Another conundrum with hot on the cold side of shower

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havasu

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My neighbor just removed his tankless and replaced it with a 50 gal regular tank water heater. It is obvious that he failed to flush the pipes after the install, and the biggest problem is their single handle master bath shower. When it turns on, you have hot and even hotter water. There is no cold water at all from the valve. I pulled the cartridge and turned on the water, in an attempt to dislodge crud from the Moen valve, and some came out, but after reinstalling, they still only get hot.

I noticed all the aerators in the bathrooms were full of crud, and since the toilet failed to stop flowing, the wife went ahead and replaced the Fluidmaster 400, all by herself, not knowing that you only needed to remove the cap to clear the crud.

I recommend replacing the valve guts, and installing new springs and cups, which they will try in the near future. This shower backs up to another shower that works perfectly, so I know it is not the cold water pressure. I honestly believe there is even more crud backed up inside the valve, so what is the next step?

I'm thinking blowing compressed air backwards, but there is a 80 foot run to the water heater, so I'm afraid that chunk of crud will just stay stuck inside the cold side plumbing.

Please help. This guy is one of THOSE cops, who can shoot a knat's ass at 100 yards, but gets confused as to what side of a monkey wrench to hold! :eek:
 
remove the guts to the valve, hold a rag over the valve to direct water down to the drain
have someone turn the meter one..count to 5 then turn it off

this will be a bit messy. contain the water the best you can

remove shower head and blow water out ihe head

if that does not work, look inside the valve at the hole in the brass.
run a pipe cleaner into the hole to dislodge junk...coat hange if it will go

https://shop.brownells.com/gun-cleaning-chemicals/brushes-amp-bore-snakes/specialty-cleaning-brushes/pipe-cleaners-package-of-360-sku116259000-1715-6251.aspx?cm_mmc=PPC-_-Itwine-_-Bing-_-116-259-000
 
We tried a power flush and failed. I was unaware of the pipe cleaner trick, so I will try that next.

Thank you sir!
 

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