How to Replace a Shower Cartridge | Ask This Old House

Ask This Old House plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey travels to Seattle to help a homeowner whose shower runs cold whenever there’s a demand for hot water elsewhere in the house

Cost: $30
Skill Level: Beginner

Tools List for Replacing a Shower Cartridge:
Flathead screwdriver
Cartridge removal tool
Caulking gun

Shopping List:
Replacement cartridge
Grease
Silicone caulking
Foam bead

Steps:
1. These instructions apply to the earliest models of single handle shower valves. Follow manufacturer’s instructions for your specific style of valve.
2. Start by removing the handle of the shower. There’s usually a cover plate that can be pried off with a flathead screwdriver. Then, hold the handle tight and unscrew the screw behind the cover plate with the same screwdriver.
3. Remove the escutcheon plate by unscrewing it.
4. Look to see if there’s a water shut off near the shower valve. If not, shut the water off at the main water supply line.
5. There’s a small clip holding the cartridge in the shower valve. Carefully pry that up.
6. Use a cartridge removal tool to carefully work the old cartridge back and forth until it can be safely remove from the wall. The cartridge removal tool may be included with the replacement cartridge.
7. Once the cartridge is loose, use a pair of pliers to carefully pull it out of the wall. Don’t force it out. If it gets damaged while being removed, it could destroy the whole valve and then the entire thing will need to be replaced.
8. Put some grease on the replacement cartridge and carefully work it back into the valve.
9. Put the small clip back in to hold the new cartridge in place.
10. Add a bead of silicone and a foam bead around the back of the escutcheon plate to make a watertight seal.
11. Screw the cover plate and the shower handle back into place.
12. Turn the water back on.

Resources:

The screwdriver and pliers Richard used can be found at home centers.

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How to Replace a Shower Cartridge | Ask This Old House

[iwontreplybacklol]

I bought a fixer upper 20 years ago. Its still a fixer upper, its the gift that keeps on givin'..

[elliothudsonhudsonhomesott]

I grew up watching This Old House and Bob Villa with my Dad. Today I'm a renovation contractor, and I'm sure these wonderful memories are part of what inspired me to start my own business.

[davidmatke]

If only plumbing were as easy as Richard makes it look!

[MYTFL]

This is one plumber who REALLY loves his job! Good for you, sir!

[prepostgamer]

The engineering that goes on in our household really is amazing and overlooked

[psik]

Very knowledgeable and a pleasure to watch. Explains everything as opposed to just fixing. I'd trust him working on my house

[indycustommade]

Great stuff. I remember years ago If you had issues with anything it was time to get books and read how to fix stuff. Now you can watch these guys and get the answers in videos and not pictures. Keep them coming TOH. Thanks

[TheTerminator]

3:51 That face when you hear the contractor spit words but know you'll forget what he says in 10 seconds.

[imaginasean]

Thanks to this old house, the recommendations here made the job easy and fixed another problem I didn't realize I had. The water in my hot water tank gets hotter now because there is no more cold water bleed-over due to unequal pressure that apparently happened at the faucet. We can take hotter baths because of you!

[inspectorsteve]

Why do repairs on this tv show always gdoes as planned? Anything job I do in my house no matter how small turns into a bigger job for some reason. Tried hanging selves in the closet just to find out the closet wasn't framed right so now I need to buy special anchors. Come back the anchors are the wrong size so I go back. Start to hang and hit a pre patched hole in the drywall that wasn't done right by previous owners. Patch falls out now I need to patch the hole properly before hanging shelves. I'm sure every diyer had a small job turn big for some reason. You never see that on this show.

[AndreViens]

Great timing - I planned to replace my cartridge tomorrow. This was helpful in understanding why I need to replace it.

[ChefBoyareB]

If you have the right tools it makes it easy. That extracting tool was the wrong tool for the 1220 Moen cartridge there. That was a tool for extracting the newer Positemp cartridges. The proper one threads into the stem. If the stem pulls out from the center, it has a special rod to insert into the remaining parts to pull them out.

[myothercarisadelorean]

I did similar job on my dad's shower. Its a Moen brand. It was a "pausie-valve" replacement. The only hard part was busting the screws lose because they were so carotid from hard water build up. Nearly snapped my allen wrench from trying to bust it loose.

[joekrolikowski]

Thank you for posting this very helpful video. I had to do this job today and your video gave me the confidence to take care of it!

[CharlesMurphy]

This saved me!. The explanation was 'spot on' and was super helpful. Saved me time, headache, and $$$. Well done, Thank you Richard!

[reynaldovalle]

Nice to see they have a replacement for that good to know thank you very much Richard

[kermitefrog]

Great video. I had to replace the cartridge in my manufactured home and even though it was slightly different than the one showed here it is similar. My home is 37 years old. The new valve was a simple with the use of a MIXET Tub/Shower stem with MXT07 .

[TNtoolman]

Evidently one of the owners of this house owned stock in a caulk company...

[TwistedD]

I had to do this just the other day and I followed this, but I do wish I would've read the instructions as well. You don't always need to remove the escutcheon plate, I gave myself a little extra work with that.

If your plumbing is secured with plastic tabs/clamps, specifically old ones like mine, rather than metal chances are they'll break if the cartridge doesn't want to leave it's home without a fight.

Lastly if you get everything back together and your hot and cold are reversed don't fret, just remove the knob and twist the center part the knob screws into 180 degrees. Put the knob back on and you're good. Thankfully there's no need to go any deeper.

[kenj]

Excellent explanation of how this cartridge works and details on replacement