First of all, we have 3 full baths in our home. We are having this problem in only one... the main floor bath.

When I turn on the water at the spigot in the shower, I get ONLY hot water. In the sink in the same bathroom, I get both hot and cold.

I am a 66 year old woman and I don't know much about plumbing, so please try to give your answer in terms I'll understand. Thanks !

Would you be comfortable shutting the water off and opening up the shower valve and cleaning the inlet ports on the cartridge? If you are then give me the brand name of the shower valve and its age, Back to you, Tom

Would you be comfortable shutting the water off and opening up the shower valve and cleaning the inlet ports on the cartridge? If you are then give me the brand name of the shower valve and its age, Back to you, Tom

Speedball1...

I can certainly shut off the water at the main valve in the basement. As far as cleaning the inlet ports on the cartridge, I have no idea what you are talking about.

The valve is a Moen and it was put in when the house was built in 2001. This bathroom is almost NEVER used for showering. It is mainly used as a main floor powder room.

Great! Moen is what my company installs in all of our condos so I'm familiar with your valve, This ism your valve, If you're handy with tools I can walk you through the repair. This would not involve buying new parts. What's your pleasure? Tom

Great! Moen is what my company installs in all of our condos so I'm familiar with your valve, This ism your valve, If you're handy with tools I can walk you through the repair. This would not involve buying new parts. What's your pleasure? tom

Hi Tom,

I have limited tools. I have already shut off the water and tried to remove the outer covering of the valve (it is just a metal "shell" covering the working parts.) I think I need an alan wrench to remove it and I don't have the right size. Going out tomorrow, so I could pick the right one up then. Had to turn the water back on so I could cook dinner.

Do you agree, I need to remove that piece first?

Hi Bets 16. Does your handle pull out then turn left and right for hot and cold, or does the handle simply turn counterclockwise for cold to hot? This will determine what type of cartridge you have. If you have a pull out handle, there is a philips screw under a plastic pop off cap on the handle to remove the handle. If you have a turn type handle, you will need an allen wrench of the correct size to remove the handle. Then you simply pull the round chrome piece off. No need to remove the large round trim plate just yet, but if it comes to that, it is held on with two philips screws. With the small round chrome piece off (and the main water off) you will see a small you shaped retainer clip that will need to be removed from the top side of the valve assembly. This holds the cartridge in place. Once you have that out, you can remove the cartridge. However, Im not sure I would tackle this on a Friday afternoon, as sometimes you can run into a real sticky cartridge, and damage it while trying to remove it. If this happens on a Friday afternoon, and you find yourself in need of a plumber to finish this up, it will cost much more than a regular weekday visit between the hours of say 8 and 5. If you can get by till Monday, I would suggest doing so. Not saying you shouldn't take this project on, but would be best to do it when the plumbers aren't going to charge overtime in the event things do go south and you need to call them in. Im really not trying to make this sound harder than it is, as actually Moens are about the easiest valves to work on, but like I said, even they can get a little tricky from time to time. Good lucka and please let us know if we can help further.

Here's a video I want you to watch. MOEN FAUCET REPAIR - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-SNBNijfQc)
After you remove the cartridge check the bottom holes for any trash, Now,(and this is important ) turn the cold water supply back on to flush out the supply, n You should see a strong stream when doing so, If everything checks out reassemble and test, Do you have cold water now? Good luck, Tom