I know hardly anything about plumbing, but I know there is something wrong with my bathtub valves:

This is the third time in a year that I have had to replace a bathtub handle valve, as water starts to leak out of the bathtub handle. I've had to change the hot valve once and the the cold valve twice. They are all-in-one pieces, a.k.a I cannot take it apart and just replace the packing (as someone previously suggested in person).

So my only thought is that the water pressure coming into my house is too high for the valves to handle. But I was also told that if I leave my gate valve open halfway, at the main line at my driveway, that it would eventually break the gate valve.

I am at a lost as to how to resolve this issue, other than to just continue to buy more valves.



Edited 1 times.

1. Opening OR closing the main gate valve will do nothing to cure your tub valve problem. All that will do is wear out the gate valve.
2. We would have to see what kind of tub valve it is, because "high pressure" also should not cause your symptoms.

I meant if I were to keep the main gate valve open only halfway, they said it would eventually hurt it. Sorry, edited the original post.

Valve in question looks similar to this one on the right side of the picture:
[ecx.images-amazon.com]

Store I bought it from said it was a self-packing/self-tightening valve, in that if I turn the top nut, it will tightening the packing for you. I have pulled it out and tightened it a few times in the past weeks. This alleviates the leaking for a short period, but it always comes back. At this point, I won't be able to tighten it much further without it being tighened all the way down.

Don't know if it's relevant, but the shower/tub system has the diverter as a little stop on the bathtub spigot that you pull up (as opposed to some of the ones that have a seperate handle you turn to turn on the shower).

SHutting the gate valve halfway, or ANY OTHER amount does absolutely nothing as far as reducing pressure or wear in the tub valve. IF your stems are LIKE the photo, it is NOT a "self tightening" packing. you have to tighten the top hex nut to seal the packing, and normally once it is done it does not have to be done from many months or maybe years.