Shower mixing valve leaking

[mclasser]

My upstairs tub is leaking water into the dining room below. Luckily, the builders had the foresight to put an access panel in the room behind the tub to get a look at the pipes and it turns out, the mixing valve assembly is dripping. The plate & handle say Symmons Temptrol:

Anyone know how much this sort of job costs and what it entails? I wonder if homeowner's insurance would cover this this or if they'd dismiss it as "wear and tear".....

 

[TnT_M]

My upstairs tub is leaking water into the dining room below. Luckily, the builders had the foresight to put an access panel in the room behind the tub to get a look at the pipes and it turns out, the mixing valve assembly is dripping. The plate & handle say Symmons Temptrol:

Anyone know how much this sort of job costs and what it entails? I wonder if homeowner's insurance would cover this this or if they'd dismiss it as "wear and tear".....

How old is your house? I'd start by contacting the builder if it is a new house.

I had to change one in our master bathroom in May when the boss decided she wanted oil rubbed bronze fixtures instead of the brushed nickel I installed about 10 years ago... Took a couple of hours to do. Not that hard if you are handy with plumbing. If you are not then I would suggest you hire it done. Probably be a few hundred bucks plus the parts.

Just my $0.02

 

[Andrew1972]

I had two plumbers(possibly apprentice too) show up and do a rebuild on a 20 year old one(shower) for $300. Note the parts cost about $95 at Lowes which were included in my $300.

I would have DIY but could not get the front piece twisted off due to severe rust. I was scared by lack of shutoff except to our other tub upstairs. The plumbers struggled but go it apart.

 

[Wolf359]

There's several videos on how to replace it. If you can wait, it's a lifetime warranty and Symmons will just mail you the parts when you call, otherwise Home Depot sells all the repair parts along with the tools. I've done a few of them. Screwed up the first one and had to replace the entire valve. Missed the trick of loosening it first before undoing the valve so it leaked even worse afterwards.

It's unclear to me what you mean by the mixing valve assembly. If it's the entire valve like at the hot or cold water inputs, then it sounds like a repair of pipes or the whole valve is shot and needs to be replaced. Otherwise leaks are usually from the stem or the hot/cold seats or the diverter.

Usually the deductible on the insurance means it's not worth claiming on your insurance unless it did several thousand in damages. I never make claims on homeowners insurance, good reason for them to drop you the next year and then once no one takes you and you have to go with the state insurance, it's about double the cost.

Plumbers are usually a few hundred dollars. Whatever the problem with a Symmons, should be easy to fix and not much more than an hour or two and they're usually in the $100-$150/hour range. Handyman, contractors are more in the $30-$60/hour range if you can find one you trust to do the job correctly. As mentioned earlier, the entire assembly is around $100. I've been getting the ones with the shut off stops in the assembly. Costs an extra $10 but eventually you'll end up rebuilding it after 10+ years and it's handy not to have to run around shutting off the water.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Symmons...-in-Chrome-Valve-Included-S9602XPRP/312761634

 

[Nick1994]

We just had one replaced. Was around $1k. Probably paid too much lol.

 

[wpod]

Where is the valve leaking from?

 

[PimTac]

That access panel was a smart idea and will save a ton of time, labor and $$$

 

[brianl703]

If it's leaking from the front you can probably just replace the cartridge and fix it. That's the most likely leak point.

 

[JTK]

If it's leaking from the front you can probably just replace the cartridge and fix it. That's the most likely leak point.

^ This. Try a cartridge swap first.

If you're not able to do the work and you have an access panel, like said above, that would be about a $300 plumber job in my area.

 

[Silverado12]

I've seen issues with too high water pressure causing them to leak. Just keep that in mind.