I need to replace the valve in my shower. The current one sticks and we keep breaking the plastic knob used to turn the water off/on.
The directions indicate NOT to use a silcon or petroleum based lube for the valve, but to instead use a water based lubes.
Won't a water based lube get washed away fairly quickly? Is there something better that I should be using?
Thanks!
a new valve that doesn't stick?
If it's sticking badly enough that you break the knob, then more is wrong than a little lube.
I bet a rebuild kit would solve your problem. They usually come with a little tube of lube. ;)
There is plumber's grease. I don't know what its base is. It came in container as big as a stack of 6 quarters iirc. It worked great to lubricate a stem in a valve for a year or so but not forever, and I'm certainly not going to take it apart every 2 years. Of course there is no water running up the stem to wash away the grease. -- I wanted to be able to adjust the bathtub faucet with my foot, and that worked for a year or so, but after that it didn't turn so easy so I learned to use both feet.
The water should not be reaching the threads. If it did, you'd get a spray out of the handle.
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