How can I tell if a faucet valve seat is removable or not?

Question

I have two faucet valve seats that I've been roadblocked with. It looks perfectly round in appearance:

Left Side:

Right Side:

Hot/Cold Stem:

Things I've tried:

• Penetration Oil
• Hammer + Screwdriver
• Seat Wrench

After watching a couple hours worth of youtube tutorials, it seems most valves have faucet seats. However I did come across an article and a forum post that made me double-think my scenario.

https://www.hunker.com/13417444/how-to-remove-a-faucet-seat-that-is-stripped

Look carefully at the seat with a flashlight before you decide that the wrench hole is stripped. If the hole is perfectly round, the seat isn't removable.

http://www.plumbingzone.com/f2/resurfacing-valve-seats-11567/

In my early days in this trade most faucets had non-removable seats. A proper repair meant reseating with a tool designed for the job.

This brings the question: Is my faucet valve seat removable?

Answer 1

You have to look for notches in the seat wall to see if it is removable:

The seat in the picture has 4 notches and would be removed/installed with a common tapered square seat wrench. Some newer seats will have a hexagonal hole in the middle and can be removed with an Allen wrench.

Look closer at your seats for even the hint of the square notches. They can corrode over and be less visible, but from what I see in your pics, those are not removable.

For non-removable seats (and even removable ones), there is a "reseating" tool for faucets that is basically a round grinding disk on a T handle that can be used to grind down the seat a bit giving you a new smooth surface. It is possible to grind too much, so you'd do a little at a time.

Answer 2

This looks similar to a situation I had. Upon cursory inspection, it looks as though there IS no seat. However, in my case, the seats were there, but instead of the brass ones pictured in the answer above (which is the only type I'd ever seen), they are actually about two inches long.

I ended up getting a good plumber out to remove them (I say 'good' because the first one was an idiot!). He had to take a seat removal tool that is similar to a stripped screw remover. And even then it took some work. The new ones screwed right in with an allen wrench though. (Cost me less than a new rough-in would have, and I didnt have to do any wall repair this way!) I chalked the expense up to a learning experience.