Showerhead problem this week

[Barko]

Just the other day, water started spraying out of the part of the showerhead where it screws onto the pipe. I didn't notice at first until I slipped on the pool of water outside our showerstall and smashed my knee against the floor.
It seemed like a simple matter of tightening the showerhead on the pipe, but after making it really tight again, the water came spraying out of the same place, but at a much higher velocity.
What obvious thing am I missing here? Washer? Sealant? Putty?

 

[Jadnashua]

Most showerheads are a tapered pipe thread which won't seal (but will get tight) unless you use something to fill in around the interference threads. Use pipe dope or teflon tape. It could also be the showerhead has split. Because it is a tapered thread, the tighter you get it, it's like driving a wedge into the thing. Metal ones are normally fine, tighten a plastic bodied one too much, and it can split.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Runs with Bison]

Also, if you've changed the shower arm recently, all of the replacement showerarms I've seen in the stores in the past 6 months have improperly cut threads that will not seal well. Most of the ones I've seen have been Danco's in big box and hardware stores but I did come across another type with the problem in either Wally Mart or Super Target.