Replacing a Price Pfister Faucet Cartridge

How to replace a Pfister faucet cartridge, including why the numbering has been superseded more than once and what to record before you order.

The brand dropped “Price” from its name years ago and nobody in the trade did. On faucets, the difficulty is rarely the removal. It is that Pfister’s part numbering has been superseded more than once, so the number you find may point at something that no longer exists under that designation.

The numbering problem, up front

Pfister publishes most cartridge numbers in a seven digit form with a trailing zero, while the trade, the spec sheets and nearly every third party listing use the six digit form. They are the same part. A number ending in an extra zero is not a different or more specific part than the one without it.

On top of that, several numbers have been genuinely superseded, so a number stamped on a twenty year old part can point at something that has since been replaced. The practical consequence is that a number alone is weak evidence, and two numbers one digit apart are not close relatives. On this brand they are routinely different functions for different valve bodies.

The broach will not rescue you either. On the legacy multi handle compression parts the hot and cold stems and the diverter all carry the same twelve point broach, so counting points narrows nothing within that family.

Shut off and protect the drain

Turn off the supply stops, open the faucet to relieve pressure, and cover the drain. The retaining clip on these is small and easy to lose.

Getting in

With the handle off, you will find the cartridge held either by a retaining clip or by a bonnet nut over the stem. Establish which before pulling anything. A bonnet nut backs off counter-clockwise; a clip lifts out. Applying pull to a cartridge still held by either is how stems shear.

Record what you have before you pull it

Photograph the cartridge while it is still seated, then note:

• Whether the body is machined brass or black plastic. This is the single most useful thing in the photograph. All brass, threaded, with a washer at the bottom puts you in the legacy compression family. A black or dark plastic body, often on a brass base, puts you in the ceramic and pressure balance group. One glance rules out most of the catalog.
• Whether the action is pull-and-turn or a straight rotate
• How it is retained, clip or bonnet nut
• The stem broach, the splined pattern the handle engages
• The overall length, measured once it is out
• Whether the faucet is single-control or two-handle

Stamped numbers are worth recording but not trusting. They are often mould or cavity marks rather than orderable part numbers, and on a mass-produced cartridge the stamp is frequently the aftermarket maker. Given how many Pfister numbers have been superseded, a number you do find may be describing a part that has since been replaced twice.

Removal and installation

With the retainer fully clear, grip the stem with pliers and pull straight up while gently twisting. The twist breaks the O-ring seal; the pull does the work. Keep it square to the body. If it is seized with scale, a cartridge puller gives you the leverage without damaging the valve body.

Clean and flush the body before the new cartridge goes in.

Lubricate the O-rings with plumber’s silicone grease, never petroleum grease, which swells EPDM and puts you back at the same sink. Seat the new cartridge in the same orientation the old one came out, which is what the photograph was for. Turned around, hot and cold come out reversed.

Retainer or bonnet nut back on before the water goes on, then test: cycle the handle through its full range, check for weep, confirm hot is hot.

Getting the right part the first time

Pfister is the brand where identification bites hardest. The numbering has moved, the same trim sits in front of different castings, and a faucet that has been in service twenty years may already have been repaired with an aftermarket part whose stamp tells you about the aftermarket maker rather than the original.

Pulling the cartridge takes ten minutes. Working out which of several similar parts you are actually holding, and whether the number on the old one still means anything, is what costs the afternoon. Pfister gives some of these parts the same official name, character for character, so even a correct name does not always separate two candidates.

If you would rather not spend that afternoon: photograph the cartridge at the fixture, submit it, and a specialist confirms the exact replacement and posts an itemized written quote. Parts ship direct to the jobsite or your shop. Nothing is charged until you approve the quote.