Tuscany Brass shower faucet problem

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cjc

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I have a tuscany brass shower faucet (one handle version) and there is no cold water coming out of it.
The hot water works fine, but when I turn it to cold, there is no water coming out of the shower head.
The sink and toliet both have cold water, so I don't think it's the supply line. I took the faucet apart and remove the cartridge. I went to the local home improvement store and bought a new cartridge and replaced. Still no cold water. Any ideas on what the problem might be?

Thanks,

CJC
 

Redwood

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And tell us more this tuscany brass shower faucet?

Have you got a link for the parts diagram?
 

cjc

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I haven't been able to find a diagram, but I'll keep looking. The shower is in a guest bathroom that's not used much, so I'm not sure when it quit working. Earlier this year, I had a shutoff valve upstream of the shower replaced. Not sure if something could have happened when the valve was replaced or not. All the other cold water faucets down stream of the valve work fine though.
 

Jadnashua

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Depending on the age of the valve, it may have a pressure-balance spool valve. On some, this is inside the cartridge, on some, it is a separate valve. If yours has one, and it is separate from the valve, it is likely stuck, and either needs to be freed up, or replaced. The spool valve is what makes it anti-scald, and can get jammed to one side if you have the water on one side turned off, then open the valve sliding the spool valve to the end of its travel and jamming.
 

orgwood

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AKA for Tuscany Brass shower valve

Depending on the age of the valve, it may have a pressure-balance spool valve. On some, this is inside the cartridge, on some, it is a separate valve. If yours has one, and it is separate from the valve, it is likely stuck, and either needs to be freed up, or replaced. The spool valve is what makes it anti-scald, and can get jammed to one side if you have the water on one side turned off, then open the valve sliding the spool valve to the end of its travel and jamming.

I just spent a day or so trying to get into on these anti scald valves. I finally found an image matching my cartridge and followed a link to YouTube showing the valve and balancing spool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d26wRgip74

I never did find any info on how to remove them so I'm putting my results up here for anyone needing to know.

Kingston Brass KBRP3631BS Balancing Spool For KB3631 Valve is the model number I used for finding more info.

My "manual" for this valve shows how to get into the guts for setting the anti-scald feature and reversing the water flow for back to back installs so that much was fairly easily accomplished. Once you get down to the brass cylinder where you can turn it off counterclockwise, you can access the cartridge that pretty much falls off. When you get there, I found a white cylinder with a red arrow at the bottom and suspected an "O" ring was holding it in...the video confirmed that fact. So I took a flat bladed screwdriver and started to gently pry the cylinder, which is actually the balancing valve, starting at the arrow. After several gentle prying attempts around the outside I was able to get it to come out little by little. When I finally had it out I determined that the arrow was just a pointer for the down position and it didn't make any difference where I was prying on the part. I actually tried pulling it out first using the long retaining screws for the escutcheon but I was afraid I'd damage the plastic seat so I stopped and started the prying.

Once I had it extracted, I was able to push down on the snap-on tab and get at the spool parts inside...mine were stuck and wouldn't snap one inside the other. I didn't have any calcium building like I suspected nor did I have any particles that I could see. I tried to use vinegar to remove whatever it was causing them to bind but that didn't seem to help so I used a plastic headed hammer to force the inside tube back into the outside tube. Once they were moving I was able to get them apart and gave them a gentle brushing with a brass bristle brush to remove any contaminants. I then re-assembled the spool valve and completed the re-installation of the assembly and made my temp adjustment to the highest setting. All is good and working now!
 
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hj

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The Kingston valve has an internal balancer, (and I would never waste the time to take one apart and try to fix it), which would have been corrected when he installed the new one. IF it is a balancer problem, and it probably is, then the balancer must be a separate device in the body of the faucet which would ONLY be accessible after the large trim plate was removed. Few of them can be "repaired", so replacement is the best option.
 
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