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I have a Moen Monticello faucet in my bathroom. The right-hand side handle that delivers cold water works fine. When I turn the left-hand side handle slowly fom 0 to 45 degrees, hot water starts flowing as usual. But if I turn more than 45 degrees, I can hear a thud/click and the water flow stops. Then, immediately after, even when the handle is between 0 to 45 degrees, the water will not flow. But after a few hours, I can repeat this exercise: Turn 45 degrees-hot water-turn more-hear click-no water-turn handle to 0 degrees-turn 45 degrees-no water-wait few-hours-REPEAT. Note that I have two sinks next to each other in the same bathroom, and this problem is only with one sink.
We noticed this the first time after we came back from a 2-month vacation. We had shut down the main water supply while we were gone. It seemed to work fine for a 1-2 days after getting back, and then just before/during we had the Polar Vortex cold front, I started noticing this problem. At the same time, my Moen showerhead (same bathroom) seemed to have low pressure and wasn't giving out sufficiently hot water. I adjusted the water pressure and thought maybe the really really cold temperatures had something to do with it. But a few days after the outside temperature returned to normal, I did not see any problems with the Moen showerhead. Only the bathroom faucet is giving problems as described above.
There is probably a piece of crud floating around on the hot water side.
Turn off the hot water under the sink.
Remove the hot water valve.
One person cup their hand over the opening where the water valve was, then another person slowly turn on the water valve below (cupped hand keeps water shooting out from hitting ceiling and directs it into sink along with piece of crud hopefully).
Then turn hot water valve under sink back off.
Cup hand over faucet aerator above sink (center thing water comes out of on faucet), then turn on the cold water. This causes cold water to flow backwards out the hot side and maybe along with that any piece of crud stuck between the hot water valve and aerator.
The above is called flushing or back flushing. This can also be done with the hot water valve below the sink, but you would need to turn off the main hot water valve at the water heater before removing that valve - and would need to use a bucket to catch the water.
With the valves installed, there is just a tiny space to allow water to flow through. A piece of crud larger than that space can clog it as water is flowing out. Removing the valve allows the crud to flow out.
Tried the flushing/back flushing but this did not solve the problem. Do you think the problem is with the hardware itself?
That is, if it was a piece of crud blocking the passage, why would I consistently hear a thud/click when I turn the handle exactly at 45 degrees? Also, what explains that the hot water starts flowing again after a few hours but not right away after hearing the thud/click?
Does the water flow good from the valves below the sink with the connections to the faucet removed and the flow of water directed into a bucket? (Instead of onto the floor.)
If the faucet was working fine before you turned the water off and left the house but now it's not, more than likely the problem is not the faucet.
You said that both the shower and faucet had problems after you returned home and turned the water back on? In this case there is a chance for something in the hot water line to stop the hot water from flowing into the faucet. Turn the hot and the cold water stops off, disconnect the hot water line at the faucet and with your hand hold that end into a bucket. Now turn the hot water stop just a little to allow some hot water to flow into the bucket.
If the hot water is flowing fine, then there could be some obstruction on the hot water side of the diverter inside the faucet. I have seen problems like that caused by ice in the hot water line. If the line does not rupture, the ice just melts several hours or days later.
By the way, Moen has one of the best customer services in the US. If you have a problem with the faucet, by all means give them a call.
I had the same problem, and found the trouble to be an anti-scald device that shuts off the hot water if the cold supply fails. It worked in my shower until I replaced the shower head with a low-flow one. Then it would not let me have any hot water.
I opened up the faucet and found a spool valve that shuts off the hot flow if there is less than a certain amount of cold flow. The low-flow shower heads don't allow enough water to flow to work the spool valve.
I soldered a brass nut on each end of the spool valve, so it is always centered. Now the shower works. There is no anti-scald function, but with a 120 F water heater, who needs it?
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