I have a price pfister three handle valve assembly in my shower/ tub. I removed the hot water valve stem, and discovered there was no seat installed. I cannot get a new seat to screw into the hole. I tried the cold water seat to make sure it was not some odd size, to no avail. I used a screwdriver which did not extend beyond the seat so I know there is not a bottoming out issue.
Could I try a tap to clean up the threads in the valve body? If that does not work, could I epoxy it in place and hope for the best?
The tub is a one-piece enclosure, and there is no access in the outside wall.

You have ceramic stems and PP doesn't use removable seats with those stems. The o-ring at the tip of the stem seats directly against the faucet body.

I do not have the types you sent a picture of.
Mine look like this:

In that case, there MUST have been a seat in the valve and if the new ones do not screw in they are the wrong ones.

Did the old ones look like that or just the replacement stems?

I did remove the seat from the cold water side and tried putting it in the hot water side. That seat would not thread in.
One person I talked to said he has dealt with this situation himself. He has suggested there may be part of the old seat in the threads of the valve body.

Right now, I'm looking at amazon for a usb bore scope camera for rifle barrels. If it can focus on the lands of a rifle barrel, it should be able to see any threads.

The new valve is a match for the old one.
Thiking about it now, the washer on the old one had been massacred so bad, there was just enough to fit under the screw. Could be whoever did this cinched the stem down tight enough to collapse the first part of the threads in the seat hole?

if you can locate a small wire brush just a little bigger than the inside of the seat, it just might remove and bits and pieces of the seats left in the threads. ???

Measure the threads on the seat you have, and get a tap. The first threads are probably crushed.

How about getting a ceramic stem and forgetting about seat?

That creates other problems since the trim is not compatible, and the stem may be short. I have everything I need to do it, but few plumbers do or know how to do it.



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From the replacement seat part number, I was able to find the spec's for the thread. Listed as 21/32"

IMPOSSIBLE. Before that could happen the body in the wall would have been destroyed and you would have had a constant stream of water, not just a leak. Those seats are too "durable" to separate in the threads.Be careful with anything you do or you WILL have to replace the faucet.

That's the weird part of this disaster. The house is 2 bath, with one tenant. So nobody has been using this tub. We were doing a leaky kitchen drain, and the tenant mentioned the drips in the guest tub.
Once the stem was pulled out, the missing seat was discovered. Couldn't get a new seat in, and we were stuck with having to leave the hot water off for who knows how long, or come up with a work around.
Nothing would plug it after that.
Tried a packing bonnet with the stem screwed down tight and lots of plumbing putty. That lasted 5 minutes.
Tried wrapping pipe tape around the the washer area to fill up the area and plug it, and that did not work
Finally, pulled the spout, put a cap on the stub, and left the diverter set on tub.

y'all tried everything except calling a plumber



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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Problem for now is the tenant has an alarm system, and is gone except for the weekend. Not going to pay saturday rates for their convenience.

This youtube shows a kit to tap out the hole, and insert what looks like a new base. It is sold in Australia, and the faucet is somewhat different. :
[www.youtube.com]

A faucet in that state of disrepair should be upgraded to a thermostatic valve in the wall to provide temperature balanced water.

Working on those older valves have limited success most times because the end users always return to hard cranking the handles off.

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Everything in Plumbing can be repaired or replaced.

However, a "knowledgable" plumber will know how to modernize the faucet so it CANNOT be "cranked down" to damage the washers or valve.

I got a look with a small camera. There were 2 small cracks, but thought with a little luck, I could get the threads to align. While scraping the threads with a screw driver, the section broke off.
Estucheon plate time.



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