Moen Shower Faucet Cartridge Removal Tool
Introduction My house was built in the early 70s and finally my two showers gave out on me. First, it's just a gradual dripping, finally it grows to a stream. Having done basic plumbing before (disposal, sinks, faucets, and toilets) I decided to give the showers a try. Upon initial examination, it looked really straight forward. Pull out the old cartridge and put in a new one.
Shower faucet cartridges can be. Moen sells a tool that makes. It often takes only a small movement to break the seal so you can remove the cartridge. Moen 1222 One-Handle PosiTemp Faucet Cartridge Replacement for Moen Tub. Moen 1222 One-Handle PosiTemp Faucet Cartridge Replacement for Moen Tub Shower and Shower Only. Moen 104421 tool 1 handle crtrge puller crd.
Parts were readily available and tools looked easy enough. After about 15 minutes, the obvious becomes clear. It's plumbing with caked on hard water minerals that have effectively welded it into place.
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Everything is seized up. The instructions that come with the Moen replacement cartridge (and online) presume that you are working on stuff that is relatively new and nothing is seized up.
They give you a cheap plastic tool that borders on a gag gift. You then realize why Moen sells a $40 tool, which again, that doesn't really work either. Ultimately you start having ideas of just cutting the whole unit out with a Sawzall and sweating in a new fixture all together. Surfing the web for 5 or 10 minutes, you realize that you are not the first one this has happened to. The answer comes in the form of tap set and a bolt. Several websites make reference to this technique, but none really illustrate step by step. It's more or less a series of blog threads.
This article aims to illustrate the process showing the sequence of steps, things that go wrong, work arounds, exact tools, costs, and parts needed to fix your Moen cartridge replacement. The extraction of a seized cartridge starts at step 11. Problem Simply put: You try and remove your cartridge, but it's seized up so much that bits and pieces break off trying to remove it. Inherently in the design, you are putting 50 ft/lbs of pressure on a few millimeters of very soft and brittle brass. In the process of 'turning' the cartridge, the 'ears' snap off and all Moen provided tools become useless.
The center stem and it's retaining ring pops out and the rest of the inner parts of the faucet come out leaving the outer casing of the cartridge stuck in the wall. What you need is to get a lot more 'surface area' so you can apply a lot more torque to the frozen cartridge. This comes in the form of screwing in a large bolt and using a half inch ratchet with an 18 inch bar on it. Stuff comes out pretty easy at this point. Tools & Parts Used Moen 1200 Replacement Cartridge Long narrow flat head screw driver Small circular wire brush Plumber's putty Plumber's grease ½' by 4 long hex bolt Small pry bar Vice grips Needle nose pliers ½' tap & holder Scrap piece of 2x4 (about 2 feet long) Gloves ¾' Socket for a half inch ratchet drive ½' ratchet drive with a long bar Can of compressed air (optional) Moen Replacement Cartridge Estimated Time About 1 hour depending on how seized up everything is. Step by Step Solution 1. Turn off the water to your faucet if you can, else, turn off the water to your house.
In my house, it's in the basement and looks like this: Picture 1: Water Turn Off Valve In Basement 2. Start the disassembly of the unit. Pop off the cover with a thin flat head: Picture 2: Cover Removal 3. Remove the handle: Picture 3: Handle Removal 4. Remove the two screws holding the chrome Moen face plate (escutcheon) on: Picture 4: Face Plate Screw Removal 5.