We have one of those faucets with one handle which first goes to cold and then progresses to hot as you go further from off. Or, at least, it used to be that way. We went on vacation, had someone staying in the house, and, weirdly, when we came back, the situation was reversed: it goes to hot right when opened up, and then to cold past that. What's more, hot is about 5% of the range right at the beginning, with most of the rest of the dial just being cold, cold, cold.
Our housesitter says she has no idea that anything happened, and that seems reasonable... but, for whatever reason, something must of have twisted inside, although I'm not sure what or how.
We've finally gotten tired of this and wanted to fix it. I contacted a plumber, and he said that they'd come, take a look, and then drive to the neighboring town to see if the plumbing supply has the right part — all on the clock. I don't want to argue about the business model there, but, really, we just can't afford the risk of an open-ended trip like that.
So....
- Any idea what's going on?
- Is this something I can fix?
- If not, is there some way I can identify the part that might be needed, so that the plumber (or I!) could preorder and just bring the right part in the first place?
Here's a picture of the valve / cartridge:
There are no obvious model or serial numbers or any identifying parts.
Is it possible that the little plastic toothed parts are just slipped in some way? I didn't want to mess too much for fear of making things worse.