Valve reversed after the thaw...

I have Vola 1500 series 1/4 turn ceramic cartridge style valves at a double vanity.

They are plumbed off a hot/cold pair of supply lines that T to each of the faucets.

Recently the cold line to the sinks froze. When frozen I noticed that I could run the hot on the left sink and open the cold on the left & right sinks. This combination would cause hot water to flow out of the right sink.

So I opened all valves and tried to pressurize the cold line with hot water. This did not thaw the pipe.

Eventually I was able to thaw the pipe and restore cold water pressure.

The problem is the cold valve on one sink is now reversed. The old on position if off and the off position is on.

What happened? How do I fix it?

Thanks,
Matt

And you didn't take any of the plumbing apart what-so-ever?

That is correct. There was no disassembly of anything.

The change that has occurred is internal to the valve and happened during the course of back flowing the valve and re-pressurizing the frozen cold line.

Both sinks had the cold valves open when the cold line was re-pressurized.

faucet

Your description of the problem is somewhat illogical, and should have nothing to do with the frozen pipe, or what you did to try to thaw it. IT is illogical, since the only way to reverse the handle operation, normally, is to remove the stem unit and exchange it for one that operates in reverse, or for some valves, take it out, rotate it 180 degrees and then reinsert it.

Not obvious... sure.
Illogical I think not. This is a mechanical system... it is not black magic.

I totally agree that this is a stumper, but am confident that we can figure it out. The situation is as I describe. Here is a link to the exploded valve diagram.

http://www.vola.dk/graphics/Products/Exploded/Graphic/PDF_1500.jpg

reversal

BECAUSE it is a mechanical system, it requires "black magic" to do what you describe. Some stems have a "clip" that can be removed and inverted to change the rotation, but that valve looks like it has "DEDICATED" hot and cold stems with NO provision to change the rotation other than by inserting the proper stem. THEREFORE, unless there is something you are not telling us, such as it was always like that but you did not "realize" it was backwards until now, then we cannot help you. BUT, if you have those "lever" handles, the hot and cold will turn in opposite directions, but which way they rotate is a subjective decision based on the installer's preference. From the factory, the hot handle usually rotates counterclockwise to open and the cold, clockwise, meaning they turn downward to open. But, I reverse that for a wall mounted faucet so the handles open by rotating upward.

Thanks "Master Plumber" it is evident that this problem is outside the bounds of your knowledge. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with this specific valve design.

The levers are one inch long and the on off position is evident from across the room. As I have been living with the install for about six months I am confident that this is not simply a new observation.

It would seem to me from looking at the exploded diagram of the valve there is an orifice that runs 180 degrees of the circle. Rotating this slide valve might cause the behavior that I am describing. It is counter intuitive to me that this would not be keyed in someway... but I guess taking it apart is the only way to find out.

It would have been re-assuring to get a response validating what has happened as common... but clearly that is not the case.

Mystery solved.

The ceramic / plastic cartridge assembly is keyed to the valve. It was held in place by a soft malleable seal. It appears that back-flowing hot water allowed the cartridge to push back against the seal and come off the key. This allowed it to rotate inside the valve body. When re-pressurized by the cold water from the correct side it pushed the cartridge back against the key and engaged at 90 degrees to the correct assembly location.

Pulling the valve stem disassembling and re-assembling in the correct orientation to the key resolved the issue.

?

Well, that is refreshing. It has been a long time since someone told me I did not know what I was talking about. And this after working on all types of faucets for about 60 years and knowing HOW to reverse the rotation intentionally, and NEVER having seen it happen by itself. Call Grohe, or whoever makes the Vola faucet, and ask their customer service why they made a faucet that could do that and how to make it fix itself. And you should learn how to do it, because if it could do it once, it WILL happen again someday.

Lol yeah I agree. There are usually stops on the valves that inhibit them from spinning 360* inside the faucet..... This because they're attached to a handle that will not spin 360*. Unless they are the older style gate valve style cartridges. And then if that was the case the cartridge can't be reversed.

Sounds goofy to me but who knows stuff happens.