Moved into new place - about two years old. Want to replace showerhead. Put big shifter on it last night and..... won't move. No hint of it turning. All that is happening is the pipe is flexing/bending behind the tiles It is so firm you'd think it was on with loctite! But surely it is just teflon tape?
OK, what do I have to do. What is the trick? I was thinking of differential expansion - have the head full of cold water then pour hot water over the outside of the head? What about trying to get some WD40 into the threads?
Two ideas. First, grip the pipe with multigrips while attacking the nut - that should allow you to apply more force without flexing the pipe. Second, try tightening the nut a bit before trying to undo it. For some reason this often helps.
Failing that, wait till the coast is clear and call a plumber. Pay in cash.
Sadly cannot grip the pipe - it's behind the tiles and the cover plate. Yes, I tried tightening as well - again no movement -just flexing/bending of pipe behind tile. As I have often observed, it's not rigidly mounted - just a couple of nails in the screw holes and bent over I expect. Why don't plumbers rigidly mount the shower pipe with two solid screws in the mounting holes?
Try this. Get 2 hammers, hold one on one side of the nut and hit the opposite flat, do that on all flats. Loosens up the corrossion/calcium in the threads. Old fitters trick. "If it does'nt move, get a bigger hammer"
Try this. Get 2 hammers, hold one on one side of the nut and hit the opposite flat, do that on all flats. Loosens up the corrossion/calcium in the threads. Old fitters trick. "If it does'nt move, get a bigger hammer"
Bill
sound similar to what i was going to say...
*2 hammers hit the nut with equal presure on oposite sides. soak on wd40 and then try it...
*hacksaw the end off, soak in wd40 and then try...
*hacksaw the end off, grind down to thread, soak in wd40 and try agin...
*hacksaw end off, hit end with hammer then the 2 hammer trick, soak with wd40 and then try...
above all else,
do not call a plumber! your manhood is at stake here!!!
Moved into new place - about two years old. Want to replace showerhead. Put big shifter on it last night and..... won't move. No hint of it turning. All that is happening is the pipe is flexing/bending behind the tiles It is so firm you'd think it was on with loctite! But surely it is just teflon tape?
OK, what do I have to do. What is the trick? I was thinking of differential expansion - have the head full of cold water then pour hot water over the outside of the head? What about trying to get some WD40 into the threads?
SWMBO is losing confidence in my handyman skills!
Many thanks in advance.
Give it blast with WD40 and let it soak in overnight that might dissolve the corrosion making it grip.
Failing that , I've had a similar problem several years ago with sink taps in my bathroom , give it a bit of heat from a small portaflame to get everything moving and try to shift it while hot.
If that don't work - you might need to get a friendly plumber in - you definitely don't want to have the pipes or welds or solders to fracture inside the wall - that would be very bad news and an expensive fix.
PS : V.IMPORTANT : before you do anything else - Check with the insurance company and if you haven't got accidential damage cover , add it, then if you bust the pipe or wall "accidentially" you will be covered and get most your costs back for the repairs.
Check with the insurer to see where you stand (anominously).
Last edited by Ian Robinson; 05-08-2008 at 07:42 PM.
get a oxy on it ,then let it cool then ,try undoing it should work same as ian,s idea heat is what you need to loosen it stubborn nuts threads etc
cheers rob
If you live in a hard water area, and most of Australia seems to be fairly hard water, then calcium build up will undoubtedly be the cause, so try to dissolve the calcium with a mild acid, vinegar would be a good start. Some plasticine moulded around a funnel cut off from the top of a Coke Bottle, milk bottle, or what have you, that is close to the size of the spigot, and filled with vinegar overnight may solve the problem. This may not be practical if the shower head is too close to the wall, so try drilling small holes in the side of the shower head, and introduce some vinegar through the drill holes. If this fails, go to plan B.
Heat from a butane torch may be sufficient to cause the shower head to expand just enough to allow the seal to break, and the head to be unscrewed. Heat needs to be applied to the shower head in large quantities, but quickly, so that the shower head expands, but the pipe under still remains cool, and does not expand. Some judicious application of the Blacksmith Principle (a hammer) may assist in freeing the threads.
Plan C, get an angle grinder, and with a very thin blade, (1.5mm can be purchased), slice through the shower head at right angles to the thread, and then the head should be able to be prised open sufficiently to break the bond, and released. First, cover the tiles with masking tape, or a wet cloth, or you will get burns on the tiles from the angle grinder. Wear a face mask and eye protection, and keep the angle grinder away from running water.
If none of these suggestions works, sell the house, as getting a plumber to fix it will prove more costly.
You should also check to see if the tiles are still available in the size and colour and pattern you have , otherwise if it is necessary to break some tiles , you'll be looking at a retiling job ( at least the wall the shower is on ).
When I rebuilt my bathroom and installed a big fibreglass bath-shower enclosure - Marbletrend - through the outside wall - too big to get up the hall in through the doors - I rescued the old walls with the old tiles still glued on , and later , got them off and cleaned them up to recycle (took a few days over a long weekend with a hammer and an fishing knife blade modified for the job (ground to form a very flexi - thin chisle - pryoffer - wanted to avoid breaking tiles getting them off (bending them would do that) , and another fishing knife to scrape the glue off (a harder job than I expected) , came up a treat and saved myself a fair bit of doe (antique textured tiles I had were impossible to replace) and I still had one full intact wall with tiles on. They are back on the walls and look great.
I have done all my own wall and floor tiling and plumbing over the last 25 years , done a better better job than than the pros (I had a builder mate who checked out my work when I finished my renovations in 1996 and offered me job).
Are you guys sure there isn't a solution that doesn't involve partial or total destruction? I want it disconnected without damaging anything. All I want to do is insert a two way valve and put a flexible hose and shower head on as well as the existing showerhead. Yes I didn't say that earlier, but I didn't want to complicate the story.
(And when I finish renting and move on, to reverse the process! So I need the existing showerhead without a scratch on it.)
It cannot be corroded on - this property doesn't even show on Google Earth - it is about two years old - max.
Are you sure the pipe is twisting? get a spanner on there and just unscrew it, it should come it just needs a bit of grunt don,t be shy.
I do maintenance at a good size hotel motel and sometimes you think its bloody tight but with grunt they will come undone...just do it!!
It is so firm you'd think it was on with loctite! But surely it is just teflon tape? 
I want it disconnected without damaging anything. All I want to do is insert a two way valve and put a flexible hose and shower head on as well as the existing showerhead. Yes I didn't say that earlier, but I didn't want to complicate the story.
