Jacuzzi tub hot water valve locked in place

bathtubvalve

We have one of those jacuzzi tubs in our bathroom and we'd like to use it. When we bought the house, the inspector didn't catch the fact that the hot water valve is locked in place (cold water one works well). I took it apart and everything looks fine to me (pics below). I had a plumber come for other reasons and had him look at the valve, and he said that he doesn't know if it's "seized up or just stuck", and that if it's seized up and breaks somehow, he would have to break the tile to get to it, so it's probably not worth doing anything. It's all Kohler but I don't know the exact model.

Is there anything I can try to do to fix it without risking damage?

Thanks

EDIT: adding image of the 'vent' near the tub
enter image description here

enter image description here
enter image description here
enter image description here
enter image description here

Best Answer

You either have a useless tub taking up space, or you do what needs doing to fix it so it's useable. You may also have a claim against your "home inspector" for not catching it - that sort of thing is exactly why you wasted money to hire them, after all.

I would go in prepared to "break tile" (more likely I'd cut it out, actually - it's neater, and I'm not a plumber who does not care what sort of mess they make for some other trade to clean up) and I'd replace the broken tile with an access panel because having to break tile to access plumbing is a really poor design choice made by idiots, in my not so humble opinion.

Actually - Might look underneath, too, in case access from below could be done with less mess.

Related Topic