Short story, if you have a dripping shower, follow this post.
Long story. The shower head was dripping for a week or two, so I figured I should look into it. For some reason, I assumed it was a bad O-ring on the classic pull out handle. First I turned off the water supply from an access panel. After prying the cover on the handle off with a screwdriver, I took off the handle by removing the single screw. I then banged on the pipes a bit, turned the water supply back on, but surprisingly it was still leaking. Booted up the internet, did some research, and learned I needed to replace the cartridge. That was Monday.
Tuesday, I went to Menards to see what I could learn. I found out that there are many different models of cartridges, and at $40 a piece was not about to buy one to experiment. At the suggestion of a 14 year old, I bought the "universal" cartridge remover, plastic variety. Yeah, that crumbled when I set foot in the bathroom, just as in every other post on the internet. Went back to Menards and picked up a die and tap set. I screwed in the 1/2 inch but had no way to get a grip on the tool to pull the cartridge out. Passed out after a bottle of wine.
After work on Wednesday, I bought a vice grip pliers, a crescent wrench set, and a 1/2 inch hex bolt. When I got home, I screwed the bolt in and used a 2x4 and crow bar to pry the rest of the cartridge out. Celebrated like a predator not greeted by Chris Hansen. Newcastle mini keg gone.
Took the mangled cartridge to Menards today after work and bought one that looked similar, along with some water proof lube. Popped it in the pipe in less than 15 seconds, CLR'd the water spotted parts, and caulked everything back together. Turned the water supply back on and thus far, no dripping. Calling it complete. Finished another Newcastle keg and now onto some Crown Royal and Coke.
At 30 minutes each night, this project took about 2 hours.
$5 - Universal Replacement Kit (worthless)
$28 - Tap and Die Set (used one of the 30 bits and will probably never use the set again)
$11 - Vice Grip Pliers (didn't really need, but padded this project to get another tool)
$11 - Crescent Wrench set (only needed the 3/4 wrench, but that was $4 alone)
$1 - 1/2 inch hex bolt (now in the pile of other bolts)
$15 - Moen Cartridge (the price tag said $40, but I didn't complain)
$2 - Water Proof Lube (probably overkill, but fuck it)
$4 - Beef Jerky (I actually didn't buy any, but after this second Crown, I wish I had)
$77 - Total Cost
At the beginning of this project, I estimated $175 for a plumber to do this. I suppose if I estimated the liquor during the week, it would be about $98. The project plus liquor equals a plumber.
So, somehow, we're even.
