Unusual shower arm connection

[Stephan Sanders]

We recently moved into a new house and want to insert an S style shower arm/pipe to make the shower head higher. On trying to turn the old shower arm anti-clockwise I could not get it to move. I removed the flange and underneath was a mass of transparent, hard, jelly-like material. Removing the jelly it looks like the copper pipe the old shower arm attaches to is wider than the 1/2 inch shower arm and there is a greenish, rough material holding the shower arm within. Two photos are attached. I've never looked at a shower arm attachment before, so may simply not recognize how it should look. I'm worried someone has simply "glued" the 1/2 shower arm into a wider pipe and that trying hard to turn the shower arm will cause serious problems. Any advice greater welcomed. Thanks.

 

[Standardairconditioner]

The yucky stuff is probably a cocktail of age/time/water/glues/caulking/tiles, and has nothing to do with the threads or anything holding back the old shower arm. Your lack of experience lead to this wrong incorrect conclusion.

Fittings can easily seize after a few years. Either that old arm is going to come off, or the arm and the fitting behind it will come off. Once it is all off, you'll be able to access what you can replace to get the new arm on.

You may or may not have the DIY skills to complete this, and it is strongly recommended you hire a licensed professional.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

Hopefully, the fitting in the wall is properly secured, otherwise, excessive torque might bend or kink something! You might be seeing some old silicon, which will make unscrewing things a major pain. If the arm breaks off in the process, you might want to have an inside pipe wrench available to take out what's left. Without some experience, it's a bit risky. It should just unscrew.

What are you using to try to remove it? Often, the shape of the arm itself will give you enough leverage, but if not, maybe extend it with a hefty screwdriver shoved into the end. On the new one, make sure that the offset isn't too long and hits the ceiling when trying to screw it in place! Since you're not trying to reuse the old arm, a pipe wrench could be used to remove it. It will score the chrome, but not an issue if you're going to throw it away. Some of them are pretty flimsy, and might just collapse when trying to remove it, especially if there's any corrosion. Brass shouldn't be a major problem, but sometimes, through long use, it gets thinner and weakens.

 

[Stephan Sanders]

Thanks for the helpful comments.