There’s nothing quite like listening to water drip all through the night to spur you into a home repair task. In my case, the problem was with my relatively new shower. After turning off the valve, water would continue to drip…and drip…and drip..about 7 feet to the shower floor, where each drop made a nice “smack!”

I considered hiring a plumber, but decided I would give the repair a shot myself, in hopes of saving a couple hundred bucks. Fortunately, I had saved the manufacturer’s (California Faucets) installation directions, though I probably could have found them online with a bit of searching. Aha! On the back of these was a handy troubleshooting chart for my pressure-balance shower valve. And right there was “Shower head drips after shutting off the valve.”

I studied the directions and the exploded-view drawing, and quickly disassembled the unit with a tiny Allen wrench, a couple of screwdrivers, and a pair of needle-nose pliers. I simply removed the handle with the Allen wrench, unscrewed the diverter knob (this is where the pliers came in handy), next removed the screws that held the faceplate. On the valve body in the wall, there are two shut-off valves that I turned 90-degrees with a flat screwdriver to

shut off the water to the valve before disassembling anything else.

After removing a few more screws, I was able to pull out the entire valve cartridge. I pried two little filter inserts out of the valve body (the part still in the wall), cleaned them out under a faucet, and took off the little O-rings that sealed them. I additionally removed the O-rings on the valve itself. With O-rings in hand, I visited my local home-improvement center and bought replacements along with some O-ring sealant. The total bill was under $3.

I returned, reassembled everything according to the directions and….it still dripped. that meant the valve was faulty. So I called the manufacturer. They said, “Yep, the valve is faulty.” But here is the good news: the unit has a 10-year warranty, which is not strange.

By that moment, I was an old hand at disassembling and assembling the valve. So I took it back out and made a quick trip to my local plumbing supply for a replacement. Re-installation was easy, and that instance the valve worked attractively. No more drips. My reward? The perfect preface to the Christmas holiday…a silent night.
–Don Vandervort
HomeTips.com

Orginal post by Head Homeboy