Just want to share a big Gotcha I just experienced in the hope it may help others keep thier sanity.
My low flow problem started after I replaced the dripping cartidge in my Moen kitchen faucet. All was flowing well before the changeout, but afterwards the hot flow was about 1/3. I assumed I had bent the faucet's copper inlet pipe and after neck straining under the sink for about 20 minutes trying to see where the pipe my be collapsed, with no success, I turned off the faucet's Qest shut-off valves to get ready to remove the cartridge I had just replaced thinking, or hoping, it was somehow defective. Fortunately I decided to give up for the day and attack it the next day. When I got back to it the following day I decided to turn the cut-off valves back open to again try the flow and presto-the hot was flowing better, closer to the cold side, so.......I got to thinking and decided to try taking the hot cut-off valve apart to take a look and what I found was the rubber seal had swollen in diameter and had pulled of the stem in the closed position, thus limiting flow. The Qest valve's design of the seal being pressed onto the stem may be unique. As while I'm no plumber, I have only seen valves with screws that retain the rubber seal onto the stem, so this possibilty of the seal falling off like this may be limited to Qest.
Boy what a head scratcher!
By the way I had good luck replacing the seal with a number 0 size seal from the plumbing store.
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