How to Fix a Broken Shower Head
A broken shower head leads to an unpleasant shower experience and causes a watery mess. Fix this problem yourself without the help of a professional by either repairing the connection or replacing the shower head. Professional plumbers charge high rates by the hour even though it only takes 10 minutes to fix a broken shower head, but in 10 minutes of your own time you can save yourself hours worth of money.
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Turn the shower water off from the faucet. Leaving the water on will cause a mess and make the task difficult, so turn it off completely.
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Remove the shower head by grabbing it tightly and twisting it off in a counterclockwise motion. If you cannot twist the shower head off with your hands, use a pipe wrench. Twist the adjustable knob, located at the top of the pipe wrench handle, to open the wrench enough to fit it over the connecting part of the shower head. Once the pipe wrench is in place, maneuver the adjustable knob until the wrench is firmly fitted around the base of the shower head and twist.
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Remove all old plumber's tape from the pipe.
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Dry the threads of the pipe thoroughly with a rag. This will allow the plumber's tape to cling to the pipe better.
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Wrap the new plumber's tape around the threads tightly so there are no gaps in the tape.
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Twist the shower head on clockwise over the plumber's tape. Tighten it as much as you can with your hands, then turn the shower on to try it out. If the shower head is still leaking, tighten it with a pipe wrench.
References
Writer Bio
Jason Cooley began writing in 2005 as the owner of a personal-training business, authoring advertising copy and business contracts. He has since served as a writer with Oral B and On Top of My Diabetes.
Photo Credits
- shower image by Ekaterina Shvigert from Fotolia.com
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