New tub faucet leaking

[J]

I recently purchased a roman tub faucet online. It was a discontinued product from a company called westbrass

as such was pretty inexpensive, but it seemed like the quality should be good. When I received the product, it seemed quite respectable.

I had a plumber install the new faucet, because removing the old and attaching the new would require skills outside of my scope (or comfort level), such as using a blow-torch to remove some old copper piping, and basically dealing with non-threaded pipe connections.

That was all fine, I was willing to pay the plumber to get it done right, and the overall cost was still reasonable. However, a few days later, and I have noticed that the new faucet drips!!! It doesn't seem to do it all the time (?!?!), and it seems to be from the hot water line (determined by alternately shutting off the cold and hot water lines further upstream). So the problem seems to be in the valve under the hot water knob.

I'm not sure why the drip is sporadic, but our house is on a well (not municipal water), and our pressure tank not necessarily up to snuff. Our water pressure varies from reasonable to low - so maybe the variance in water pressure has something to do with the sporadic nature of the drip - like it might be leaking when the pressure is higher.

Anyway, I figured I could at least take the knob off and do some poking around - but the plumber somehow managed to strip the tiny inset hex-head screw that holds the hot water knob in place. I can remove the screw in the cold water knob, but that doesn't help.

So what should I do now. I'm afraid the plumber will say it's a defect in the product that he can't fix, after charging me many more $ $ to come back and look at it. If it was something simple, like a piece of debris caught in there, I could probably fix it myself - if I could get the damn knob off, and it would really gall me to have to pay the plumber to do that, especially since I'll be paying for his travel time as well - and he was the one who stripped the screw. Not to mention that removing the stripped screw could take him a while.

Please give me some advice.

Also, if you have heard of Westbrass, can you tell me anything about them? The product I installed is the 2820LB, and can be seen here:

Thanks.

-J

[Joe]

The product seems to rather underdesigned if the assembly depends on a 'tiny' retaining screw. I would give him a pass on that aspect and have him make the repairs. He will probably drill out the screw and complete the disassembly./diagnosis and be able to fit a new retaining screw. Discuss that with him in advance so he can bring the appropriate tools/parts which will keep the cost down. You might do well to choose future plumbing products from makers of more robust hardware, especially Kohler, Moen, and Delta. Being on a well your water has a good chance of having much more debris in it than a municipal supply, and that amy be the root of the problem. Good luck.

Joe

[jp]

Listen, life is too short to let the plumber get u rilled up. It's his loss, and u should tell him that in your opinion, its was his fault, and if he want's your business in the fiture, he should give u a refund on the second visit. If u get no reply, say by-by, and tell him u can be sure when my neighbor's ask for a referral, u will not be on my list, and that shoud do the trick. The money has been paid and i hope everything is ok now, so shrug it off and be happy, henry penta [e-mail]