Sherry doesn't like the knobs on her shower.
She wanted handles, like the sink has, rather than these ugly round knobs.
Seemed like a modest request. We found "universal" handles to her liking at Lowe's and took them home.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get the universal handles to work with this shower. But in the process of trying to install them, I more or less disassembled the valves that the knobs attach to. Fortunately, I was able to reassemble the valves and they still worked. Unfortunately they now worked backwards. Turning a knob in the direction that originally opened the valve now closed it.
This didn't seem like a particularly big deal, until I used the shower. As I tried to make the water a bit warmer, I made it completely cold. This can be a big deal when you are in the shower.
So today, I decided to fix the problem. It obviously had something to do with the way I reassembled the valves. Should be simple enough to disassemble them again and put them back together differently. Right? How many ways can a water valve be assembled anyway?
I took pictures as I disassembled the values, to use as a guide when I reassembled them. (I used to draw sketches in a situation like this. A digital camera makes it a lot easier.)
Recalling my previous experience with these valves, I knew that I just needed to remove the thingy that the knob attaches to, disassemble it, put it back together (differently somehow), and reinstall it.
I unscrewed the retaining nut that holds the working parts of the valve in place, and stared trying to remove the valve. Seems like last time, the little white parts that you see in the picture came out easily. But this time they didn't. Finally I grabbed the whole thing with pliers and pulled it out.
Hmmm. This is not how it worked last time. It appears that I now have a open pipe directly connected to the water main. The water is coming out more forcefully that I have ever seen it come out of a faucet. About 100 gallons per minute. Fortunately, it is going into the shower.
I go outside and around the house to the main cutoff. Fortunately it works.
Now I disassemble the value and try to figure out what needs to be different in order to reverse the twisting direction.
Back outside to the main cutoff. Open the main cutoff. Back inside to check the result.
The shower is running now. Seems normal. I twist the knobs. Nothing happens. The shower just goes on running. I try both directions, in all combinations. The shower just goes on running.
The only way to stop the shower is to cut off water to the entire house. I am starting to have visions of checking into a hotel while we wait for a plumber.
Back outside to the main cutoff. Close the main cutoff. Back inside to try something else. The only problem is that I don't know what I did differently that caused the values not to work at all.
I remove the valves and disassemble them again. Try to use logic. What determines whether these valves stop the flow of water or permit it to pass through? It's not obvious. Try something.
I reassemble and reinstall the valves.
Back outside to the main cutoff. Open the main cutoff. Back inside to check the result.
Mercifully, this time the shower is not running.
I try the valves. Each one starts water running when I twist it. Unfortunately, I have to twist the two knobs in opposite directions to open or close the valves.
Acceptable solution. I am greatly relieved to just get the system more or less back to where it was when I started.
The old round knobs no longer seem so ugly.
