[Nylanth]

I just moved into an old house, so it came with its share of projects. One I wanted to tackle right away was a leaking tub faucet. (Seemed to be hot water only.)

I replaced the cartridges inside both bathtub faucet handles. (Waltec parts) I made sure to buy the "hot" cartridge for the hot handle, and cold for cold, though the only difference I could see was that they turn differently. (Apparently the old cartridges were both "hot". No idea if that makes a difference.) Before, there was no amount of turning that would get the water to turn off all the way. The old cartridges looked ancient, so it's no wonder.

The cold works beautifully now, but when I use the hot, it doesn't seem to adjust properly. (At least, I think it's restricted to the hot. I'd have to wait a while to double-check.) It either trickles or it's full force. Did I do something wrong, and is it something I can fix?

Possibly related: If I turn on the hot water to a normally strong position, it will flow steadily, then drop off to a trickle until I turn it up further. I can't see any leaking going on inside the wall, so I'm not sure what the pressure issue is.

I had to turn off the main to do the repairs. I'd reopened it all the way at first, but there seemed to be too much pressure then, so I closed it bit by bit until the pressure in the house seemed to be back to normal. There are no pressure monitors that I could find. It's a pretty old house, and this city has a huge overdose of calcium in its system, which seems to be the root of most of the house's plumbing issues. This is just the first one I've tackled so far. I'd describe myself as a complete but enthusiastic plumbing novice.

Thank you!

[Nylanth]

I think I may have figured it out. There's so much calcium sediment in the water here, that when I shut off the main, a bunch of pieces broke free and collected. Then, when I would turn on the hot water for the bath, they would gang up on the cartridge like some sort of calcium Borg collective.

Flushed and fixed!

[speedball1]

We thank you for the update. Always nice to hear about a happy ending. Tom