Grohe Grohmix stop valves

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Crosstalk

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Seems like shower repair month for me--I have another shower valve question. I am trying to remove the stop valves (part 10 highlighted in the picture) from a grohmix valve with poor flow so I can clean the strainers. The valves are a brass nut/flange piece threaded into the brass valve body. I tried to unscrew both of them with a socket ratchet and they aren't budging. I am afraid of breaking the valve body or copper pipes with more force because I have no obvious way to apply a counter-force. I already removed the thermo cartridge and cleaned its strainer, but that didn't help. I actually think I made the poor flow problem worse by exercising the service stops to flush the valve body when the cartridge was out. Should I use an air impact wrench to back these out or is that a terrible idea? I used the air impact successfully on my water heater anode, but that was steel on steel and a much more massive assembly.

grohe.JPG
 

Terry

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The copper in the wall is normally pretty sturdy. Though if you are having problems with flow, you don't have much to lose.

Part 10

grohe-0835500m.jpg
 
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Crosstalk

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Thanks, Terry. You are right that I need to take the chance because those valves are probably clogged and need to be cleared.

I will get back to this in the next few days to see if I can get the stops out without breaking anything. I am a bit afraid of brass at the moment because I recently poked a hole in a water heater drain trying to unscrew it.
 

Crosstalk

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Impact wrench was great for this, but the stops/valve body didn't seem clogged. I guess I need to look at the shower head internals next.
 

Crosstalk

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I called myself checking the head first too, but now I am questioning it. I soaked it in white vinegar but that didn't have any effect so I started the process of checking the valve. Now I'm back to square one, but will take the hand shower apart this time.
 

Crosstalk

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I took the head apart and found no serious limescale. I did discover a hard and possibly swollen o-ring in the flow restrictor. The resistor has a central jet and a set of jets around the perimeter. The perimeter jets seemed blocked by the o-ring. I tested without the flow restrictor and the flow was way too much. So I replaced the o-ring and it's working well now. Unfortunately for me I did a lot of work to find an o-ring was the problem.
 

Reach4

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Thanks for the info. Was the O-ring in a restrictor like the green one in this picture?

2013_moen_showerhead-9.jpg
 
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Crosstalk

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Not exactly the same, but a similar design. I'm not sure what the o-ring is supposed to do (partially block the perimeter or check valve?) or the exact OEM size, but swelling of this over time would explain my gradual loss of flow.
 
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