ipseng iu's commodity blog

Moen Cartridge Repair Tips

2011-12-30T20:49:00.000-08:00

If your Moen faucet only has hot or cold water come out, I have some tips for you to fix it by yourself in a cheap way. There were two Moen faucets that only had cold water come out in my house. I had been searching around the Internet to find a DIY solution. It seems like it is a common problem. The official solution from Moen is to replace the cartridge, so I started with this idea and tried to gather all the tools and parts to do the job. However, after I realized that the cartridge costs a good $40 dollars each, I re-asked myself “Do I really need to fix them?” Note that a brand new faucet set is only $130 dollars, and I wonder why that small piece of cartridge can cost so much.

I ended up not buying the replacement cartridge, but instead I bought a cartridge puller (Figure 1) which is used to pull the old one out. Without it, it is very difficult, frustrating, and almost impossible to pull it out. The puller only costs $13 dollars. I thought I could take a chance to see if I can do anything to fix old cartridge. I was thinking some kind of mesh in there is clogged and that should be easy to fix once it is out.

Figure 1. Cartridge puller.

You can find instruction easily on the Internet on how to take the cartridge out with the puller. The puller also comes with an instruction manual too. Now that I have done the entire repairing process, I can say that pulling the old cartridge out is the toughest part of this job, especially if you have an ancient faucet needs to be repaired. The cartridge (Figure 2) looks like a white cylinder with a brass stud on one end. The black pieces are gaskets. If you hold the white housing tight, you can actually spin the brass stud with a wrench. Notice that there are holes on the white housing and the inner piece. When you spin the brass stud, you can align the holes together. I can imaging that’s when you open the faucet. One hole is for cold water and the other hole is for hot water. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen a mesh yet.

Figure 2. Faucet cartridge.

The next step is to push the inner piece out of that white housing. The brass stud is welded on it, so they come out together (Figure 3). It is a tight sleeve fit, so you need to apply some force to push it out. Figure 4 shows the whole inner cylinder assembly. I saw some O-rings and a white plastic cap, but still haven’t seen a mesh yet. I noticed that one hole is open and the other is blocked by an insert inside the cylinder so I thought that must be the reason why I didn’t have hot water. I ventured to pry the white cap off. Be gentle here, the white cap is fragile. I used a tiny flat head screw driver to pry it off (Figure 5).

Figure 3. Pushing the inner cylinder.

Figure 4. Cartridge inner cylinder.

Figure 5. White cap off.

Now it comes to the interesting part. The insert in the cylinder can come off too (Figure 6). I used a bigger flat head screw driver to pull it out. At this time, I have given up hunting for the mesh. It must be a so yesterday technology that Moen has decided not to use. The insert apparently is shorter than the cylinder, and if we align one hole on the insert and the cylinder, the other hole is blocked. That’s how the cold and hot water sources are controlled. If I didn’t have hot water, the insert must be not sliding. But how do I make it slide?

Figure 6. Cylinder insert.

I forgot to mention that when the cartridge is out, you should realize that it’s kind of greasy and tacky. Even the insert surface is greasy too, so if there is no mechanical force to make the insert slide, it must rely on water pressure. But since the contact surface between the cylinder and the insert is so greasy, the water pressure doesn’t have enough force to make the insert slide. Here is the key to repair the cartridge: Use soap and brush to clean both the cylinder inside wall and the insert. If they are free of grease, when you put insert back in the cylinder, it should slide freely. You can shake it to feel and hear if the insert moves freely. If you can hear the knocking sound when you shake the cylinder. The knocking sound means the insert is knocking the brass stud end, and you should be ready to put everything back together. After all that, I have hot and cold waters from both of faucets again!

I think the sticky thing on insert comes from the gaskets. I would recommend Moen to use different gasket material to withstand hot, cold, and water minerals, without squeezing out the grease. But if you look at how much one cartridge costs, it may be their business model. The cartridge design is very high-tech but if it is such a common plumbing problem with a high replacement cost, I wouldn’t recommend other people to use it. I have to live with what I already have though.

The total cost for me to fix two faucets is $13 for the puller and a bandage (see my index finger on Figure 3). I cut my finger when I tried to pry that white cap off, so be careful.

New File Hosting Website

2010-11-19T21:10:00.000-08:00

All files on this website were hosted by Ziddu, which has all kinds of spyware and it doesn't pass my work place's firewall. Starting from today, all files are being hosted by Adrive. It is faster for the US visitors, doesn't have any spyware as far as I know, and best of all, it is free with 50GB space. If the file hosting is free for me, you can keep downloading. It's a way of how I apply the 1st law of Thermodynamics. Let's see how long we can keep this going. Enjoy!

BTW, shoot me an email if you are interested in hosting these files for free.

GaX Unit Converter Goes to Android

2009-05-09T10:03:00.000-07:00

I have started experimenting mobile programming lately. Google is very nice that it's Android SDK can be integrated into the Eclipse platform. After playing around with it and spending some time on the Android programming, I have decided to port GaX Unit Converter to Android. There are still lots of stuff for me to learn about Android, so this GaX Unit Converter Android version is a stripped down version. It doesn't have the customizable features like the desktop version.

When I was about to upload GaX Unit Converter to the Android Marketplace, I realized that I need to pay $20 registration fee no matter your app is free or not. This really turns me down. I guess I should stick with desktop programming instead. Nonetheless, if you can figure out a way to install apk (Android Package) file to your Android phone without go through the marketplace, here is the link to it.

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GaX HSPF Calculator

2009-04-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

A java program to calculate HSPF (Heating Seasonal Performance Factor). It can calculate HSPF for single-speed, two-speed, and variable-speed compressor systems. HSPF calculation is more involved compared to SEER. Even though for single-speed system, it is still not trivial. In addition, the print errors in the AHRI and ASHRAE standards make the HSPF calculations even harder to comprehend. GaX HSPF Calculator provides a simple way of calculating HSPF when lab test data are available. If you don't have java run time environment installed, you need to get it from here in order to run this program.

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References:

AHRI 210/240 (2008)
ASHRAE 116 (1995)

GaX SEER Calculator

2008-04-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

If you are in the HVAC product design industry, GaX SEER Calculator may help you solve your SEER calculation headache. For single-speed compressor systems, SEER calculation is a piece of cake. However, when it comes to two-speed and variable-speed compressor systems, there is not simple calculation anymore. GaX SEER Calculator provides an easy way to calculate SEER for single, two and variable speed compressor systems. All the calculations are based on the latest equations as of today.

BTW, as usually it is a Java based program.

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References:

AHRI 210/240 Standard (2008)
ASHRAE 116 Standard (1995)

GaX Psychrometrics

2007-06-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

A psychrometric calculation program. It supports both SI and IP units. Air properties include dry bulb, wet bulb, and dew point temperatures, relative humidity, humidity ratio, enthalpy, and specific volume. Inputs are any one of the following combinations, and outputs are the rest of the properties:

1. Dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures, and barometric pressure
2. Dry bulb and dew point temperatures, and barometric pressure
3. Dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, and barometric pressure
4. Dry bulb temperature, humidity ratio, and barometric pressure
5. Dry bulb temperature, enthalpy, and barometric pressure
6. Dry bulb temperature, specific volume, and barometric pressure

All calculations are based on the psychrometric equations in the ASHRAE handbook-fundamentals. GaX Psychrometrics is a Java based program. It should be able to run on any OS with JRE installed.

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Reference: ASHRAE handbook - Fundamentals

GaX Unit Converter

2007-06-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

My first Java program. I will start releasing Java programs from now on because it is a cross-platform language and free IDE's and compilers are available on the web. Gax Unit Converter is made on Eclipse.

Unlike other conversion program out there, Gax Unit Converter is a customizable program. You can add/delete the conversion options, and modify the conversion factors to fit your needs.

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Reference: ASHRAE handbook - Fundamentals

Update: This version fixes the temperature conversion problem that has been reported. - 05/05/2008

Wilson Plot

2007-06-07T16:35:00.000-07:00

Wilson plot is a graphical technique to determine heat transfer coefficient. There are many documentations out there to describe how the Wilson plot technique works. Due to a recent project, I have also written a Wilson plot documentation. This documentation can be downloaded from this page.

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PRF/RTF Generator

2007-06-06T20:59:00.000-07:00

My first Visual Basic program. It calculates periodic response factor (PRF), conduction transfer function (CTF), and radiant time factor (RTF). They are particular useful in building load calculations.

This website has the latest version. The original version is still hosted at OSU. But since there is no designated web master, it is hard to maintain the program on that site. I decided to have host my own personal webpage to let people download this program.

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References:

My MS Thesis
Iu, I. and Fisher, D.E. (2004). "Application of conduction transfer functions and periodic response factors in cooling load calculation procedures." ASHRAE transactions, 110(2), pp. 829-841.

Ph.D. Dissertation

2007-06-06T20:39:00.000-07:00

Development of air-to-air heat pump simulation program with advanced heat exchanger circuitry algorithm

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to develop a heat pump simulation program that is capable of simulating complex heat exchanger circuits. A segment-by-segment heat exchanger model has been developed in this research. When modeling the heat exchanger circuitries, local air side and refrigerant side boundary conditions for each heat exchanger segment are necessary information to account for the heat transfer and pressure drop changes. Refrigerant flow distribution in the coil circuits are determined by the flow resistance in each circuit. A novel circuiting algorithm that relaxes the constraints of previous models has been proposed to determine the refrigerant flow distribution. As reported in the literature, air side heat transfer coefficients vary row-by-row in multi-row heat exchangers. An experimental procedure that covers a range of fin densities has been conducted to develop row-by-row heat transfer correlations for louvered fin coils. The heat pump simulation program, with the proposed circuitry algorithm and developed row-by-row correlations integrated, has been validated at both component and system level simulations. The validation is based on a range of experimental data that cover different boundary conditions and system configurations.

The results of the row-by-row heat transfer experiment showed that there is thermal entrance length effect in the row-by-row heat transfer data. Heat transfer dominates at the front rows because the data are in the developing region. The louvered fin heat transfer data also confirm that there is a transition between “duct flow” and “boundary layer flow”. The row effect is particularly significant for duct flow and developing region. However, it is always ignored in overall heat transfer correlations. Simulation results with overall and row-by-row correlations showed that the simulated capacity difference can be as high as 6.5%. The difference can be higher if there is no boundary layer flow in the heat exchangers, such as flat fins. Validation results of the simulation program are satisfactory. A majority of the simulated heat exchanger capacities, sensible heat ratio, compressor power consumptions, and refrigerant mass flow rates are within ±5% difference. Saturation temperatures and coefficient of performance are within ±2K and ±0.5, respectively.

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MS Thesis

2007-06-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

Experimental Validation of the Radiant Time Series Method for Cooling Load Calculations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to experimentally validate the radiant time series method (RTSM) for cooling load calculations. The implementation of the RTSM is first discussed and focused on the calculation procedures of the periodic response factors (PRFs) and the radiant time factors (RTFs). The implementation is based the ASHRAE Loads Toolkit algorithms to accomplish. The application range of the Toolkit conduction algorithm is bounded using the analytical solution documented in the ASHRAE 1052-RP. A computer program is presented to ease the calculations of PRFs and RTFs. The program outputs are validated in terms of physical processes. The RTSM validation is conducted by comparing the RTSM simulation results to the measured cooling loads. The measured data are collected from two geometrically identical buildings. The buildings are constructed with heavy weight and light weight materials and with same interior configuration when the data are collected. The building envelopes have high amount of window area to investigate the overprediction of peak load that reported by Rees et al. (1998) when applying RTSM on high conductive building envelopes.

The Toolkit conduction algorithms perform better for light weight constructions. High error for heavy weight constructions is due to the small amount of heat flux. The validation of the program outputs shows that the program can generate satisfactory PRFs and RTFs. The beam and diffuse RTFs are interchangeable if all building elements have the same construction. The RTSM validation shows that the peak loads are overpredicted for all test cases. The adiabatic zone assumption is the primary error source that ignores the radiation or surface-to-surface conduction heat losses. A correction on the short wave radiation heat loss can eliminate 50% of peak load error. The peak load prediction is better for the heavy building because of the higher thermal storage effect that alleviates the surface-to-surface conduction heat loss. Errors are also propagated from the heat balance method due to the uncertainties associated with the interior configurations. For well-defined zones with normal window area, the RTSM with short wave correction can perform as good as the HBM.

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Introduction

2007-06-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

Over years of computer modeling experience, I have realized how computer modeling can benefit the industry in terms of cutting labor and equipment costs. I started modeling since I attended Oklahoma State University (OSU) under Dan Fisher as a graduate student. Dan Fisher is an example that shows me how computer modeling can make a living for an eight-kid family. I am not following his path to have a huge family but computer modeling most likely will support my family as my career kicks off.

Computer modeling is all about resources. I am not talking about what computer model, CPU, compiler, etc. we use. They are just tools in my point of view. The resources are the availability of paper publications, experiment facilities, and time. As a graduate student, I have most of my time working on computer modeling. Experiment facilities sometimes are available depending what kind of project we have. The OSU library has a thorough journal subscriptions where I can have access to the state-of-the-art modeling papers. However, these resources are not available to everyone and they could be costly.

Knowledge should be free to everyone. Someone who can't afford to buy a research report doesn't mean he doesn't have the right to learn the knowledge. The objective of this blog is to share my modeling experience with you or some people you know who need computer modeling in their lives. I feel like I should share some computer programs and documentations that I have made or collected. They have been useful to me. They may be also useful to you or someone you know. Given that some people are making livings in this area and I will be one of them, anything that is proprietary or copyrighted will not be shared in this website. I'm no billionnaire, not even millionaire, but this is the way I can contribute.