I would say the odds of the facuet being screwed on/in a threaded fitting is about 1 in 1,000,the other 999 times it will be soldered to the pipe if you have copper plumbing. If you have pvc or plastic tube,it almost certainly unscrews. Look at water heater,under sinks and other places rough plumbing is exposed. Only way to know for certain without removing siding is peek-a-boo hole in siding. Have you tried to take the vb apart using 2 pipe wrenches ? Regarding the use of a dremel,I would attempt to slot the screw to recieve a screwdriver first. This might be an excuse to buy a disk angle grinder. They are inexpensive and will make short work of cutting the vb. Don't you hope the idiot that dreamed up an ordinice requiring the screws be broke has the same problem.

By unscrewing the cap, I took mine apart and found a split o-ring. With that replaced, I'm back in business. I also rinsed off the parts and applying a little silicon lubricant.

No peeing in the tub. Got it. LOL. It helps to know the purpose of the item in the world of building code, but guess I can't guarantee perfect use and therefore we should install this if possible. Thanks. So behind the wall, it would be one pipe that mixes hot and cold running up from the valve, vacuum breaker, shower nub going through the wallto out in front of the tile, then the 'supply elbow', then shower hose? This post was edited by kats737 on Thu, Nov 6, 14 at 15:24

No it's not safe to assume that. I can't tell you the number of times people have insisted there's something wrong with the breaker. But if you want to generate some extra revenue for your electrician or Eaton or whoever makes the breakers you are using go ahead and replace them. Just because the unit SUCKS doesn't mean the motor isn't drawing excessive current. Of course your vacuum dealer has too options: sell you a new one or blame someone else. An electrician can determine what the real problem might be. Breakers tend to not get better after repeated resetting (in fact, they'll trip more often). This belies a breaker problem. If I had to venture a guess given the limited view we have here, I suspect your motor is gunked up (most likely sucked some dust into it). Running it for a while frees things up.