Edit: I meant to say no HOT water

First off, great forum - glad I found it. I moved into a 5 yr. old home recently and have some issues with my full basement bath. The first problem is I had a leak in the shower head and I did fix that (shower head did not have tape on the threads). The shower has never gotten hot water - only luke warm. I did remove drywall from behind the shower and noticed the hot pipe is indeed hot (by touch) going to the valve (I have a Moen 82505, single handle). Could this just be that I need a new valve cartridge?

Also... the sink hot water works fine, but when I turn it off (from running hot only) it makes like a dripping sound behind the wall. I checked the bottom of the drywall on that wall and there is no moisture, so I don't think it's leaking. What could this "dripping" sound be?

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help!

T

Hey Fire,

"Could this just be that I need a new valve cartridge??"

Shut the water off to the valve and remove the cartridge. Ckeck the inlet ports for any trash or crud that may have lodged in there. Now turn the water back on for a min ute or so to flush out the supplies, you should have a full stream. Now reassemble and test. If you still have a problem change out the cartridge.

"when I turn it off (from running hot only) it makes like a dripping sound behind the wall. I checked the bottom of the drywall on that wall and there is no moisture, so I don't think it's leaking. What could this "dripping" sound be??"

Not to worry. It's not serious. Let me take the mystery out of it. Running hot water, (especially in the winter) will make the pipe expand when heated and c ontract asa it cools down. The dripping/ticking sound is caused by the pipe hot water pipe expanding and contracting against the pipe strap and the stud it's strapped to. If it bothers you you will have to open the wall up and shim the pipe where it's strapped. Good luck, Tom

I think that you have a restriction in the cartridge at the hot port. This is most likely from solder or other debris in the hot port of the faucet. You’ll have to take the cartridge out to and clean it. First you’ll need to shut the hot and cold water off. If you go to moen.com and enter your faucet number into the search box you can print an exploded parts view of your faucet. With the water off remove the handle, then the stop tube, it just pulls off straight towards you. Now look closely at the top of faucet body and find the retainer clip. You’ll see a small hole the top of the clip which you can use to get the clip out. The cartridge should now pull out. If you already have a new cartridge there is a white plastic tool you can use to help get the cartridge out. Check for debris by pushing the brass portion of the cartridge out the back of the plastic portion. I would also flush out the faucet body by turning on the hot and cold water for a few seconds, letting the water just blast out into the shower. Check for debris in the shower base, and then reassemble the faucet. Put the pointy part of the handle onto the cartridge where the notch is. Look and the flat portions of the brass part and you’ll notice one of the flats is notched. If you get it wrong the hot and cold will be reversed.

The “dripping noise” is from the hot water pipe cooling (contracting) at some point where it is rubbing against an pipe clamp/hanger or perhaps a 2 X 4. If the noise goes away say after an hour or so then that is it.

Hope this helps you……………….Don B.

Thank you so much Tom and Don! I'll report back once I have a chance to mess with it...

Hey Guys - Thanks again for the response. I was able to get at my shower yesterday and here are my findings:

1. I left the valve cartridge in (Moen Posi-temp) and shut off both hot and cold water. I then turned on hot only and the water was indeed hot coming out of the faucet. I then turned the cold back on while the hot was still running and it would still only get luke warm. Does this sound like the valve cartridge is indeed bad?

2. I then tried to get the valve cartridge out to check for debris. I got the pin out and tried to pull the cartridge out with pliers - but it wouldn't budge. Wondering if I missed a step here or something?

Thanks again for the help!

Terry

Hi Terry,

Moen make a cartridge puller for those stubborn cartridges ,(see image). Check the inlet ports and don't forget to flush out the supplies before you reassemble the valve. Good luck, Tom