# Help -- Think it will Work?



## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

Service call today Moen PosiTemp Stem Broken Off.

Posi-Temp puller won't work.

Here is the plan (replace is no-option)

After Viewing -- Think it will work?
Anybody have another plan?


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## PlumberDave (Jan 4, 2009)

*posi-temp removal*

rough one once the stem breaks. I've drilled'em soaked in liquid wrench spun them. the best so far was drill it out so a 1/2" internal wrench will fit twist and pull. it works pain in the butt, but it works.


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

I have no idea how to view the attachment you posted. I tried clicking on it and saving it but can't see anything. Did the brass stem shear off flush with the rest of the cart?





Paul


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## Protech (Sep 22, 2008)

Easy peesy.

Use the cartridge puller to spin the cartridge. That will cause the cartridge to pull out about 1/4" due to the tabs gliding across the brass ramp on the end of the valve bodies opening. Now that it's broken loose, give the valve body a little love with the torch. Don't go nuts, just get it warm (you might have cpvc or pex attached to the valve so no more than 200F). Use a right angle pick (like a dental pick) to grab the plastic ears of the cartridge and pull.

Good luck :thumbsup:


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

Protech said:


> Easy peesy.
> 
> Broken one out new one in. Could not rotate cartridge, puller just wanted to jump away valve was loose inside wall cound not put much push pressure. My idea would have worked but hole in cartridge was too big for 3/8 rod. 7/16 tap cut shallow threads. Pulling on the tap stripped it out. OK I must turn this ***** so I broke away the ears in the cartridge bevel, took a 1/4" drill and drilled away the remaining brass stem. Enlarged that to 5/16. Internally that brass stem must be attached to stainless steel. Drilling Stopped! Now I, took a 1/2" tap in a tee handle wrench tightened the wrench on the tap. Tapped in with the 1/2" until it shouldered kept turning and the cartridge rotated. A minute later I had the tap wrench and the cartridge in my hand.
> 
> ...


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## 1703 (Jul 21, 2009)

Funnt story:

A buddy called me one evening. He was trying to remove a positemp cartridge and the stem had broken off. 

I suggested he drill a couple holes in the cartrigde on opposite sides of the stem, stick in some needle nose pliers and try to turn the cartridge free.

An hour later he calls back with a bad leak after puting in the new cart.

It seems he drilled at an angle and drilled two holes through the valve body.

He wanted to know if I could solder the holes shut before his wife got home. :thumbup:

IIRC, I called him a dumba** and hung up.


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## RealLivePlumber (Jun 22, 2008)

I had a Moentrol brass cartridge that the center stem pulled out of. The thin wire ring pulled right through the brass. A 3/8 pipe tap thread's it nicely, then a 3/8 nipple and a pair of vice grips pulls it right out.


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## ROCKSTARPLUMBER (Dec 14, 2008)

Im with Protech on the torch. I had one, that broke off, it was a copper sweat valve on all connections. I heated that bastard up, and she dropped out like a greasy turd.


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## futz (Sep 17, 2009)

rocksteady said:


> I have no idea how to view the attachment you posted. I tried clicking on it and saving it but can't see anything. Did the brass stem shear off flush with the rest of the cart?


It's just a pic embedded in a MS doc file. Why do it that way? I have NO idea.  Why not just post the pic? Anyway, OpenOffice Writer had no problem opening it, and here it is:


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

I had this one the day after Christmas.




















The top picture is how it looked when I got there. I don't know what the customer had done but his wife said they were on you-tube for hours trying to fix it. When I got there the clip was out and the slot at the top was completely crushed closed. The slot at the botom was broken off except for enough to hold one side of the clip. There were grind and cut marks all over the outside of the valve body.  

I've had to remove broken moen cartridges with no stem before and if I can get it to turn it's no sweat. I usually just drill a pair of deck screws into the plastic on each side of the stem and it pushes the plastic out like a puller. Then I can grab it with some vice grips and pop! This one wouldn't turn at all, both rubber pads were peeled back and jammed into the hot and cold ports of the valve. I ended up breaking this cartidge into about 100 little pieces and pretty much caped out what was left (that's for you Randy :thumbup. Took me about 45 minutes but the new cart. went in and works fine. I did tell the guy that he needs a new valve at the first sign of a drip though.







Paul


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

*Attention Futz*



futz said:


> It's just a pic embedded in a MS doc file. Why do it that way? I have NO idea.  Why not just post the pic? Anyway, OpenOffice Writer had no problem opening it, and here it is:
> View attachment 4375


The drawing was made in MSWord 2003 It was not a picture. It was a document. Did you print it out as a doc. and then scan it to make a jpeg. Or did you do it some other way. Please educate me.


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## futz (Sep 17, 2009)

PLUMBER_BILL said:


> The drawing was made in MSWord 2003 It was not a picture. It was a document. Did you print it out as a doc. and then scan it to make a jpeg. Or did you do it some other way. Please educate me.


Ok, so it wasn't a picture. It was a vector drawing. Whatever.  I just grabbed it and flattened it into a picture. And NOT by going to analog and redigitizing (printing & scanning). That's just a surefire way to massively lose quality. Stay digital all the way and you'll be much happier with the results.

I opened it with OpenOffice Write (equivalent to MS Word), 
selected the pic ("drawing"  ), 
copied it to clipboard (CTRL-C),
started GIMP (equivalent to Photoshop) (other bitmap editor would work too),
created new blank pic larger than necessary,
pasted your pic from clipboard (CTRL-V),
autocropped to your pic's size
and
saved it as a jpg file.

Very simple really.

If MS Word won't let you copy the pic then it's just being stupid typical Microsoft warez (it should work though). Grab the free stuff above and have much more flexibility. OpenOffice can export PDF from both Write (word processor) and Calc (spreadsheet). GIMP is everything Photoshop is, less CMYK (for print work) and some polish (dynamic objects and fonts). I can easily live without those, especially for the price (nothin).


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## Mega Smash (Oct 9, 2009)

The last one with a sheared stem got the two deck screw treatment. Some PB Blaster and pliers spun it right out of the body.

I was thinking of turning an old socket into a steel version of the cartridge tool - that way in the future, you could really reef on it without the two tabs spreading.


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