1950s Pfister tub/shower low flow, just on cold water side

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RayGromer

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Problem: The cold water side has about half the flow volume as the hot water side.

I swapped the cold and hot water valve stems, but nothing changed. Cold water side has much less flow. And turning the diverter knob doesn't change anything either. Cold water from the shower outlet pipe is much less than it should be.

This is the only place in the house with this problem. At every other faucet, the hot and cold water faucets have the same flow rate.

I removed the valve seats and ran a wire into the valve body, but couldn't find any obstruction.

Any suggestions on how to fix this? To replace the valve body, I'd have to tear out a lot of tile, so definitely want to avoid that. Thanks.

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Terry

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What year was the home built? 1950's? Does it have copper or galvanized pipe in the wall. If you still have galvanized, then you may be looking at repiping. You are way overdue.
If you replace the valve, ditch the three handle and go with the current single handle valves with pressure balancing.
 

RayGromer

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Resolved. Turns out there was a calcium buildup in the cold water inlet port, just behind the valve seat. I used small gage spring steel wire to jam in there until it cleared the blockage. Thanks for your help.
 

Jeff H Young

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cool ! I was going to suggest removing the seat and let her blast out. thanks for sharing the resolved solution
 
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