Posi-Temp Pressure Balanced Shower Cartridge

My house was built new and is now 8 years old. I purposefully avoided "builder grade" fixtures. Only two of them were Moen in the whole house. BOTH have failed within 8 years. The first one after 4 years and the second at the 8 year mark. First one, I could not turn off the water (Posi-Temp 1222). When I went to another plumbing supply house with the old failed part in hand, I was told that this part is used in builder grade, track home quality fixtures - awesome.... Here is the very serious part of my story - the second cartridge failure (the other Moen faucet I purchased - same model as first one) failed in such a way that it leaked both outside the shower wall and INSIDE the wall from the handle stem ruining my Kitchen ceiling below. When all is said and done, the failure of these parts will cost me a few thousand dollars. What happened to American made pride (Manufactured in the US with imported parts" - translation: Likely means assembled in the US with foreign parts). For what I paid for these fixtures, they should come with a Brass cartridge, not this piece of garbage plastic thing. I am a handy guy with a lot of life experience and work in the Manufacturing world and it is my opinion that this component is a shameful joke. I don't mind paying more for quality, but I seem to have been deprived of that option here. OK - Moen Customer Support, now you can reply with your canned Copy & Paste response: "Moen cartridges do not have an estimated life expectancy and are subject to standard maintenance based on varying factors such as system pressure and regional water conditions". Are you kidding me - "Moen cartridges do not have an estimated life expectancy" - who would say such a thing. Does Moen realize that is paramount to saying "it could last a day or 364 days". Additionally, I am pretty suspicious of all the "positive reviews" here. I am a pretty busy person, like most people are. Who has the time to write all these positive reviews. I only write them when in Shepard mode and feel I have to warn the public. Lastly, I am used to these parts lasting 20 years or more - not, "we can't tell you how long it may last".

At first, It was almost impossible to pull the old cartridge out. I tried the plastic puller that came with the new cartridge, it was very flimsy and the thing just froze in there. Luckily, I was prepared, did my research and went ahead and bought the DANCO Cartridge Puller for MOEN. I have seen and watch reviews and they used this tool to pull stucked cartridge. After about 5 mins of turning left to right and pull out motion (repeatedly), I was able to pull it out, The black rubber around the old cartridge disintegrated in pieces. It looked like it clanged and bonded with the metal insert inside. I cleaned it off and used shop vac to take out small debris and particles around it. Once I cleaned it off, put it back the way I took it out just reverse process. I am not a handyman savvy type of guy, I work in the financial field. I managed to do this on my own and saved me $300 worth of plumbing service. The part cost me $49.00 and it came with the grease. I highly suggest you use that grease and lube on that sucker so when next time you need to replace it, it will be a little easier. Another helpful trick is that I was taking pictures step by step on how it looked like taking off the part so I know how to put it back. Your welcome!!!

easy to replaced,

Easy to install so far no problem

Moen is very "proud" ($) of their products but I have found them to be a reliable brand. Although I purchased this product I ended up not needing it to resolve an issue I thought I had. Home Depot is GREAT about taking product back. The Posi-Temp Moen shower valve solved all the hot/cold issues we were having while taking a shower and a toilet flushing or the washing machine running. No more "Shock Therapy"!!

I am absolutely sick of changing this part almost every 1 and half year on all 3 floors and 5 bathroom on our house. About $50 for this part is absolutely ripoff there are entire units sold $75-$100 but they are ripping you off with this piece of junk just for a replacement part. We have a brand new house and unfortunately we chose Moen on all 5 bathroom on 3 floors and this part is keep failing. First it becomes tough to open and close the water then one day when you are done showering you cannot close the water it turns but doesn't do anything and i have to run to basement and shut the main water. This is a constant nightmare which occurs constantly, i fix one floor then couple months later the tenant knocks the door in the middle of the night and ask me to shut down the water. I am so sick of the constant repair but i also don't want to spend thousands to bring a plumper and change the entire units with a different brand.

Works great. Highly recommend purchasing the cartridge puller (sold separately). Would not have gotten it out without it

fit and replaced the old one perfectly.

Stoped the leak

Good