Product review (5 stars): Makes the shower handle work smoothly again
Rather than buying a new cartridge, I buy these to help the shower handle turn off smoothly where the washers engage with the hot and cold seat. Also, Symmons Temptrol shower systems sometimes get to a point where there is a loud knock when you turn the handle off completely. New rubber washers remove that knocking noise. This is one of the weaknesses of compression-based shower systems that rely on manual pressure to turn off the water completely, but the washers are not too expensive. As long as the cartridge itself is working fine, there is no need to buy a new one. It's tricky to remove the cold seat washer ring when trying to install this. Sometimes I can get it off with two wrenches. At other times I use a side cutting plier to clip the edge of the ring to remove it.