05cavalier
New Member
Hey guys,
Within the past month or so both shower heads in my house have started squealing on startup. It is most noticeable when the hot water is on, however the cold water does it as well. I don't think the temperature is the issue though.
I also don't believe it to be the cartridge. One shower I did replace the cartridge because it made horrible noises anytime the water was on. Replaced the cartridge and problem solved. Now the issue is only when I activate the actual shower head by pulling up on little knob.
I tried CLR on the one shower head and it definitely improved the issue but did not make it go away completely. What's odd though is that just changing water temp does seem to make it go away very quickly. The system is a single handle Moen and if I turned it on about half way, pull the diverter knob, then give the temperature a little wiggle in either direction, the squeal almost immediately goes away. If I don't wiggle it, the noise usually goes away anywhere from 2-3 seconds up to about 30 seconds.
After I soaked the head in CLR, I also stuck toothpicks through each sprayer hole, unscrewed it and cleaned out any gunk which was just a little bit of sealer tape, and put it back on. I noticed it has a small rubber o-ring (fits loosely) inside the head but I did not take it apart further. The shower head is a Moen also that pivots and I didn't quickly see how to remove the pivoting head for further cleaning.
While I had the head off I pulled the diverter like normal and zero noise at all at any temperature range. Put the head back on and immediate squealing again. My initial thought was that this rules out the diverter, but I've since convinced myself that that may not be the case since I removed the head which is quite a restriction on the system.
I'm not sure if I should just try to clean it more/longer since the initial cleanup helped quite a bit, if I should replace that rubber o-ring, replace the diverter, or replace the whole shower head. Any thoughts?
Within the past month or so both shower heads in my house have started squealing on startup. It is most noticeable when the hot water is on, however the cold water does it as well. I don't think the temperature is the issue though.
I also don't believe it to be the cartridge. One shower I did replace the cartridge because it made horrible noises anytime the water was on. Replaced the cartridge and problem solved. Now the issue is only when I activate the actual shower head by pulling up on little knob.
I tried CLR on the one shower head and it definitely improved the issue but did not make it go away completely. What's odd though is that just changing water temp does seem to make it go away very quickly. The system is a single handle Moen and if I turned it on about half way, pull the diverter knob, then give the temperature a little wiggle in either direction, the squeal almost immediately goes away. If I don't wiggle it, the noise usually goes away anywhere from 2-3 seconds up to about 30 seconds.
After I soaked the head in CLR, I also stuck toothpicks through each sprayer hole, unscrewed it and cleaned out any gunk which was just a little bit of sealer tape, and put it back on. I noticed it has a small rubber o-ring (fits loosely) inside the head but I did not take it apart further. The shower head is a Moen also that pivots and I didn't quickly see how to remove the pivoting head for further cleaning.
While I had the head off I pulled the diverter like normal and zero noise at all at any temperature range. Put the head back on and immediate squealing again. My initial thought was that this rules out the diverter, but I've since convinced myself that that may not be the case since I removed the head which is quite a restriction on the system.
I'm not sure if I should just try to clean it more/longer since the initial cleanup helped quite a bit, if I should replace that rubber o-ring, replace the diverter, or replace the whole shower head. Any thoughts?
