The flapper valve in my shower/tub does not work properly. When it is pushed in to switch water flow from the tub spigot to the shower head most of the water comes through the shower head but about 25% of the water still flows out of the tub spigot. I replaced the easily removed flexible ‘flappy’ part but the situation remained the same. It seems there must be a defect in the seemingly extremely difficult to replace part of the valve.
Can anyone offer any tips on fixing this which don’t involve tearing out part of the shower wall and replacing the entire valve? I tried looking for a solution at wikihow & elsewhere without success.
I just replaced the kind that is on top of the faucet. For this I just unscrewed the faucet and bought a new one for like $20.
It sounds like yours might be a different set up. Without knowing exactly what you’re dealing with, it’ll be hard to help. I’m sure there are some how-to sites out there. The term for the part is a “diverter.” Try using that when you search.
It sounds like there is no longer a good seal between the shower fitting and the diverter mechanism in the valve.
My first guess would be hard water mineral deposits in the valve.
My second guess would relate to our old faucet. Our hot water would drip and I kept replacing the o-ring on the shut off. It turns out that the brass fitting that the o-ring snugged up against had eroded and had a small nick out of the side. The new o-ring would temporarily seal, but quickly broke down and started leaking again. I ended up renovating the entire bathroom. The seal inside your diverter may have eroded enough to not have a good seal.
I took it apart. Saw no mineral deposits in the diverter. Scraped where I could with a thin scewdriver just so I could say I did. Put it together and the situation remains the same. I think Delta plumbing parts are among the cheapest but in the long run they may end up costing more than expensive components.
Our shower head is detachable, connected with a hose and has a little port type thing it can sit in if you just want it above your head like a normal shower head. But! The little area it sits in is connected to the main pipe jutting out of the wall by a ball joint, the idea I guess being to make the thing it sits in adjustable to different directions. However the ball joint seems to have very little grip ad mostly just hangs all the way down. Maybe the water is lubricating it, maybe the hose hanging down exerts too much weight. Is there some way to tighten a ball joint? It’s not immediately obvious to me, the way a straight up screw between two cylindrical components might be…