FYI...Your typical faucet seat is not "allen wrenchable". g

Take a look at the seat wrenches shown here and you'll see that the
ends are either sloped or stepped square, not six sided like an allen
wrench.

http://images.google.com/images?svnu...&q=faucet+seat

If you want to replace the seat, you should use the correct tool. If
you don't, you risk damaging the seat which can damage your washers and
lead to leaks.

Often times, a worn or damaged seat causes the user to crank down on
the faucet to shut off the water. This causes early failure of the
washer which is what the user sees when he pulls the stem. Thinking the
washer is the root cause of the leak, he replaces the washer. This may
work for a while, but as the worn seat slowly damages the new washer,
it takes more and more pressure to turn of the faucet, further damaging
the washer. It's such a vicious cycle.

Replacing the seat at the same time as you replace the washer may give
you much more time between washer repalcements.

On Jan 24, 7:05 pm, "David Martel" wrote:
One of my shower faucets died. I needed to replace the stem. In the box
with the stem is a new valve seat. Quickly tried to get the old seat out
with an allen wrench. It's in there good and tight. It looks fine, isn't
dripping. So, any reason to change out the old seat?

Dave M.