Replace Leaky Shower Faucet

[waiter]

The only issue I had when I checked my water system was the Shower Faucet leaked, real bad.

There is an adapter looking thing that screws into the faucet, this is a one way check valve that prevents the water from being sucked back through the hand held shower hose. The hand held shower head screws into the other end of this check valve.

The fitting on the Shower Faucet that the check valve screws into was cracked, and water would leak out of the faucet assembly instead of going to the hand held shower.

On my Dolphin, the shower faucet backs up against the Kitchen Stove. SO. - Here's how to do it

1) Eyeball and tape measure the faucet and mark the Kitchen wall to cut the smallest hole. Use a sharp razor box cutter and after two or three passes, it will cut through the thin plywood.

2) Unscrew the hot and cold pipes from the faucet, remove the faucet nuts and the faucet will pop out in the shower.

3) The new faucet I got would not fit. The screw fittings that the pipes screw into were to long. I used a small bandsaw and cut about 3/4 inch from each of the fittings. In the photo, you can see the old faucet, (white) and the two small pieces I cut off the new faucet (black). After cutting, I used a sharp razor knife and sandpaper to clean up the inside and outside of the threads on the faucet.

4) Mount the faucet assembly (Note the wrinkles are from the original wall paper) Install the nuts on the kitchen side and snug them up. I mounted the new faucet so the check valve is down. (The original had the Check valve up)

5) OK - This is tricky - The supply pipes will push up into the faucet, but its a snug fit. I had to hold the pipe square, put a small amount of pressure on it, and turn the nut, all at the same time. might need to wiggle the supply pipe a little to get it to slide up into the faucet. (you can see the cut off pieces in this photo also) If you see that the nut is going on, but the pipe is not going in, then stop and re-wiggle the pipe to get it to slide into the faucet. There should only be about 1/8 inch between the nut and the supply pipe. A rubber gasket inside the nut will seal the pipe to the faucet.

6) Tighten all the nuts, hook up the shower hose and turn the faucets off.

7) Turn the water pump ON and leak check the faucet. Turn the water faucet on until water flows, then turn it off (do this with both Hot and Cold). You should hear the Water pump bog down, check that there are no water leaks where the pipes connect to the faucet.

8) To cover up the hole in the Kitchen wall, I made a splash plate out of a small piece of Stainless. (Aluminum would also work) I cut it so it kind of matches the glass splash guard, Measure the screw holes so you don't accidentally run a screw into the plastic supply pipes.

JOhn Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[troyrobo]

nice job

[dolphindriver]

John's DIY's are the best. I used his DIY's to change my heater blower motor and my shower faucet. Here are a couple things that helped me on the shower faucet on a 1989 Dolphin.

1. Make sure your faucet needs to be replaced. If the faucet is leaking it may be the washers or the anti-siphon valve - check those first. Here is a link to the Phoenix faucet troubleshooting guide.

http://www.faucets.c...k%20develop.pdf . This would be much easier than changing the faucet.

2. If you do need to change your faucet, you can order a new one from Phoenix with the proper sized posts (out the back) from Phoenix direct. It cost me 19$ + $5.00 shipping, and I received it in one week. John cut his, I tried to do that as well, but I am not as handy as he is - so my connections leaked after I cut them. Once I ordered the new unit with from the factory with the 1 1/4" posts - it was a piece of cake. Make sure to remind the Phoenix people to send the small profile metal washers rather than the plastic ones. There was a nice lady at Phoenix who help me with the order (lstarcher@faucets.com Lori Starcher).

3. Cut a big enough hole so that you can work comfortably. I dropped a couple of things with my fat fingers. At least put a towel or something underneath to catch dropped things.

Thanks John.

Cheers,

[mulwyk]

Another valuable posting from John! Lucid description, perfect photos...very nice.

[Ladybug]

Thank you so much, John, and others. What a wonderful explanation and great pictures. We are out in our MH now and improvising without water, at least piped in. We are running a hose through the window at times to rinse dishes and at other times have big pans of water that we boil for wash water. We also use a bucket of water to flush the toilet. It will be okay as long as it doesn't get too cold and rainy. Kind of a pain, but we were all set to go when this happened, so we decided to make the best of it. Actually, we were kind of hoping to get the line to the shower capped off and not have a shower anymore. Seems like the easiest thing for us, and I hate the idea of cutting into our beautiful wallpaper, but we will have to see. Is there any way to cap off the water to the shower only? Once we get home, I want to print up your reply and pictures. They are the best! Thank you so very much, and I'll let you know what we decided to do and how it went. Your faucet system sounds EXACTLY like ours with that curved pipe turned upward. There truly is no other way to get to it but through the wall as your pictures show. Thanks again!

Diane

[waiter]

Unfortunately, the only way to get to those pipes is from the kitchen wall.

As you found out, you can see the pipes from the small outside service door, but theres no room in there to work. if you want to cut the pipes, you might be able to cut thru the wall under the oven to get to the bottom of the pipes.

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto