Bathtub spout

[Retired Guy]

I have a tub with a small leak at the rear of the spout where it meets the tile. It occurs only when the diverter is set to shower. I believe that the tub spout is on a copper stubout but I am unsure how it is attached and how it is gasketed. Is there a standard connection style?

 

[heat seeker]

In my (limited) experience, the spout is threaded onto the stub. It's a pipe thread, and tape or a sealer is used to prevent leaks. You are probably getting water inside the wall behind the tile, so time is of the essence, IMO. It leaks because there is back pressure from the diverter which forces the water uphill to the shower head.

 

[fossil]

^^^ What he said. Just unscrew the spout off the fitting on the stubout. check the ceiling of the room below, or whatever's down there. Every time you see that leak, there's water going into the wall behind the spout.

 

[Highbeam]

There are two types of spout connection and it usually depends on what type of diverter you have. Typically the guys with little pull up diverters on the spout use pipe thread and the guys with diverter valves as an actual valve with a knob can use a set screw to hold the spout on the stub.

Most of us these days have a pipe thread where the spout meets the stub that sticks out of the wall. Here's why this sucks.... you want your spout to back right up to the wall and not leave a gap. You also don't want the spout to bottom out against the wall before it is tightened. So you have to have the perfect length of threaded pipe stub to make this happen and nothing is perfect. Plumbers end up doing things like wrapping 10 wraps of teflon taps on the threads to get the spout to tighten sooner.

Could just be that yours was left loose. It is also possible that plumber's puddy was used to seal the pipe stub to the wall and that the spout leak is not causing damage. That's how I do it.

 

[Dave A.]

Pretty sure there are two types of connection, threaded or clamp on. The older type was usually threaded, newer ones seem mostly clamp on. Either way you need to take it apart and repair or replace it. I think the clamp on will have some sort of allen fitting under it.

Then there are universal spouts which would have the allen underneath but also a means of connecting to threads. So if you don't know, prolly safest to loosen the allen (if you have it) first and if it doesn't pull off, then it's threaded. Sometimes the diverter is in the spout other times it's in the valve. Sounds like yours is in the spout.

Edit: Note: Written and sent before Highbeams message appeared.

 

[jdp1152]

Pull the spout off. Either by twisting or loosening the tightening bolt on the bottom. If it's screw on, you've probably got 4 + inches of copper exposed. If it's a tightening screw, 2-3 inches. I replaced all my screw ons with the slip overs...just had to trim the pipe a bit and hit with an Emory cloth. Similar concept to shark bites. Put some caulking rope around the pipe just inside the wall and then caulk the pipe opening before putting a new spout on. A few bucks, a few minutes, and peace of mind. Easy work.