How does moen 1423 balancing sppol work? I am not sure if there is a problem with a 12 yr. old but never used Moen 1423. thanks in advance!
Moens balancing spool moves back and forth inside the cylinder to regulate flow of water to keep you from getting scalded. If it is not working properly you can get to much of hot or cold water coming out of the spout....or low to no water coming out.
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Repair before replacing!
I have three of these on Moentrol shower/bath faucets circa 1983. The balancing spool (M1423) is a piston inside a sleeve with holes that align or block off depending on cold/hot water flow. If your equipment is old, you have hard water or don't use it often, the spool can become stuck. This is a $100 part (highway robbery!) so try to fix it before replacing it.
Both the piston and sleeve are a relatively soft stainless steel and too much force will distort it and render it useless. With the stainless part held lightly in a vice (with a soft wood or rubber grip), take one or two thin slot screwdrivers and slowly jimmy it into the space between the brass upper threaded part and the stainless lower part. Twist the screwdriver(s) slowly and it should easily pop off. If you take a lip of brass off, no big deal, just don't distort the piston/sleeve.
Carefully remove the O rings and soak the stainless part overnight in CLR or bathroom cleaner. Then place upright on a hard surface carefully hammer the piston (use a metal spacer to hammer) one way and then flip over and repeat until you get it out. Clean the sliding surfaces well with fine emory or scotchguard, then reinsert (it is symmetrical) and it should easily move back and forth. Then carefully replace the brass top with a tap of a hammer, reinsert or replace O rings (CLR will kill them). Then use plumbers grease (silicone) and reinsert into shower.
If the piston is impossible to remove or does not move freely, you can bypass it's function by fixing the piston in the mid position where you should see equal parts of the flow holes in middle (cold) and end (hot) sections. If you do this it's wise to set your hot water heater at a minimum useable temp, which regardless is safer for children and uses less energy and lessens the pressure imbalance with toilet flushes. And with a low hot water temp you really don't need the 1423 system anyway if you have a properly installed 3/4" pipe system.
Good luck!
Worked like a charm..... Did it in about 30 mins, and saved 3-4 days special ordering part and $65-$85 depending on where you buy part. Mine was not scaled up bad, but just bad enough to stop it from sliding. I used 600 wet dry emery cloth and it now slides like it was brand new. Thanks Ted for the original post!!
Greg
Kent, WA
Just wanted to add my comments and thanks. Shower only add hot water - no cold. Add to work a little to get the valve out, butr some liquid wrench and vice grips on a large screw driver did it. I disassembled the valve and drive the piston out with a punch. Then soaked in CLR for a few minutes and sanded with 1000 grit paper. Then put it all back together with some plumbers greases. Work perfectly. No on to the next shower (empty nesters now so need to get used to doing these when company is coming)
When teenagers lived here the shower worked fine. Then they moved away. A year later, they came back to cold only, no hot water in their shower. After replacing the 1225B cartridge with no improvement I was a bit discouraged, but not so desperate as to sink so low to call a real professional plumber. I happened upon your post. Thank You for an excellent rundown on the necessary steps to take and cautionary warnings. A small pry bar worked as an extra wide screw driver. The stainless steel piston and sleeve where indeed inseparable until they went into a hot cup of CLR on the stove for a faster chemical reaction --no patience to wait overnight; then a squirt of PB Blaster with a few wacks from a center punch freed up the stuck piston. No steel wool, sandpaper, or scrubby pads required after that, just worked the piston in and out until it moved freely. Almost didn't want to put it back in the shower it shone so brightly and the piston glided so smoothly. Everyone is happily taking showers in their own bathrooms instead of using mine as if it were Grand Central Station. I had to dial the cold-water stop-check valve in quite a bit to get enough hot water to be comfortable.
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My Moen shower faucet one day decided to put out only hot water, no cold. It was indeed the balancing spool that had frozen up. I removed and disassembled it per Ted Mitchell's post. Instead of soaking it in CLR or vinegar, I cleaned both the outer cylinder and the inner piston with 400 grit paper to removed the mineral scale, very lightly greased it, put it back together, made sure that the piston slide easily inside the cylinder, then reassembled the faucet. That fixed the problem.
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