I am quite a novice at plumbing, so I hope you can help me. I just bought a house. The master bathroom was recently remodeled by the previous owner (I'm not sure anyone ever used it. Everything is like new). The shower is one of those half-round inserts--kind of Star Trek-like. There is no hot water in the shower (when the faucet is turned to H the water pressure decreases significantly). There is hot water in all of the other rooms in the house including the sink in this particular bathroom. There is a Moen single faucet on the shower insert. It does not pull out, it just turns. I have looked for valves thinking that maybe that is the problem (the valve on the sink was actually off when I moved in), but I cannot find a valve. Where O' where might it be? I removed the single faucet and looked behind but there is no room for finding a valve. What are your thoughts?

 

If you remove the handle, you will see a nylon ribbed gear looking thing which slides onto a mating geared thingy. What you need to do is pull it straight off and turn it toward "H" about 5 gears. Try it and see if you get more hot water. If still not sufficient, move it another couple of gears until you get it where you want it. Then put the handle back on and enjoy. BTW, there are not shut offs for tubs/showers. Go figure.

 

You have a Moen Positemp shower valve. Those just turn, without pulling out first.

Since you say you have no pressure with the hot only, it seems doubtful it is a positioning problem, imo, because you would at least be getting water to come out under pressure. It just would not be HOT water. But there would be water pressure.

If I were in your shoes, what I would do is turn off the water in the basement, turn the shower valve to relieve the pressure and also open up some faucet downstairs. Then remove the cartridge inside the valve body.

Here is how yo do it:

Remove the coverplate on the knob by popping it off with a knife.

Unscrew the knob and remove. Start setting all parts you undo in a straight row on something in the order you remove them.

Slide off the two white plastic pieces that are about 1 inch in diameter and have gear-teeth on them. Pay attention to their orientation. (No matter hso they are orinted now...if you want full hot, you orient the outer plastic piece so it points straight up.)

Slide off the 1 inch + diameter chrome sleeve that goes around the cartridge and goes into that big chrome cover plate.

Remove the big chrome coverplate if you need to (2 screws)...if this copper-brass colored retainer clip that sticks out of the cartridge is not exposed fully outside of the coverplate.

That copper-brass looking retainer clip is shaped like a tuning fork and will lift straight up and come out with your fingers or needlenose pliers.

Now the cartridge can come out as that tuning fork-like clip is what held it in. But...pulling out the cartride is not easy, often times. They sort of seize themselves in there over time. What you can do is stick the handle screw back into the cartridge a number of threads. Then lock onto the screw head with a vice grips and pull out on it. If it is so stubborn that you feel like you are pulling all the wall plumbing toward you, you maybe better give up, before maybe something breaks in the wall as one doesn't know how it is secured back there or what the piping is made of.

You can go and get another cartridge at a home store, that sells Moen fixtures and replacement cartridges, at no cost. There is a lifetime warantee on these things. You bring in your old one and get an exchange. But here its the problem; you can't get out your old one (maybe, let's say). But inside the pouch that contains the NEW one is plastic square-head looking device that is the 'tool' needed for removing the old cartridge. You have to somehow get ahold of one of these. Talk to somebody and try to get one.

If you manage to get one, either by being given one or by buying the cartridge with the understanding they will refund your money when you bring the old one in...however you do it...the way the plastic white squarte "tool" works is you slip it onto the cartridge, with the square head facing you, and then turn the square head of this tool with a wrench as you push in at the same time. As you turn it a number of degrees, (either way..doesn't matter), this tool has the job of rotating the cartridge up a ramp in the brass body and this motion will break it loose inside so that now you CAN just pull it out with your vice grips.

You install the new cartridge so that the flat-cut in the shaft, out where the handle goes, is pointing *up*. But before sticking it in, invest in some plumbers grease or silicone grease and dry out the inside of the valve body cylinder and smear a lttle film of grease in there. The new cartridge rubber pieces and o-rings are factory pre-greased. NOW slip it in..and slip it in so that the skinny way is up and down so that that tuning-fork shape retainer clip can go back through the slot you removed it from and each "fork" of it will be on each side of the white plastic extrusion of the cartridge. Make sure that fork goes all the way down because it also must come through the slot in the BOTTOM of the valve body!!!!..to lock it all in. (Pay attention to how that fork looked sitting in there before you removed it, and how it straddles that white plastic end of the cartridge)

[!Before you start the removal process, be sure to CAREFULLY observe how everything faces and how things are assembled before you disasemble! ]

In reassembly of all the components, you do everything in reverse of the tear down, obviously. But be sure that before you put on the handle that you slide onto the shaft this small little washer, over it. Often this is not included with the new cartridge and you must use the one on your old cartridge.

(I have installed dozens of these things in the rentals I work on)

.............................................

I forgot to say that when you have the old cartridge out, with the assistance of another person or a team of family members that can relay their screams to the person in the basement who is turning back on the water...with the old cartridge out, you can now turn the water back on and see if hot water is coming out, also. So you can determine if the problem is in your pipes, like rust scale jammed in some fitting, or, if the problem is inside the cartridge that has small metering holes in it. You do not want the open valve body that you let water come out of send water down into the shower wall cavity!, so you must analyze and improvise and use househol objects to guard against this happening. Also be aware the water can come flying out of the valve body to the back shower wall and spray water everywhere, so make sure the shower curtain is closed good at the back. And be sure that everyone can hear each other when you yell to the person controlling the valve in the basement to "Stop!"

 

New member.

Thanks for the help I found here. It is fixed now.

Here is a pic of the lime deposits on the small part. Notice the whitish/grayish stuff. That small part should move freely inside the larger part when shaken. I already replaced it before I did reverse engineering on this one. If you attempt to take this apart to clean it instead of buying a replacement, be careful removing the plastic retainer holding the small part in the larger one. I cracked it trying to remove it. I'm not suggesting cleaning it as opposed to replacing it, I just wanted to show the lime deposits.



This faucet was less than 2 years old on a shower that is rarely used.

 

I moved into a new hosue 4 years ago and have rarely, if ever used the shower in the basement BR. We had family staying down there and had the exact problem with the same set-up. I know all of the pieces well by now and the poster who described the breakdown was spot on!
This is a great site and tanks again.

 

I have gotten free replacement parts by moen but I had to go through the manufacturer, not the big box stores.

 

DaVeBoy


thank you, that made my day.........!!!!!!!

 

With the valve you pictured, you don't need anyone at the water source to replace the cartridge. Just turn both screws on either side to the vertical position and it will shut off the water to the cartridge allowing you to change it out by yourself.

 

Thanks.....I like this place......!!!!!!

 

I tried sending this message yesterday, but something apparently has gone wrong.

Anyways...

FYI - that valve previously posted has internal stops as Chandler has mentioned but, may not necessarily be 1/4 turn stops, which means you may need to turn the screw clockwise until it stops to shut off the water. I have not researched this particular valve, so it is possible I am mistaken, but if I am mistaken, the hot side (left) stop is not fully open nor closed.

 

I will mess with it.....thanks again....!!!!!!

 

I have the same issue with my shower. I tried relocating the anti-scald device and still no HOT water, just warm. I see from the posts above that the next step is to remove the big chrome cover. My cover does not have the 2 screws holding it in place. I'm not sure what is holding it in place. I think the chrome sleeve is screwed on to the cartridge. My question is "How do I remove the cover without damaging it"???

Thanks,

Jeff

 

HELP!!! My shower has one of those "turn only" knobs...off is all the way to the right, hot is all the way to the left, in between is warm to cold...no pressure variations. I pulled out the old cartridge, replaced it with a MOEN 1222. I compared, everything looked the same to me. I even made sure the "HC" was at the bottom, as that's where it was on the old one. Now, however, off is straight up, hot is right, cold is left, and I have NO idea how to fix that! Any ideas??

 

The H/C is suppossed to be at the top. Take it out and turn it around.

Once you do that put it back together.

If it still dont work, leave the cartridge in but remove the handle. Turn the stem here the hadle trim screws to, and turn it 180 degrees. Then put it back together.

Mike NJ

 

1423 Balancing Spool with a piston that can get stuck from calcium deposits