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| I'm not in hot water! | Login/Join |
| Pinta & the Santa Maria Has Achieved Nirvana  |
... at least not in the kitchen. Our single-handled faucet (the kind with the pull-out sprayer) has suddenly dropped the water pressure on the hot water only. When we turn it on, it's accompanied by a lovely knock on the pipes. My DIY research tells me it's either a "hammer lock" in the pipes and/or a cartridge that needs cleaning or replacing. I can barely even figure out how to get into the cartridge area of this faucet. I have no idea what to do with the knock. Is this a DIY project? Is my house going to blow up? Should we just quietly wash our dishes in cold water from here on out? Stay tuned for the answers to these and other domestic questions of the day..... unless someone can give me some advice. BTW, it's not the hot water itself. That works just fine (including good pressure) to every other faucet. It's just the kitchen faucet that's ailing. | ||
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Beatification Candidate |
It sounds like a cartridge problem to me. I'd find a source for a replacement cartridge and search for a YouTube video showing replacement of the cartridge in your specific faucet. If it looks like something you want to do, I'd buy the replacement so it would be on hand if needed when you disassemble the faucet. If cleaning happens to fix it, you can return the cartridge for a credit or refund or just keep it against the day when you actually need it. Don't forget to turn the hot and cold water off to the faucet before you start the repair. Big Al
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
What Al said.
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana  |
Before you start, please post a picture of the faucet, and the brand -- and if you can find it, the model. Some are easier than others. The one in Mrs pj's condo was leaking for a long time and putting rust stains on the valve body and the deck. It was made to have a special wrench thingy (all I can say is something like the tool to remove the freewheel from a bicycle hub). I finally found a friend with wicked skills who used an oversize needle-nose pliers to get the nut off. As I had suspected, there was a chunk of rust stuck in the cartridge. I have a kitchen faucet problem I've been ignoring: the side sprayer is spraying but a trickle. Yootoob sez I need to clean or replace the diverter valve thingy that is on the backside of the inner collar. That'll probably mean taking the faucet off the deck because there's little clearance behind it to get to the diverter valve thingy. As above, it's probably a chunk of rust stuck in the works. We get that a lot here. I even tried putting brass screens at the outlets of the shutoff valves under the sink.
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Minor Deity |
I feel dumb... Or old... a cartridge in a faucet?
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| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
Yup. Instead of washers, faucets have little plastic valves and gaskets assembled into a (theoretically) easy to replace cartridge. There can be two if a faucet has separate hot and cold handles. Or just one that handles both hot and cold in a single-lever job. The good ones have ceramic seals that last a very long time. But most are mostly plastic and cost a few bucks, so when it starts leaking or otherwise acting up, take off the handle, unscrew the big nut at the top, pull out the old cartridge and pop in a new one. My advice: always, always, ALWAYS use the name brand cartridge. I got a cheap no-name replacement once that was about a half a millimeter too tall and the bonnet would not screw on. I fought with that thing for hours and finally had to try three different stores to find a genuine Delta or Kohler or whatever it was. It cost twice as much but it fit perfectly.
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Minor Deity |
Depending on the brand, pretty easy fix... If Moen, they may send it for free! Easy peasy.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
Kohler also sends replacement cartridges at no charge.
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| Pinta & the Santa Maria Has Achieved Nirvana |
Mine is a Grohe--if I looked up the right model, it also cost a fortune. That is undoubtedly why it is now broken.  | |||
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
Is it Grohe, or Hansgrohe? If it's the latter, I think they also have a lifetime cartridge replacement warranty. https://www.hansgrohe-usa.com/...anufacturer-warranty
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| Pinta & the Santa Maria Has Achieved Nirvana |
plain ol' grohe | |||
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| knitterati Beatification Candidate  |
I don’t remember which kitchen faucet this happened to, but I wanted to take out the screen and clean out the faucet head. Couldn’t figure it out. Called the company; it wasn’t removable! So they sent me a new faucet head, free, and it was a re-designed model because the old design was stoopid. So check with your faucet company.
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