We have a Kohler Fairfax Roman tub faucet. Today while a plumber was here changing out our water heater tank, I was asked to turn on the upstairs tub hot water side to clear the air out of the system once he was done. I noticed a little rust at the base of the hot water side faucet handle.

I took off the hot water faucet handle and the cartridge cavity was filled with water (totally covering the cartridge). There was no water leaking from the spout. The cold water side was fine.

I had a spare hot water side cartridge and it was changed out. No water filled the cavity after the water was turned back on but I'll keep an eye on this. Might be a slow leak. He said that if it continues to fill up then the problem is below the cartridge and he would have to cut into tub tile to access it. He said otherwise water could leak through the floor beneath the tub. I thought whatever is under the cartridge is always under pressure and the cartridge has nothing to do with that. But I'm no plumber.

Have you seen this kind of thing before? I emailed Kohler about this too.

Also, while he was here the hot water side cartridge came out easily, but using the same counter clockwise effort the cold water cartridge seemed to be stuck. He asked me to contact Kohler to see if maybe the cold water side cartridge needs to be removed with a clockwise rotation. He didn't want to force it.

Thanks.

Apparently he knows how to replace water heaters buy knows NOTHING about repairing faucets. The water in the "cavity" HAD to come from the cartridge/stem, NOT underneath the faucet, and ALL faucet stems remove by rotating counter clockwise. The cold is tight, but the hot water was NOT, which is why it leaked and came out easily.

Thanks. Makes good sense.



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i agree with my friend from AZ...
lever handle stems oppose eachother when turning on/off and round handle stems turn the same direction on/off but they ALL remove the same direction. (lefty loosey, righty tighty)