Moen faucet defaults to strong instead of soft

[bdp31770]

For years this Moen faucet has defaulted to a soft, spread out sort of spray. Recently it defaults to the tighter, stronger blast that bounces water everywhere.

I tried googling this and nothing specific comes up. I tried pressing the button on the top of the spout but that only works temporarily. Is there a way to make it default to the softer spray again?

Thank you for any feedback.

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

The default should be a column of water. Depressing the button should divert to the wide spray pattern. Then either by pressing the button on the other end or by cycling the faucet off then on again should go back to the default column of water.

 

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[bdp31770]

The default should be a column of water. Depressing the button should divert to the wide spray pattern. Then either by pressing the button on the other end or by cycling the faucet off then on again should go back to the default column of water.

Thank you. What it's defaulting too now is a column of water, but it's so strong it makes a mess splashing against everything. It used to default to something more normal and not messy. I"m wondering if something broke somewhere or if someone changed a setting and doesn't realize it? From your comment it sounds like there is no way to make it default back to the softer setting?

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

It sounds like the flow restrictor may have broken. I would call Moen directly and they would be able to determine if its something you can fix or maybe might need to send out a replacement part.

 

[bdp31770]

Thank you, I'm sorry for all the questions I just have one more. Recently, also, the handle has become very loose. I wonder if that could be the problem, and tightening it may help?

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

The handle does control the rate of flow, but wouldn't cause what you're describing, if anything it would likely decrease flow if the handle weren't able to lift the cartridge to the fully on position being loose. Tightening the handle should be simple tho. Usually there is a set screw hidden behind a small cover of the handle. You'll want to cover the sink drain with a cloth before starting any of this procedure tho, so you don't loose any small parts. You'll need an Allen wrench set and find the appropriate sized wrench that fits snugly into the set screw. Then likely just a half of a rotation til its tight.