What does this CHANGE MEAN

February 25, 2020 12:00 PM

My shower handle is like this. Normally it points down towards the 6 on a clock and you turn it up to the 12 for hot water. Recently it changed and now it points at the 4, and you turn it to the 9 for hot water. I noticed it after my cleaning lady was here. Nothing else has changed. How could this have happened? WTF does this change mean?
posted by bleep to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Response by poster: And by "this" i mean this.
posted by bleep at 12:01 PM on February 25, 2020

Best answer: Simplest answer: There's probably a lock nut that holds the handle on the faucet. It may be loose. It might have come off in the cleaning lady's hand and she put it back on any old way. The faucet "rod" (I don't know from plumbing terminology) that it sits on is ribbed so it'll probably still work but might come off if you pull the center of the handle away from the wall.

Try pulling the handle off yourself. Pull it straight out. There should be a small lock screw on it that tightens it. Put the handle back on the correct way and tighten the screw. It's probably a flat head or Allen key. There might be a little rubber cap that hides it that you can pop off with a knife or small screwdriver. It's probably on the underside of the center area of the handle.
posted by bondcliff at 12:18 PM on February 25, 2020 [4 favorites]

Best answer: It sounds like she removed it while cleaning, and then didn't line it up the same way when she put it back. You could see if you can pull it straight off, then line it up straight down when replacing it.
posted by DoubleLune at 12:20 PM on February 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you for putting my mind at ease! It's not broken so I don't feel like messing with it, but I hated not knowing what caused it. Thank you, AskMe, you are the best.
posted by bleep at 12:24 PM on February 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Happened at my house when a guest showered, except it was 180 degrees, not 90. A plumber fixed it, and I didnt see what he did. Never occurred to be the handle came off, but that makes more sense than any explanation I ever came up with.
posted by SemiSalt at 1:37 PM on February 25, 2020

This happened with my American Standard handle when a guest kept over-tightening it.
posted by theora55 at 2:10 PM on February 25, 2020

Best answer: Always, ALWAYS put a washcloth over the drain when adjusting, removing, or replacing screws or other small hardware while in a shower or bathtub. In nearly every room in your house, if you drop a screw, it'll hit the ground and remain somewhere in the vicinity. In a shower or bathtub, it only wants to go one place, and that place is the drain.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:05 PM on February 25, 2020 [35 favorites]

Our shower handles are secured with a set-screw that loosens over time. We keep an Allen wrench in a drawer specifically to tighten them up periodically. (This came about after one of us had a handle fall off on a foot while using the shower.) Sometimes we remember to restore the handle pointers to their correct direction.
posted by Weftage at 6:37 AM on February 26, 2020 [1 favorite]