That tub and shower is not often used and we have pretty hard water, so I’m guessing my problem is that hard water sediments have settled there.
So far, I’ve used WD40, small engine oil, lock ease and nothing dislodges this sucker!
Yesterday I carefully applied a lime, calcium, rust stuff remover but couldn’t leave it on long lest it etch my pewter faucet, that still looks brand new! Didn’t budge either.
Any suggestions anyone?
Is it a Moen? Does it pull out to turn on? Could be the cartridge. Other brands do, too. Simple enough to replace, once you figure out the tricks, like the little clip on a Moen cartridge.
Try vinegar. Since the “lime, calcium, rust stuff remover “ didn’t work in whatever time you left it on, you might need several applications of vinegar. I don’t believe it will hurt the pewter faucet.
WD40 is NOT penetrating oil. I think that they do make one called “penetrant” however. Whatever, there are several brands of penetrating oil out there.
Try lemon juice. The citric acid will eat away hard water deposits, but it might put a patina on the pewter if you leave it on for too long. You can mix it with borax to make a paste that is easier on metals than lemon juice alone, but you still want to rinse it off pretty after a couple minutes.
My husband used to use something called “Liquid Wrench” for things like that.
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Put some vinegar in a ziplock bag. Cover the stubborn part with the mostly full bag, zip it as far shut as you can (you could use a bread twisty tie to help anchor it on). Then (and this is the hard part!) just leave it on for a few hours. Rinse when done.
Some toilet cleaners contain hydrochloric acid. It will quickly dissolve calcium. I’m not exactly sure what the problem is that you are having...but I recently had very poor flow/pressure in my shower. I took apart the valve (only possible after using the HCL), and there is a ‘cartridge’ in the mixing valve that was full of calcium deposits. I may have been able to clean it all, but the surefire way to fix it was buy another over-priced cartridge. Its also worthwhile to flush the valve body by having a partner carefully turn the water supply back on (be sure to devise a contraption to make sure the water makes it into the shower/tub, and not behind it). I even fished a tube through the shower head pipe and pumped HCL back down into the mixing valve. Anyway, toilet cleaner with acid will do the trick.