In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 06 Oct 2019 02:00:41 -0400,
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Oct 2019 23:41:18 -0400, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 05 Oct 2019 12:41:49 -0400,
wrote:


Oh, good. So I should take a phone with me when I do this.

My bet is a leak in a valve stem. Have you replaced the packing?

I did that when I did the stems 7 years ago, but maybe I did a bad job
on one.

What if I took off the decorative chrome tube that goes between the
decorative handle and the wall? If the stem is leaking, instead of
running down that tube into the wall, it would just drip straight down,
near or into the tub, right? And I'll see that.

That is, if it's the stem packing, the water gets back to the wall
through that 2" chrome tube, right?

It might be a good idea to take off the stem, clean out the threads on
both sides, wrap it in teflon tape and put it back.
Those guys were pretty good about soldering as a general rule and if
you have pipes going bad I would expect to see it in other places ...
same with bad solder joints.

That makes sense, but I'm afraid if it's not leaking there I'll make it
worse rather than better.

Take the knobs and the bezel off, stuff the holes with paper towels,
getting them way inside past the packing nuts, put the knobs back on
and run some water. Pull out the paper towels and see if one is wet.

Tbanks. That sounds good, and easy.