Learn From My Plumbing Mistake: Don’t Pay $133.75 For A Tiny Rubber Washer

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Last night we ran a bath for our son and when I turned off the hot water a strange thing happened: the hot water did not turn off. I twisted and pushed and turned, but no matter what I did with the 40 year old shower faucet, the hot water kept running out as though I wasn’t even there. I sighed and then ran down to the basement and turned off the hot water for the shower.

Once my son was in bed I started working on the faucet. Most faucets leak because of worn out washers, so you generally just have to replace the washer to stop the leak. I had to take off the hot water knob, unscrew the valve stem and check the washer on the inside to see if it had to be replaced or not. It looked straightforward enough, so I grabbed a few tools and gave it a shot.

I removed the screw in the center of the knob and tried to tug it off. It didn’t budge. I pulled some more. Nothing moved. I grabbed the knob with both hands and pulled, but this time I noticed that the pipes inside the wall seemed to be moving as well, so I was clearly pulling too hard. I squirted some Liquid Wrench into the screw hole and gave it another yank, but again nothing moved. There was no doubt about it, my shower knob was stuck.

Having the right tools, like this Shower Handle Puller, can make all the difference when tackling an unfamiliar job.

I couldn’t keep running to the basement to turn the water on and off whenever I got in or out of the shower and I couldn’t get the knob off to fix the problem. I wasn’t real keen on using so much force that I ended up breaking something else. At this point I also have to admit that while I enjoy working around the house, I have a few areas where that I think I’m irrationally afraid to work with. I won’t run new electric lines, I’m won’t touch anything with gas lines (and, really, you shouldn’t, either) and I seem to have a total brain freeze when it comes to being able to do anything with pipes or water.

So I turned to an expert. I called a professional plumber.

What The Plumber Did

He started out the same way I did: removing the screw from the knob and giving it a tug. He got the same result, so he want to the truck to grab some tools. He came back with two items that I don’t have.

The first tool he used has two arms that slip behind the knob with a screw in the middle that pushes against the center screw hole of the knob. As he turns the screw it slowly but steadily pulls the shower knob off the stem. Sure enough, the knob popped off after about four turns of the screw. I later found out that this tool is called a “handle puller” and is generally used for exactly that: pulling handles off stems that may be stuck due to corrosion or rust.

Now he simply had a thin rod which had a nut on the end of it, but that nut was sunken about an inch below the surface of the wall, where no ordinary wrench could get to it. This is where my plumber pulled out his second tool: a set of internal pipe wrenches which are designed to slide over stems and into tight spaces where they can than be turned with a small crossbar.

Within a minute he had taken out the old worn out five cent washer and replaced it with a brand new seven cent washer (inflation!). He put everything back together and was ready to charge me the full $133.75. I was glad to pay it because I didn’t have to run down to the basement anymore to turn the water on and off and because I had learned a few things. Since that time I’ve also worked up the nerve to work on plumbing projects around the house and I’ve even put together a helpful guide to removing a stuck shower knob that you can use if you’re in the same situation.

Here’s what else I learned from the plumber:

Lesson #1 – Having the Right Tools Counts

Sometimes the tools you need are physical ones like the knob puller or the pipe wrench. But sometimes you also need the tool of experience to really do a job the right way. I’ve fumbled through plenty of jobs and most of them turned out okay, but in many cases I would have saved a lot of time (and even some materials) if I had gone in with the right tools initially. For the wood dresser that I refinished I ended up buying two different electric sanders and a variety of paints and varnishes. Now I have those tools so the next time I refinish a furniture piece I’ll have the experience and physical tools to do it better. Now that I’ve seen how to fix a shower knob, I’ll know what physical tools I’ll need to perform the job correctly next time.

Lesson #2 – Don’t Be Afraid To Ask Questions

I asked this plumber about a dozen questions while he was working on my shower knob that ranged from other tools I might need to do a job like this, what the best way to remove an old tub was and I even asked his opinion about shower surrounds versus tiled shower walls. I’ve found that most people who work on my home love to be asked intelligent questions because it allows them to shine, it allows them to flaunt their expertise and it sometimes makes the job much more enjoyable for them to have someone they can talk with while working. And since I’m paying someone to work on my house, I might as well get some free information and expert advice out of them!

Lesson #3 – How To Fix A Shower Knob That Won’t Turn Off

I learned how to fix this by watching a paid professional. No, it wasn’t difficult, but having seen a job performed once and being able to ask questions while the job is being performed can be very valuable. I have eleven other faucets around this house, all with a similar structure. If any of those ever stop working I’ll at least have the experience needed to troubleshoot the problem further and be able to save myself the $133.75 charge next time. Heck, if I have two faucets that break then I might even be able to save myself $267.50!

All in all, I’d say that $133.75 was a pretty good investment…

Update: I used what I learned from this experience to replace the shower diverter valve in my tub. The total cost of that repair was about $16 for parts and $0 for labor!

Tags: bathroom, plumbing

This entry was posted on August 9, 2007 at 3:09 am and is filed under DIY Plumbing, Do-It-Yourself Mistakes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.