"HerHusband" wrote in message
...
I too serviced a shower pressure balancing valve, in my case a Kohler
"Rite-Temp" valve which had the same symptoms as your Moen. The valve
in my case had a rubber diaphragm which allowed a floating valve to
move back and forth between cold and hot orifices. The rubber had torn
/ disintegrated after a few years of daily use.
I am writing to ask you if the Moen valve also has some sort of
flexible diaphragm, and if so, did it seem at all deteriorated?

My 5 year old Moen "positemp" shower valves have a plastic cartridge that
fits inside the metal shower valve. After turning off the water and
removing the handle, you simply remove a retaining clip and pull the
cartridge out. There is a plunger inside (Moen calls it a "balance spool")
that normally slides back and forth inside the cartridge. If it doesn't
move freely, you can pull a cap off the back of the cartridge and take out
the plunger. Clean the plunger and the inside of the cartridge, apply a
little silicone lubricant, and reassemble. If that doesn't fix it, Moen
has a lifetime warranty for the original owner and will send you a new
cartridge free of charge.

There's no "diaphragm" in the Moen cartridge, only a few O-rings on the
outside of the cartridge. I installed three Moen shower valves in our
house, and except for the one stuck plunger immediately after installing,
we haven't had any problems in the last 5 years.

It's a pretty slick system overall, and the cartridge can even be turned
180 degrees to reverse the hot and cold connections if someone plumbed the
fixture wrong.

Anthony


Thanks very much for your informative reply Anthony. No doubt the Moen is a
much easier installation / repair than the Kohler, since the Kohler
replacement process takes well over an hour, requires very careful alignment
and lubrication of the "PBV" (pressure balancing valve) with the surrounding
valve body to avoid leaks, and just does not hold up well in daily use.

For my larger PBV, used in the high flow are bathtub/spa, which has a 3/4"
set of inlet connections, the PBV costs $167, just for the replacement
piece. The entire valve including the PBV is now $377. I paid $240 a few
years ago.

Looks like my next "repair" is gonna be a Moen replacement, even if I had to
redo the sweat fittings and start over.

Thanks again,

Smarty