bathtub and prepare floor for walk-in shower	November 14, 2006, 1:53 am
Is there a good alternative to tile for the shower/bathtub wall?	August 25, 2005, 1:04 am
Copper Plumbing Rust, On New Pipes, HOW TO CLEAN IT ?	November 2, 2005, 12:07 pm
Home plumbing: Copper VS plastic-type pipes	May 2, 2007, 2:33 am
How to replace shower plumbing.	April 10, 2006, 9:28 am
Shower plumbing install	December 13, 2008, 12:04 pm