JHZR2
New Member
Im replacing the shower arm that was ca. 1975 when the bathroom was redone with all USA-made Kohler stuff. The shower arm is just too low and Im too tall, plus our shower head sprung a leak.
(Im putting this in the general forum because Im primarily curious about threads and sealing, not the shower aspect of it - mods, feel free to move)
The old one is chromed brass, as is the new one.
The old one had a tapered thread that the outer ends of the threads were pointy. Here is the old one:
The new one has flat tops on the threads. It IS tapered (unless an optical illusion that tricked me, though it does seem the taper isn't the same), maybe not exactly the same as the original... Here is the new one:
I got the old one out using the "channel lock arm in the hole" trick I read about on here. I cleaned the female threads, they looked good (through the tiny hole in the wall and tile, which is only barely larger than the OD of the shower arm), vacuumed any dirt or dust, and then prepped the new one. I used dope then tape than dope on the arm going into the wall. Tested for leaks, no indication, but as mentioned, the hole in the wall is tiny, so I tested by removing the covers for the controls and watched for water dripping down the riser.
So... What got me wondering is that what started all this was the need for a new show head. I got a new Kohler single setting shower head and like it very much. I screwed it onto the old shower arm (with the pointy threads), only finger tight and without even changing the old teflon tape. Turned on the shower and it worked perfect! Not a drip from the threads. Install it on the new arm with new teflon tape, and it was dripping...
The shower arm concerned me as it says "IPS" as the thread. It was the only type of thread that Lowes (yeah, Im not a fan but we were there and they were only 3.5% sales tax) offered for a shower arm...
I wasn't sure if this was lost in translation or what.
It took me using a heavier set of teflon tape layers and a few more turns of the shower head with a wrench to seal up (for now, I hope). But given the leakiness, and difficulty of seeing any leaks in the wall, I wanted to get smart on thread types and if there is an issue...
Thanks for your advice.
(Im putting this in the general forum because Im primarily curious about threads and sealing, not the shower aspect of it - mods, feel free to move)
The old one is chromed brass, as is the new one.
The old one had a tapered thread that the outer ends of the threads were pointy. Here is the old one:
The new one has flat tops on the threads. It IS tapered (unless an optical illusion that tricked me, though it does seem the taper isn't the same), maybe not exactly the same as the original... Here is the new one:
I got the old one out using the "channel lock arm in the hole" trick I read about on here. I cleaned the female threads, they looked good (through the tiny hole in the wall and tile, which is only barely larger than the OD of the shower arm), vacuumed any dirt or dust, and then prepped the new one. I used dope then tape than dope on the arm going into the wall. Tested for leaks, no indication, but as mentioned, the hole in the wall is tiny, so I tested by removing the covers for the controls and watched for water dripping down the riser.
So... What got me wondering is that what started all this was the need for a new show head. I got a new Kohler single setting shower head and like it very much. I screwed it onto the old shower arm (with the pointy threads), only finger tight and without even changing the old teflon tape. Turned on the shower and it worked perfect! Not a drip from the threads. Install it on the new arm with new teflon tape, and it was dripping...
The shower arm concerned me as it says "IPS" as the thread. It was the only type of thread that Lowes (yeah, Im not a fan but we were there and they were only 3.5% sales tax) offered for a shower arm...
I wasn't sure if this was lost in translation or what.
It took me using a heavier set of teflon tape layers and a few more turns of the shower head with a wrench to seal up (for now, I hope). But given the leakiness, and difficulty of seeing any leaks in the wall, I wanted to get smart on thread types and if there is an issue...
Thanks for your advice.
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