Toilets, Sinks, Showers, Tubs and Disposals - very little cold water from American Standard Shower valve
Doityourself.com community forum was created to provide answers to all questions related to home improvement and home repair. Doityourself community can help you find information about how-to topics on small fixes to large remodeling projects. With comprehensive how-to content and expertly moderated community forums DoItYourself.com makes it easy to tackle even the most complex home improvement projects.View Full Version : very little cold water from American Standard Shower valve
Dave4242
03-06-07, 04:56 PM
A co-worker of mine has an American Standard single handle shower valve that is about 7 years old (we can't find a part # on it). No one has touched any of the stops, etc. But now, there is practically no cold water coming from it.
He replaced the cartridge (which is held on by 3 screws), but still practically no cold water.
I had him turn on the hot and the cold water intermittently with the cartridge removed, and the hot water shoots across the shower, while the cold only trickles out.
When facing the valve, there are 2 stops that look like a screwdriver would be used to adjust them. We did not touch those.
Also, there is a large hex-headed brass screw with a slot in the head directly below the brass manifold. I was told by the American Standard rep that there is some sort of spool inside this that allows for pressure compensation, but I cannot remove the brass screw. In fact, it is getting all chewed up with whatever we tried to use.
Is this the most likely cause for the lack of cold water pressure and is there any trick to getting off that screw to get to the spool? By the way, the sink and toilet in the same bath have no issues with cold water.
Thanks.
Dave
He replaced the cartridge (which is held on by 3 screws), but still practically no cold water.
I had him turn on the hot and the cold water intermittently with the cartridge removed, and the hot water shoots across the shower, while the cold only trickles out.
When facing the valve, there are 2 stops that look like a screwdriver would be used to adjust them. We did not touch those.
Also, there is a large hex-headed brass screw with a slot in the head directly below the brass manifold. I was told by the American Standard rep that there is some sort of spool inside this that allows for pressure compensation, but I cannot remove the brass screw. In fact, it is getting all chewed up with whatever we tried to use.
Is this the most likely cause for the lack of cold water pressure and is there any trick to getting off that screw to get to the spool? By the way, the sink and toilet in the same bath have no issues with cold water.
Thanks.
Dave
DaVeBoy
03-06-07, 06:11 PM
Not familiar with your unit.
It's too bad that that rep, who told you all that he did, could not go the extra mile and at least refer you to a company tech who could help you.
Have you diligently tried searching the web for any exploded view of this?
If that was me, I would shut off the water and be undoing anything I could see to undo. I ran into a weird mobile home mixer valve once that I was sucessful in repairing by just undoing things and figuring out how it worked and what I needed to do.
It's too bad that that rep, who told you all that he did, could not go the extra mile and at least refer you to a company tech who could help you.
Have you diligently tried searching the web for any exploded view of this?
If that was me, I would shut off the water and be undoing anything I could see to undo. I ran into a weird mobile home mixer valve once that I was sucessful in repairing by just undoing things and figuring out how it worked and what I needed to do.