Moen Faucet Malfuction

[gchas]

[?]I have a single lever Moen faucet in the kitchen that is less than two years old. Cold water is available with normal pressure, but hot water has recently slowed to a trickle. I have reason to believe that some foreign object is plugging one of the internal orafices. I would like to avoid calling a plumber for this problem. How can I take the faucet apart to releive the congestion? I can provide a photo image of the faucet if necessary.Any help will be appreciated. [8D]

[LazyPup]

Single Handle Moen Kitchen faucetts utilize a mixing valve catridge assembly that is mounted directly below the handle.

Begin by turning both the Hot & Cold supply lines off at the angle stops under the kitchen sink at the base of the faucett supply tubes.

Most of the handles have a small setscrew under the handle on the front of the mount. It may be a flat screwdriver type screw or it may be a small hex key wrench (Allen wrench). Some of the faucett handles have a removable cap on top and the mounting screw is concealed under that cap.

loosen the set screw and remove the handle to expose the top of the mixer cartridge assembly.

The mixer catridges are usually held in place by either a metal U shaped spring clip or a screw on cap surrounding the cartidge stem. After removing the retainer you should be able to lift the cartridge out, but be careful, some of them require a special removal tool. (The assembly tools come packaged in a replacement cartridge kit).

You may have some success with cleaning the ports on the cartridges but usually the scale or debris will be inside in a difficult place to remove it. In that case, take the cartridge to you local hardware store and get a replacement cartridge.

The Moen Catalog lists four different types of cartridges, but they are all rather distinctive in appearance, so if you can't get it out,examine it closely and purchase a new kit. (The necessary tool should be packed with the new cartridge.)

[gchas]

Dear LazyPup: A thousand THANKS! for your invaluable help. What a great site.

[gchas]

Dear LazyPup, [?]sorry, but I am already stuck. The faucet cap unscrews partially, but no set screw can be found. There appears to be a large retainer ring holding the cartridges in,(I tried to send an image with this message, but then there was no message....just the image) but I am not sure the retainer ring is threaded and if so, whether or not a special wrench is required for turning it. I tried tapping it at the notches with a screw driver, but thought it best to consult you before getting too agressive. Is there a way to send an image along with the message? I got the image uploaded, but then when I previewed the message all that was present was the image....there was no message. Thanks in advance.

[LazyPup]

First you need to save the image to a file, then after you prepare the text portion of your reply hit the "upload Image" bar on the upper right hand margin of the text box.

When the image box appears hit browse to locate the image file,,select the image from your files and hit the "submit" button.

You will see a bar as the image uploads, then it will print the image locaton on a line in the image window.

Put your cursor on the image location line, right click and drag to highlight the whole line, then copy the line in the image box, and come back to the text box and paste it in.

I dont know what all types of formats will upload because I always either open and edit photos or create my drawings in "Microsoft Paint Program" and "Save as MPEG format"

Also, the images work best if you format them for 550 x 550 pixels.