One of my shower faucets died. I needed to replace the stem. In the box with the stem is a new valve seat. Quickly tried to get the old seat out with an allen wrench. It's in there good and tight. It looks fine, isn't dripping. So, any reason to change out the old seat?
Dave M.
Leave well enough alone...
FYI...Your typical faucet seat is not "allen wrenchable".
Take a look at the seat wrenches shown here and you'll see that the ends are either sloped or stepped square, not six sided like an allen wrench.
Often times, a worn or damaged seat causes the user to crank down on the faucet to shut off the water. This causes early failure of the washer which is what the user sees when he pulls the stem. Thinking the washer is the root cause of the leak, he replaces the washer. This may work for a while, but as the worn seat slowly damages the new washer, it takes more and more pressure to turn of the faucet, further damaging the washer. It's such a vicious cycle.
Replac> One of my shower faucets died. I needed to replace the stem. In the box
Nah.
Yes, there were some brands that used square drive recess seats.
But I would say the majority today do use hex drive. OP said he had an allen wrench in there....
The stepped tools are built that way so that the tech only has to carry one tool to service a range of seats.
The tapered tool is made so that it can be "driven" with force into a seat recess that has been damaged. It's the tool of last resort...
Jim
Thanks, that's pretty much what I thought.
Dave M.
Derby,
It's an American Standard 1K/1H. Find the replacement stem next time you're in a hardware store. It should be in a clear plastic box. Look for the threaded copper valve seat. The hole is hex shaped and fits an allen wrench. This sort of valve seat is not uncommon.
Dave M.
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