Stuck shower valve stem
 

I've stripped two valve stem wrenches trying to loosen the hot water
valve in this shower. I've tried wd40 and heating it up with a torch
to get it to loosen up but no luck so far. (I did get the cold stem
to give after much grunting and some cursing)

The shower is one piece fiberglass and it backs up to another one
piece fiberglass shower so I very much don't want to break anything
loose inside the wall.

Are there any special techniques/tools to help with this situation?
Some sort of special wrench or magic song to sing or something? I'm
afraid to try another standard valve stem wrench because I'm afraid
I'll start to round off the nut inside the wall and then never be able
to get a grip on it.

Any shared experience would be greatly appreciated!

John

"John/Charleston" wrote in message
...
I've stripped two valve stem wrenches trying to loosen the hot water
valve in this shower. I've tried wd40 and heating it up with a torch
to get it to loosen up but no luck so far. (I did get the cold stem
to give after much grunting and some cursing)

The shower is one piece fiberglass and it backs up to another one
piece fiberglass shower so I very much don't want to break anything
loose inside the wall.

Are there any special techniques/tools to help with this situation?
Some sort of special wrench or magic song to sing or something? I'm
afraid to try another standard valve stem wrench because I'm afraid
I'll start to round off the nut inside the wall and then never be able
to get a grip on it.

Any shared experience would be greatly appreciated!

John

Spray it again with liquid wrench several times over a couple of days.
Remember that it is the threads around the outside and not the stem that
needs to be sprayed. I have had better success with LW and time than with
WD. A crazy as it sounds rapping it hard enough to vibrate it also helps.

Then use the correct size deep well socket instead of the cheaper valve stem
wrench. Use common sense and don't kill it with torque.

Back to back sounds ugly. Good luck.

Colbyt

John/Charleston wrote:

I've stripped two valve stem wrenches trying to loosen the hot water
valve in this shower. I've tried wd40 and heating it up with a torch
to get it to loosen up but no luck so far. (I did get the cold stem
to give after much grunting and some cursing)

The shower is one piece fiberglass and it backs up to another one
piece fiberglass shower so I very much don't want to break anything
loose inside the wall.

Are there any special techniques/tools to help with this situation?
Some sort of special wrench or magic song to sing or something? I'm
afraid to try another standard valve stem wrench because I'm afraid
I'll start to round off the nut inside the wall and then never be able
to get a grip on it.

Any shared experience would be greatly appreciated!

John

Use an automotive deep socket that's a tight fit.
If the stem is too long to use the ratchet drive
on the socket, put a pipe wrench over the outside
of the socket.

The only limiting factor is how well the faucet
casting is secured to the wall. If only the
piping is supporting it, something may break...

Jim

" I've stripped two valve stem wrenches trying to loosen the hot water
valve in this shower.

Make sure you have the correct size stem wrench, and that it has a deep
socket construction. A slightly oversized wrench will appear to strip, when
it is actually a mite too large. Once you are assured the wrench fits
right, tap the cross bar with a hammer to jar the stuck threads loose. As
the other poster says, beware if stem is supported only by piping, as you
may cause a pipe joint leak by overtorquing the stem nut.

On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 22:31:14 -0500, John/Charleston
wrote:

I've stripped two valve stem wrenches trying to loosen the hot water
valve in this shower. I've tried wd40 and heating it up with a torch
to get it to loosen up but no luck so far. (I did get the cold stem
to give after much grunting and some cursing)

The shower is one piece fiberglass and it backs up to another one
piece fiberglass shower so I very much don't want to break anything
loose inside the wall.

Are there any special techniques/tools to help with this situation?
Some sort of special wrench or magic song to sing or something? I'm
afraid to try another standard valve stem wrench because I'm afraid
I'll start to round off the nut inside the wall and then never be able
to get a grip on it.

Any shared experience would be greatly appreciated!

John

gosh John, sounds like that house you're working on is the money pit!
Did ya ever get that oil tank emptied?

Bill

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 13:39:07 GMT, Bill
wrote:

On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 22:31:14 -0500, John/Charleston
wrote:

I've stripped two valve stem wrenches trying to loosen the hot water
valve in this shower. I've tried wd40 and heating it up with a torch
to get it to loosen up but no luck so far. (I did get the cold stem
to give after much grunting and some cursing)

The shower is one piece fiberglass and it backs up to another one
piece fiberglass shower so I very much don't want to break anything
loose inside the wall.

Are there any special techniques/tools to help with this situation?
Some sort of special wrench or magic song to sing or something? I'm
afraid to try another standard valve stem wrench because I'm afraid
I'll start to round off the nut inside the wall and then never be able
to get a grip on it.

Any shared experience would be greatly appreciated!

John

gosh John, sounds like that house you're working on is the money pit!
Did ya ever get that oil tank emptied?

Bill


LOL, yes Bill I did get the oil tank emptied and they did it for free!
Melanie's Oil Services....they collect the recycled oil from auto
stores etc. They got about 75 gallons out of my tank so I gather
they got something for that but I gave them a bottle of wine anyway.
Nice folks. Haven't filled it with sand yet though.

As for the shower valve, that's in a rental I own....

Thanks for all the responses, I'll get my a$$ to an auto parts store
to find a 31/32 deep socket wrench and try to go easy.