Though Moen plumbing products are well known for their durability and reliability, they are still subject to dripping or leaking, just like any other brands. More often with the Moen brand, the problem is caused by a worn out kitchen faucet cartridge.

If you are having this type of problem and you happen to be a do-it-yourself kind of individual, then you can definitely fix the problem without having to consult a professional. In the process, you will also save money.

Before you start with the fixing procedure though, you have to make sure that you have all the things you need at hand. You don’t want to be half way through and then realize you don’t have the right screwdriver or replacement part available do you?

Okay, so here are the things you need:

– The replacement cartridge of course – this available from your local home improvement shop. Since there are four different Moen fixture parts like this, you need to take the old one with you when you go to the shop so the salesperson can give you the right kind
– A pair of slip-joint or channel lock pliers
– A crescent wrench
– A small flat head screwdriver
– A Phillips screwdriver

How do you remove and replace this part of the fixture?

1. Cut off the water supply.
2. Using the flat head screwdriver, remove the cap on the fixture handle
3. Next use the Phillips screwdriver to remove the retaining screw from the handle. Remove the handle.
4. Use the crescent wrench or your pliers to remove the keeper ring.
5. Remove the old cartridge. You may have some difficulty doing this as it is snugly fitted on the fixture so use the small flat head screwdriver to make a little space then use your pliers to pull it straight up.
6. Install the replacement part. The part of the fixture you are replacing has a tooth that goes to a slot on the assembly. This component cannot go in any other way.
7. Replace the keeper ring and then the fixture’s handle and cap.
8. Turn the water supply on.

Some important points when replacing a kitchen faucet cartridge for the Moen brand fixture:

– if some parts are stuck together, use a spray lubricant to get them moving again
– in case you don’t have a small screwdriver, you can improvise and use other tools or other edged rigid metal implements
– you may not have to replace this component on the cold water side as it is only the hot water side that usually ends up having this part damaged or worn out

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Find out more on the subject of avoiding a few of the common and widespread plumbing inconveniences in your home. Many plumbing problems may be elude contingent upon the time of season. Chilly fall temperatures serve as a courteous reminder that once winter arrives it may be surprising, often catching proprietors unprepared for winter plumbing inconveniences associated with extreme cold. Look here for valuable plumbing tips to keep your plumbing system running well during winter.

Turn off outdoor water hoses. If it is still connected, water inside the hoses can freeze and expand bringing about spouts and connecting pipes in your house to ice up and break down.

Ensure external taps are not leaking out or pouring out. Contact a plumbing contractor to take care of the crucial fixes before freezing temperatures arrive. Understand that once pipes ice up, water pressure grows and induces cracks – no matter whether pipe is composed of copper, plastic, or steel. Even a very little fracture might generate beyond 250 gallons of water in just one calendar day.

If your house has interior shut-off valves giving rise to outdoor spouts, disconnect them and drain water from lines.

Pad pipes in heat less vicinity, such as crawl or garages spaces. Position heating stripe or thermostat-controlled heat cables all over the pipes that are exposed and vulnerable to freezing.

Your water heater is working even harder at the time of wintertime months. Have a plumbing service professional flush it away and remove deposit buildup, which causes corrosion, shortens the length of life and reduces warming functionality.

Once departing from your residence for extended periods of time, shut off the major water regulator and take the water out by releasing open faucets at the highest and lowest places of the house.

Put into use the above mentioned helpful plumbing info and tips to increase the life span of your plumbing system in the course of wintry weather. It’s recommended to seek professional aid to winterize the plumbing system in your property.

Common plumbing problems.Plumbing system odors are annoying to say the least, but the worst part is that these are usually a sign of a bigger problem lurking within your plumbing system. If you have any foul odors in your Charlotte home coming for your plumbing fixtures or if you might think that they are, call your Charlotte NC plumber right away to come to your home and service your problem. There are actually several causes of odors that result from your plumbing pipes, let us look at some of the most common and what the problem might be in each case.

First, could there be a buildup of food in your garbage disposal. If the smells are coming from your kitchen sink, this might require a cleaning with ice.. In addition to the accumulation of food itself, the process of chopping your food into tiny little bits could leave behind bacteria that can accumulate and cause a foul odor. You can try to run hot water and fragrant ice cubes down the disposal to see if you can get rid of the smell by yourself. Should this fail, you may need a Charlotte plumber to help clean the disposal.

A crack in the sewer drain pipe of your Charlotte home is one of the most serious causes of home odors. The sewer gasses that escape into your home through the crack can smell like rotten eggs. This is a very unpleasant odor and a problem that should be repaired swiftly. Do not delay, call a plumbing profesional immediately. If the odor is persistent and does not clear from time to time and return, the problem is more than likely to be inside your home. If the smell is occasional, meaning that it will come and then come back from time to time, then the crack is probably below the slab level. It will probably take a camera inspection to locate the exact spot where the crack exists in such a case.

Another possible cause of your home or office plumbing odors is a blockage in your vent pipes. This is the pipe that extends through your roof and allows plumbing gasses to escape into the air. Should this become blocked, by leaves or even something as unusual as a birds nest on your pipe, the vent allows proper air flow through your plumbing system could result in causing the trap seals to some plumbing fixtures to malfunctioning improperly. This in turn would cause gasses to escape through the improperly sealed fixtures and into your Charlotte home.

So here you have a few of the most common reasons for odors that come from your plumbing pipes. There are others, and your Charlotte NC plumbers can help you to understand them upon inspecting your home. It is not recommended that you attempt to repair these types of problems yourself. While there are many different types of plumbing repairs that a person skilled with a few basic tools can undertake successfully, these types of repairs can be complex and you might need the assistance of a professional licensed Charlotte plumbing contractor.

Getting the assistance of any emergency plumbers Charlotte company will outright make your life easier and with no difficulty. It is the number one reason why many Charlotte home owners today won’t mind spending some extra money just to get any of their plumbing needs done by professional Charlotte plumber.

There are many reasons why you really need to think of seeking the aid of any Charlotte plumbing service company. You can get the job completed right and avoid undesirable further problems to occur. For example, a simple as a leaking bathroom faucet can and will lead into something serious if you can’t get it fixed by some good Charlotte emergency plumbing. Even if you think that you have the capability to do it yourself, it is not a assurance that you can get it done right.

With the help of Charlotte emergency plumbers, you can guarantee on what they are doing is always right. Are plumbers have the right tools that they can use to do the job with know-how and excellence. Many Charlotte emergency plumbing companies are able to offer you any plumbing service in the best way possible. In finding the once that would work for your needs and with your budget.

In finding good emergency plumbing Charlotte company to help you, So make sure that you got the one that is more trustworthy and responsible when it comes to any of your plumbing needs. You also have to make clear that such a company has a good set of Charlotte emergency plumbers to assist you. There is a great guarantee of better work if the Charlotte plumbers that are working on your repair for you are skilled and accomplished.

There are a lot of Charlotte plumbing companies available today. so, it might really be hard for you to choose the best. Other than having good Charlotte emergency plumbers, they should also have a good name and background screened when it comes to your plumbing work. You need to be certain of the Concord plumbing company that you have to trust. it is crucial that you think about the cost of the money that you’ll be spending.

In getting the assistant of a Charlotte emergency plumbing company, you need to examine your needs and what is in your emergency budget. Remember that a good plumbing company does not depend on their hourly charges are. it is about can they do the plumbing job that you need.

tankless

The next time you have to replace a water heater — and the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors says conventional heaters have a lifespan of six to 12 years – you may have an option you hadn’t considered before: the tankless water heater.
They are more efficient, but also more expensive than tank-type (storage) heaters. Here are six considerations to see whether tankless is right for you.
1. Energy savings
If you are energy green rather than dollar-bill green, then you probably can stop here. You already know which water heater is for you. In most situations, a tankless water heater uses less energy than a tank-type. They are planet-friendly.
The traditional, tank-type heater, or storage heater, keeps a tank of hot water ready for use. It is always heated; thus it requires energy to keep it constantly hot. A tankless system, sometimes called “on demand,” heats the water as you use it. There is no storage tank to be continuously heated, and therefore, it uses less energy.
It should be noted that gas-fired tankless heaters are much more effective than electric, and in colder climates, for instance, electric won’t heat fast enough to be useful.
2. How much?
Your energy savings, compared to a tank-type heater, depend in part on how much you use. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates energy savings of 24 percent to 34 percent in homes that use little hot water, 40 gallons or less per day. In homes that use more — say, 80 gallons a day — they estimate savings of 8 to 14 percent. That is partly because a tankless system uses less energy when the demand is low. It will blast on high to fill the washing machine and bathtub, but it will fire much lower if you are just washing your hands.
3. Cost
Two factors affect the cost of a hot-water system: the cost of the heater and the cost of installation.
Tankless heaters cost considerably more than storage types — two to three times, or more. A 2012 study by the Center for Energy and Environment in Minneapolis estimated the total cost of installing a tank system in an average home to range between $900 and $1,300; the tankless type ranged from $2,500 to $4,000. A specialist in tankless installations at Plumbing Repair in the Greater Concord NC area said that although the costs just for installation do vary considerably, he also said $2,500 is a round figure — two to three times that of a tank-type water heater installation. He went on to say that’s why 99 percent of their water-heater sales are tank-type.
4. Water temperature
A tankless system has more variables that can drive up the price. One is the cold-water temperature.
While a tank-type heater is measured by the tank capacity — ranging from 20 to 120 gallons — a tankless heater is measured by how fast it can heat the water — for instance, it may be able to raise the temperature of the water by 50 degrees at the flow rate of four gallons per minute. If you live in a warm climate, where tap water is tepid, not as much heat is needed to raise the water temperature to your needs. For instance, if your water comes from the tap at 65 degrees, your heater needs to provide a 55-degree increase to reach the 120-degree setting on a tank-type system (though many people prefer their tanks in the 130-degree range if they have dishwashers).
If you live in a Northern climate where the water comes out of the tap at, maybe, 45 degrees, that heater needs a huge capacity to reach 120 degrees; you might have to pay for the top-end, more expensive heater. And because the colder water uses more energy to reach 120 degrees, the energy savings won’t be as great as in a warmer climate.
5. Installation
Installation costs for tankless heaters can be considerably higher than for tank-type.
Even if you are replacing an existing tank-type gas water heater, installing a tankless system is more complicated than just dropping it into the existing piping and venting. A tankless heater has to provide intense heat on short notice; it sucks a lot of gas, so you likely would have to run a new gas line to provide extra capacity. A tank-style heater is usually fed with 1/2-inch pipe; a tankless heater might need 3/4-inch pipe.
And because of the extra heat, the venting needs to be “Class 3,” a stainless steel pipe that is a higher grade and more expensive than the usual water-heater venting.
“When you pay $30 for a 2-foot section of Class 3 venting, it adds up pretty quickly,” the Aurora Plumbing expert said.
A tankless heater is much smaller than a storage heater, so it is possible that you can relocate the heater closer to its usage points. Instead of waiting two minutes for the hot water to reach the faucet, you may have to wait only seconds. But moving the location could also cost more for piping and ventilation.
6. Cold shower?
Because it heats water as you use it, a tankless system is not going to run out of hot water, as a storage system may do if you are third in line for your morning shower behind two adolescents.
Is tankless right for you?
Are the benefits of tankless water heaters worth the cost?
Both the Minneapolis study and a 2008 Consumer Reports study indicated that even though the tankless system lasts longer than a tank-type — 20 years or so — the energy savings over the longer lifespan still probably would not offset the higher cost of buying and installing one. But they pointed out that there are many variables in installing a tankless system, so in individual cases, it could be cost effective.
Even if the dollars don’t work for you, you may prefer the benefits of an endless supply of hot water and the reduced energy demands. If you are seriously interested in a tankless heater, local plumbing specialists typically know the heating demand for the water temperature in your area. They should be able to analyze your hot-water needs and installation concerns to calculate whether going tankless is right for you.