Last week I wrote about how to replace a washer in a normal double handle faucet to repair a leak. A more complicated issue is to correct a leak in a single handled faucet which involves the replacement of the sometimes complicated cartridge which is the fundamental heart of the single handled fixture. These cartridges are pressed into their fittings and most of the time will not come out without some assistance and this assistance can be a hammer and a punch. In the hands of an unskilled handyman this usually ends up with a trip to the supply house for a new faucet. I read the following narrative from a thread in one of my favorite DIY forums this morning:
“Over the weekend I replaced the leaky cartridges in a Moen bar sink...individual hot and cold. The faucet was installed in the mid 70's, functionally clean not loaded with mineral deposits, exterior finish just shy of looking new. The hot cartridge came out with some convincing, the cold did not. The lower half of the cold cartridge broke off inside the valve. Which would explain the drippy faucet, you could tell it must have been cracked for years. My method was crude and while I'm certain, it didn't cause it to break, most likely it didn't help. I ended up removing the faucet from the sink, and finding a small punch to drive the broken part out from the supply side.BTW...this series of Moen faucets now have life time warranty on valve parts, the one installed did not. Moen helped me locate a new part number that "should" work, but did not have them. After getting a referral from Moen, I called the supplier they suggested. They had the out of production part. The parts were not cheap, but the replacement faucet was in excess of $450, so in comparison, $75 in parts wasn't out of the question. The second generation part fit perfectly and the 30 year old faucet works PERFECTLY!” Congrats on your success.
This is another example of the excellence of Moen’s customer service. I have heard many times of situations like this where if they had the part they would replace it free even though the faucet wasn’t the one covered under their “lifetime” warranty and even have replaced the entire faucet. As I have mentioned many times in my blogs this is a reason to buy a quality product and to know the manufacturer’s warranty especially if you plan to stay in your home for a long time.
“Over the weekend I replaced the leaky cartridges in a Moen bar sink...individual hot and cold. The faucet was installed in the mid 70's, functionally clean not loaded with mineral deposits, exterior finish just shy of looking new. The hot cartridge came out with some convincing, the cold did not. The lower half of the cold cartridge broke off inside the valve. Which would explain the drippy faucet, you could tell it must have been cracked for years. My method was crude and while I'm certain, it didn't cause it to break, most likely it didn't help. I ended up removing the faucet from the sink, and finding a small punch to drive the broken part out from the supply side.BTW...this series of Moen faucets now have life time warranty on valve parts, the one installed did not. Moen helped me locate a new part number that "should" work, but did not have them. After getting a referral from Moen, I called the supplier they suggested. They had the out of production part. The parts were not cheap, but the replacement faucet was in excess of $450, so in comparison, $75 in parts wasn't out of the question. The second generation part fit perfectly and the 30 year old faucet works PERFECTLY!” Congrats on your success.
This is another example of the excellence of Moen’s customer service. I have heard many times of situations like this where if they had the part they would replace it free even though the faucet wasn’t the one covered under their “lifetime” warranty and even have replaced the entire faucet. As I have mentioned many times in my blogs this is a reason to buy a quality product and to know the manufacturer’s warranty especially if you plan to stay in your home for a long time.
Now as to the original question, what could he have used to pull the cartridge out without risking the damage? The answer is a cartridge puller as pictured above, which can be picked up at your local box store or hardware store.Tip: when you reinstall make sure you use plenty of plumbers grease on the new gaskets and coat the inside of the fixture also.
No comments:
Post a Comment