In a difficult and "rigged" installation, a friend installed a single handle Moen bath faucet in my only bathroom. Needless to say, it would be a bear:mad: to remove the entire unit and replace it. Because I live in a rural area, the water well is sometimes unpredictable and has tiny bits of grit and/or rust in it, which is transmitted through the faucets. I have a Peerless in the bathroom sink and a Price Fister in the kitchen, that I've never had a problem with, but the Moen apparently has a cartridge that is super sensitive to grit, and so after a month or so, the hot water will simply quit flowing. That necessitates the cartridge being pulled and replaced. This faucet is only 5 months old and the cartridge has been replaced three times... Moen tells me it is a "scald control" on their faucets, and I'm sure all bath faucets are required to have a form of scald control, but do ALL SINGLE HANDLE FAUCETS have a cartridge arrangement like Moen does? Would I be better off to pull the Moen and replace it with another brand, or am I going to have the same problem, no matter what? Moen, to their credit, guarantees their faucets for a lifetime, but this problem is quickly aging me! Any brand recommendations if replacement is necessary would be appreciated~ :D HELP, please!

You bought one of the best brands and their Buy It For Looks/Buy It For Life guarantee is well worth it. You need to install a whole house filter right where the water enters the home. Home depot and others have good kits that run about $200 with cartridges for about $25. Seems pricey but with your well water I'd think its what you need. On the other hand when a Moen cartridge gets plugged with grit they can be cleaned out with a small amount of back pressure water through the cartridge.

THANKS so much for the prompt answer! I actually HAVE a whole house filter installed, but apparently the water is too dirty for even that to work properly.It is smaller than the one you mention (or at least it cost less, but I was assured that for the water consumption rate, it would work). There is only one person in the home and the filter cartridge clogs within three to five days, effectively reducing the water pressure throughout the home... Count three or four filters per month at $12 each and see why I bypass the filter unit. Several years ago the well had bacterial rust infection which is now cleared; all the trouble started then, and although a qualifed well driller "shocked" the well twice, it seems to still be a problem with rust and dirt, although NOTHING like it was at the onset. I have had my hot water tank replaced and several water lines as well. Outside of redrilling the well (which may not solve the problem anyway), I think I'm stuck! Do you think a larger whole house unit would not clog so quickly? Others have suggested softened water, but that is NOT an option. Any suggestions gratefully considered. Thanks again. Oh, and how do I "back pressure" the cartridge?

Clean aerator first - and periodically.

You might want to try a sand trap. That would basically be the largest sealed tank you can fit in. You pipe the well water into the bottom half and out the top to your pressure tank. Let's say that you put in a 100 gallon tank and that you use on average 200 gallons a day. That would mean that on average, the water you are using has set in the tank for 12 hours, letting the sand settle to the bottom. The sand tank would have course have a drain at the bottom that you would periodically open and flush out the sand. How often depends on how much sand you have in the water. With that and a filter you should experience a significant improvement. The tank would just be a galvanized tank and should not be terribly expensive. No cost for maintenance.

Harold, have you ever MADE or SEEN a tank such as this? I have a steel welding shop available, but I need to know what it has to be lined with...

Yes , I have a small mobile home park. At one time, when it was on a smaller well, a sand trap was installed. The pump was connected to a 100 gal. sand trap which was connected to a 300 gal pressure tank. The well was later replaced with a larger well.

The sand trap was a regular galvanized well pressure tank. I presumed it was galvanized on the inside. If you can make one cheaper than you can buy one go for it. Don't know if it has to be round to to sustain the pressure. I guess that would depend on the thickness of the material. I guess you could silicone the welds. That's all assuming you can weld galvanized material without burning away all the galvanizing.

PS
An aerator is the set of screens on the end of a faucet spout. They break up the flow of water into many smaller streams to prevent splashing. They some times get clogged.

Rather than rigging up a filter that may or may not work you should look into a large whole house filter designed for high volume. These filters are about 14" tall and as big around as a bowling ball.

Whatswithit: Aerator is the removable strainer installed on tip of every faucet. It gets clogged up all the time. It slows down water flow and in some cases it blocks flow completely. Same with shower head: it has flow restrictor in the female threads of the head. As with aerators, it gets clogged up all the time. If your tub runs fine - but shower is slow - then remove head and clean the restrictor. When one faucet in your house runs slowly, but others run OK, remove aerator and clean it. It is a quick-fix problem.

Moen has two pressure balancing shower valves, that is brass body behind the wall that the cartridge goes into. One is a positemp which has shower shock but not volume control and the other is Moentrol which has both shower shock and volume control. If there is debris in the valve you just pull the cartridge and flush the valve. This means turning the water on full force for just 10 seconds. Then rinse the cartridge and reinstall. Otherwise the sand trap is a great idea.

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Originally Posted by ballengerb1

Rather than rigging up a filter that may or may not work you should look into a large whole house filter designed for high volume. These filters are about 14" tall and as big around as a bowling ball.

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Thanks so much. I will take this idea into consideration. The one I have currently (which had to be professionally installed, by the way, is about 14" tall but only as large as a tennis ball... The problem is not the volume of water it processes, but the large amount of grit that the water sometimes contains. That is also uncontrollable, and depends on outside events that are unforeseeable. :)

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Originally Posted by Milo Dolezal

Whatswithit: Aerator is the removable strainer installed on tip of every faucet. It gets clogged up all the time. It slows down water flow and in some cases it blocks flow completely. Same with shower head: it has flow restrictor in the female threads of the head. As with aerators, it gets clogged up all the time. If your tub runs fine - but shower is slow - then remove head and clean the restrictor. When one faucet in your house runs slowly, but others run ok, remove aerator and clean it. It is a quick-fix problem.

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Thank you. I do clean the mesh filters on every faucet on which I can find them. What confused me is the fact that this bath faucet, to which we were referring, did not have an aerator. I also have to clean the water inlet valve filters on my washing machine, sometimes every four or five loads of laundry. In fact they have been cleaned so much that the tiny plastic basket shaped filters have no fin for removal any more! :mad: I substitute hose filters when they break for good. I don't have a traditional shower, it is the European (hand held variety) and I have not had a clogging problem with it... yet... :confused: Thanks again!

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Originally Posted by Milo Dolezal

Whatswithit: Aerator is the removable strainer installed on tip of every faucet. It gets clogged up all the time. It slows down water flow and in some cases it blocks flow completely. Same with shower head: it has flow restrictor in the female threads of the head. As with aerators, it gets clogged up all the time. If your tub runs fine - but shower is slow - then remove head and clean the restrictor. When one faucet in your house runs slowly, but others run ok, remove aerator and clean it. It is a quick-fix problem.

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THANKS so much!:)

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Originally Posted by whatswithit

That is also uncontrollable, and depends on outside events that are unforeseeable.

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Could expound on that statement please?

:)

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Originally Posted by hkstroud

Could expound on that statement please?

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SO sorry, this was part of a response to another answer on this post. You have given me some excellent ideas; I have never heard of a sand trap and certainly a feasible idea, given my circumstances. I will look into this idea further and I want to thank you for offering an idea that would reasonably solve the problem... :) :)

A tank, acting as a sand trap, is a not uncommon component of a well system. Not my concept, I'm not that smart. Your statement makes me think that there may be some problem with your well that should be asddressed. The amount of sand in the water should be consistent, determined by the conditions at the bottom of the well. It should be consistent, undesirable but consistent.

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Originally Posted by hkstroud

A tank, acting as a sand trap, is a not uncommon componant of a well system. Not my concept, I'm not that smart. Your statement makes me think that there may be some problem with your well that should be asddressed. The amount of sand in the water should be consistant, determined by the conditions at the bottom of the well. It should be consistant, undesirable but consistant.

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Thanks so much for your input. I have reason to believe that my well, which was drilled about 80 years ago, is uncased a portion of the way. This well, by the way, is 454 feet deep. A good portion of it goes through bedrock, but it may not have been cased all the way down. The well driller, who originally tackled this problem when the bacterial rust infection appeared, raised the level of the bottom of the well by filling it with pea gravel and then raised the pump level in an effort to clear the water. It did work. The USUAL amount of sand in say, a five gallon bucket, will be about one tablespoon in a swirl in the bottom of the bucket. At certain times, the water will be positively murky with rust or sediment. This usually occurs when the well has been "overused" or the weather is extremely dry. I have learned how to use the well so that 95% of the time, the water produces only the tablespoon of sediment. I think the well probably has a combination of problems, but I am too old to drill a 8,000 dollar plus well for this residence. I do not drink the water; it has however been tested through the state facility and the water is safe to drink, despite the occasional unsavory appearance. My concern is now only with using the water to wash clothing, bathe and flush, and the inconvenience caused by the sediment eroding faucets and water valves. The sand trap suggestion I have shared with a plumber and actually found that it would probably work out... it's just that no one thought to mention that solution except you. THANKS again!

I agree that a sand trap is likely to solve the problem. I would have a problem drinking water with that level of sand. A little good clean dirt never hurt anyone.

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Originally Posted by hkstroud

I agree that a sand trap is likely to solve the problem. I would have a problem drinking water with that level of sand. A little good clean dirt never hurt anyone.

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I'd think the sand a WONDERFUL exfoliator for skin, if you can get it past the Moen cartridge! LOL! :D

Thanks again for all the help! Have a pleasant day.

I had a similar problem with dirty water in the well. After discussion with several people who were supposed to know what they were doing, one person told me what to do.

I removed the pump from the well and cut off 4' of pipe. I removed it from the top as the bottom was more complicated. It seems to work fine now. I still use a pair of filters, first a 30 then a 5 micron, but my problem is well under control.

Good luck.