# Cool diagnosis



## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

I got a call to a power plant that had hot water going to the toilets and urinals for the last 8 years. The showers were also a problem, some of the handles were frozen, or wouldn't shut off all the way. The mainteanace planner thought it might be the tempering valve, evebn though it been changed 3 times in the last 8 yeras, and check valves had been added everywhere there was a bald piece of pipe. He asked about demoing the shower valves and surface mounting all new shower valves. I look in the shower room and laugh. The faucets were chicago brand. I installed new ceramic 1/4 turn cartridges and solved the shower problem and the hot water crossover in one stroke. No need to demo pipe in a confined space and install new. I saved them thousands of dollars and fixed their problem the same day. I am in the process of changing cartridges on about 50 shower faucets right at a sister plant. here, the problem is cold crossing into the hot.

Jeff


----------



## grandpa (Jul 13, 2008)

Just curious about the crossover. I have not seen crossover involving 2 handle showers. Naturally, the Mixet, and to some extent the Moen, single handles are notorious. This usually also involves a recirc, which I assume you had at that plant.


----------



## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

Correct about the recirc. Chicago faucet cartridges are a prime culprit for crossover.


----------



## user4 (Jun 12, 2008)

The first generation Price Pfister pressure balance tub cartridges were a nightmare for allowing the hot to back up into the cold, without the faucet being on. We had an entire high rise full of them and I got sent to figure out why the toilets had warm water in them, I went to an empty unit and spent two hours checking all the faucets, angle stops, found nothing, finally I turned off the T/S valve and flushed the toilet a few times, and it was finally refilling with cold water. After talking to the PP rep to confirm what the problem was, I spent the next three weeks changing 550 T/S cartridges.


----------



## Plumberman (Jul 7, 2008)

Same thing happening to me at a hospital. Single handle shower faucet and 98 degrees coming out of the toliet. Gonna replace stems next week....


----------

