I've got a single handle shower/tub faucet that wasn't putting out much water pressure, and seemingly no hot water. Wasn't even enough pressure to keep the shower actuator (or whatever they hell it's called) in the up position........in other words..........not shower at all, and very little water coming from the tub spout. This tub doesn't get used a whole lot, so I just assumed it was the valve cartridge, and so I bought a new one. Installed the new one, and it does the exact same thing. Almost no water pressure, and virtually no hot water at all. I pulled the cartridge again, and with the cartridge out, I turned the water supply back on. PLENTY of water pressure coming out of the faucet body (or whatever the hell you call the cylinder where you install the cartridge), and I could definitely tell there was plenty of hot water. Does this make sense to any of you handy types? What could I be missing?
hmmm. I'm fair at plumbing stuff and would have done exactly what you did. These cartridges are usually uber-janky so the old one may have shed some unwelcome schrapnel fouling nearby flow. (???)
Thanks.......I finally got some wire (if you can't fix it with duct tape and/or baling wire, it's BROKE!) and kind of fished it through the hot and cold water feeds in the wall. Didn't feel like I knocked anything loose, but whatever I did, it works now.
I know enough to know that plumbing sucks and crawling around on my knees is definitely not my calling in life outside of an emergency. I call professionals. eta: or now I know I can call @B-Bob
Let me know if it messes up again, I can help you troubleshoot it/fix it too if @B-Bob is busy. I don't like plumbing work as much as fixing computers/electronics/cars/electric work/hvac (no order of favorites depending on the job) but plumbing would probably rank fun using the torch/tools to absolutely a mess fixing water damage found late/breaking slab up for a bathroom remodel to worse... My most recent plumbing job was fixing a slab leak at my house (not my fault but builder didn't do great), after that enjoyment I got creative during the winter storm to avoid any further issues. One question, when you ran the water with the valve/cartridge removed to test flow, did you put it back together/take it apart again before putting the wire in? Just curious, I've seen some interesting things with hard water if someone doesn't have a water softener but has a tankless water heater etc. Not saying this was issue but just something I've encountered helping someone else. Sorry for the tldr parts, just trying to make it clear plumbing isn't my favorite thing to work on..
to be clear, I didn’t put the wire into the cartridge. I removed the cartridge from its cylinder housing in the wall behind the fixture face plate, and then I snaked the wire through the hot and cold water feeds. For good measure, I snaked the shower port too. After snaking those holes, I replaced the new cartridge, and it worked fine. I even saved the old cartridge. It looked clean as could be, and honestly…….after the snaking worked, I decided it probably wasn’t a fault in the original cartridge after all. TLDNR version: I got it fixed and thank you all for your support.
Right, I got exactly what you meant with using the wire on the pipes/not through the cartridge itself/in place). I was just curious if it was done at the same run/time when you removed the replacement cartridge to test flow is all I meant. Like when you let the water flow through without it in place, was the snaking done during the same troubleshooting run? Ie like you turned the water off at the main/removed the cartridge/snaked it/turned water main on to verify water was flowing/turned water main off/inserted cartridge/turned main back on etc. - I was trying to see if just letting the water flow helped/order of events, it's not a big deal, I just mentioned the hardwater thing as an example where grit/minerals literally prevent the cartridge from operating and just flushing it with no cartridge in place like you did sometimes fixes it. I recommend flushing water like you did without the cartridge in place any time you replace old valves (cartridges)/fixtures etc, depending on situation just to clean the lines before reassembly is all. Regardless, really good job fixing it!