Old American Standard sink

[ndrose]

I have a 1940 house with American Standard bathroom fixtures. I think they are what was called Renu. I have a couple of questions.

1) About once a year, I have to replace the valve seat on the hot water side of the sink. The reason is that a small groove forms on the inner base of the seat, and then the tap drips. Any insight about why that happens or how to prevent it?

2) I used to be able to get replacement seats at a local supply house for about $1.50. They've stopped carrying them. Last time I wet there, they were able to order some for me from a machine shop in Colorado: $12 apiece plus shipping. That's not intolerable, but a bit of a hassle. I just used my last one of that batch. Any easier way to get these?

3) Most immediate problem: sometimes when I put the faucet back together, it doesn't drip, but it doesn't behave properly. That's happening now. In particular, it doesn't turn on immediately when you turn the handle--you have to turn it more, and then it comes on. But once it's on, it slowly turns itself off. The handle isn't turning, but the water flow diminishes. Any ideas about that?

Thanks,

Nathan Rose

 

[ndrose]

What I am thinking about problem 3 above:

Since the handle is not turning as the water turns off, I think it must be that the valve seat barrel is winding itself back onto the stem.

There is what I think is called a bonnet, which screws into the pipe and provides a channel to hold the stem in place, and also holds the packing which, together with the packing nut that screws into the bonnet, keeps water from leaking out the handle. But maybe the bonnet also has another function: to prevent the valve seat barrel from having the travel available to climb back up the stem.

When I reassembled the faucet, I first hand tightened the bonnet, then put on a ratchet (without the handle) and tightened that by hand as far as I could, and only then put on the handle and gave it another quarter turn. That's sort of my standard "good and tight" method. But if it needs to be screwed on far enough to block the valve seat barrel from moving, I can tighten it further. I also notice there is a fender washer between the bonnet and valve seat barrel, which I don't think is an original part of the assembly. I assume someone put it there (before I bought the house) to give the bonnet more reach towards the valve seat barrel.

I'm always hesitant to apply much force to these old fixtures because of the difficulty of replacing broken parts. So if anyone can confirm (or contradict) before I do, I'd be grateful.