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| Okay, More Faucet | |
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| Topic Started: May 29 2012, 08:06 AM (671 Views) | |
| Trotsky | May 29 2012, 08:06 AM Post #1 |
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Big City Boy
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Making me NUTS Department: I have matching double Kohler faucets in kitchen, bathroom and bathtub/shower. All that they differ in is size but otherwiise a matched set of chrome covered brass. Now, to turn the kitchen faucets ON I turn the knobs COUNTERCLOCKWISE and CLOCKWISE for OFF. In the bathroom sink I turn faucets ON by turning COUNTERCLOCKWISE...etc. So far so good...the universe is sane. But now in the SHOWER, it is reversed. ON is CLOCKWISE and OFF is COUNTERCLOCKWISE...this is different from the rest of the universe. So when I am in the shower and I get a burst of hot water I instinctively turn the hot faucet CLOCKWISE to turn it off which, of course SCALDS ME! So I know how I am going to meet my death...with a smashed cranium from falling out of the tub onto a tile floor, wrapped demurely in a shower curtain. Edited by Trotsky, May 29 2012, 08:07 AM.
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| campy | May 29 2012, 09:37 AM Post #2 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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I have the same problem in my apartment. What I did was mark the shower faucets with permanent ink indicating the direction for on. All the rest of the faucets are counterclockwise on and clockwise off. Now in the shower is where I would like to have those rotating single knobs. Edited by campy, May 29 2012, 09:38 AM.
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| Delphi51 | May 29 2012, 09:38 AM Post #3 |
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Member title
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Unbelievable! I trust you have made the company aware of your displeasure. We have the single control in the bathtub/shower . . . top of the line Moen . . . and it has no flow control. Full blast or nothing. I certainly gave Moen a blast. Edited by Delphi51, May 29 2012, 09:42 AM.
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| campy | May 29 2012, 09:54 AM Post #4 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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Isn't there an adjustable restriction you can put on the shower head itself? I have seen those shower heads with levers. |
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| wildie | May 29 2012, 01:06 PM Post #5 |
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Veteran Member
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How about switching the hot and cold stem assembly? Or you could buy a new right hand assembly and throw the left one away! |
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| wildie | May 29 2012, 01:09 PM Post #6 |
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Veteran Member
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I have a Moen tap in the shower and the flow is controled by pushing in the knob or pulling it out. The temperature is controlled by rotating the knob. |
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| campy | May 29 2012, 01:52 PM Post #7 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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How about switching the hot and cold stem assembly? Or you could buy a new right hand assembly and throw the left one away! You can't do that unless you take the whole faucet apart because the female threads are in the wrong direction. New shower installs have a heat limiting valve so you can't scald yourself. |
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| wildie | May 29 2012, 02:55 PM Post #8 |
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Veteran Member
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Thats right! You take the whole shebang, the stem, the cap, handle and washer and switch it with the other one. |
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| campy | May 29 2012, 02:57 PM Post #9 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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If you do that you might as well buy another faucet. Those things are not that easy to take apart. I had a Waltec. The bottom part was press fitted. No way to take it apart. |
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| wildie | May 29 2012, 03:20 PM Post #10 |
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Veteran Member
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I had a Waltec once and I have no recollection of having to take it apart. Did it use a rubber washer on the stem that was pressed against the seat, to stop water flow? |
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| campy | May 29 2012, 03:34 PM Post #11 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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Yes it did. It had a brass seat that you could ream with a special tool if it got scored. Otherwise it would keep leaking. You could remove the brass seat and install a new one if you could still find one. I can't remember why I was trying to switch stems but I remember not being able to do it. |
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| Trotsky | May 30 2012, 02:15 AM Post #12 |
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Big City Boy
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I had that LAST apartment Delphi...that's why I am not keen on single controls anymore.
That wouldn't help, wildie, because BOTH controls work the same idential way...BACKWARDS. If I switch them I STILL have CLOCKWISE = ON. (A stem has nothing to do with the direction of turn??) Replacing any of these controls entails a tile and cement-board demolition. There's no way into the back except by demolishing a NEIGHBOR's tile. They can be replaced when and IF (a mighty bid IF) I do a total bathroom renovation...not planned anytime during the reign of the current monarch. I ASSUME that KOHLER had some method to their madness back in 1974 but for the life of me I cannot IMAGINE what it was. And they've been in the business since the Garden of Eden got running water. (I think it would be a HOOT to call them and complain about my 38 year old fixtures...it would probably make the annual Kohler Gazette biggrin 04 biggrin 04 biggrin 04 .) I have a bag of brass faucet seats, and a grinding/ polishing and removal tool that can flatten a seat without removing it. (I had a slumlord for 17 years and got VERY good at managing to keep all my fauces drip free...and then I got rid of the BIG drip that owned the joint. I'm sure I have several seats for my Kohler stuff (and the building must have GAJILLIONS of them.) Yah know, after this discussion, I just MIGHT take the building up on their offer to provide me with a new matching KOHLER for $125...and for the sake of future repairs I MIGHT take them up on it. (Although they are overcharging for a simple faucet fixture.) Edited by Trotsky, May 30 2012, 02:25 AM.
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| wildie | May 30 2012, 03:17 AM Post #13 |
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Veteran Member
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In showers that I have encountered, the usual pattern with separate hot and cold valves, one would be turned clockwise, the other anti-clockwise. I can't remember which is which? And I could never remember which direction to turn them then, either. I had a pair of kitchen taps that were opposite also. So, this must be the standard way that the industry does things. And yet, the Moen tap that I just removed, both turn off by rotating clock-wise. As an aside, the direction the handles are rotated depends on whether the stem has a left or right handed thread. If you don't like the direction of rotation, perhaps you could replace the stems and caps with ones of the opposite direction. |
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| Trotsky | May 30 2012, 10:17 AM Post #14 |
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Big City Boy
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Yep, I've occasionally seen the ones that both turn INWARD = ON, aka mirror images of one another. This seems sane. But mine are both CLOCKWISE = ON, aka identical twins. And nothing short of a bathroom demolition can change that. (I am having a great deal of trouble understanding how a clockwise IN thread on the body of a faucet can accept an oppositely threaded stem and thus work in reverse? It strikes me that it simply would NOT go in. 017 017 017 I'll think on it and play with some bolts and maybe then I can envision it.) Edited by Trotsky, May 30 2012, 10:30 AM.
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| wildie | May 30 2012, 01:23 PM Post #15 |
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Veteran Member
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On this subject we have to be careful about what type of faucet we are discussing! Some faucets have the female threads that fit the male stem threads, machined into the body. In this case, it would be impossible to switch the hot and cold stems. However, some have a core that screws in (always a right handed thread) and it can have left or right handed threads, as required, to accommodate a left or right handed stem. In order to make the swap that I previously suggested, the faucet would have to be one that allows the cores to be swapped! |
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