This tub faucet is very stiff when turning the water on or off. Between hot and cold is easy and smooth, but on and off requires too much work. I'm kinda hoping a new cartridge would make it better, but can't find any indication of what brand this is. Does anyone recognize it?
Forgot to link to the picture. Here it is:
Peabody says...
Le vendredi 18 mars 2022 à 23:06:53 UTC+1, Peabody a écrit :
hi
Looks like an old Delta
Maybe try
That seems to be a bad link, and I can't find what it ought to be.
It turns out to be a Moen push-pull faucet, cartridge 1225 or 1225B. I would love to take a shot at replacing it, but Youtube is full of videos of problems encountered getting the old one out. And since there are no local shutoffs, I could get stuck with the water turned off at the meter, with no way to complete the job and turn it back on again. So I will probably hire a plumber to do it. Of course if I do that it will turn out to be easy.
May be a better investment for a few bucks more to just replace it.
Why not shut the water off at the meter and install shut-offs wherever required? You'd be setting yourself up for easy repairs in the future and give yourself time to work on this specific problem.
Even if you used super-simple, yet somewhat expensive SharkBite shutoffs throughout the house, it would probably be cheaper than paying a plumber to replace that single cartridge. Obviously I don't know how many shutoffs you need or how much access you have to the pipes, but you get the point.
For less than $25, you could put shutoffs in just for this job, access dependent, of course.
Everything is behind tile - above this tub, and a tiled shower behind it in the other bathroom. I certainly don't have the knowledge or experience to be able to install shutoffs through a 4-inch hole in the tile.
I agree it's a big expense to get a plumber to change out the cartridge, but the condo rules actually require me to do that. I would skirt the rules if I was sure I could get the old one out because there's really no plumbing involved - no threads. You just lube up the new one, insert it, install the retaining clip, and Bob's your uncle. But getting the old one out (installed 1980) could be something else.
They include a small white plastic persuader with the new cartridge, which you use to try to turn the cartridge and break it loose so it will pull out easily. I thought about doing that just in case it was easy, but I don't know how much force I can use, or whether there's any danger of the cartridge coming apart and leaving a portion behind inside the pipe. I had also thought about buying a puller, but I don't know if that eliminates the risk of the cartridge leaving part of itself behind.
Again, I don't know the layout of your plumbing, or ease of access to the pipes in general, but shutoffs don't need to be
*at* the fixture, just *before* it.It wouldn't make sense to put the shutoffs behind the tile anyway. How would anyone be able to use them? Consider the basement, attic, crawl space, a closet, etc. Wherever you (or the plumber) have access to the pipes.
You may end up have to shutoff more than one fixture, such as the entire bathroom or even both bathrooms, but that's often better than the entire house.
As long as you need to hire a plumber, consider getting your money's worth. Ask him about installing shutoffs while he's there. Future-proofing, so to speak.
It doesn't, but there are various methods for getting the pieces out. Drills, picks, etc. PITA, but doable.
Good luck.
If your condo has a full time building engineer as part of the management staff, you might consider contacting him/her and asking what they know about owner's experiences changing out the original mixer cartridges. Also, if your condo has an electronic bulletin board, listerv, etc. you might post a request for feedback if anyone has any recommendations, including names of plumbers they used for this type of work, or plumbers they had a bad experience with.
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