sink facuet issue
Last night, I fell asleep on the couch. This morning, my wife reported that around 2:00 one of our daughters took a shower. When the shower water turned on or shortly after, my wife was woken up by a loud noise and discovered that the cold water handle from the bathroom sink had popped off and water was flowing from the cold water pipe where the handle should have been (the mater sink area is open and exposed to bedroom with a door between it and the shower/toilet area). She turned the cold water off and cleaned up the water. She told me the hot side still worked.
When I brushed my teeth this morning and turned on the hot water handle, water began flowing from the cold water pipe area where the faucet handle. I closed the handle the water stopped. I looked in the cabinet under the sink and there was a sizable puddle. I mopped it up and looked at the exposed cold water pipe where the handle should be and saw that water was still flowing very slowly. I turned off the hot water under the sink and was able to turn the cold water knob a little further than it had been. I don't know anything about plumbing, but what's happening here? What could have caused the cold water faucet handle to pop off? Why would water flow form the cold pipe when the hot side is turned on? Is there a connection to the shower? What do I need to do to fix? I haven't looked closely at the faucet handle to see if anything visibly broke. if something did and it's not obvious to an idiot, I don't know that I'll recognize it. Any ideas? |
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my assumption is the chromed handle should thread onto the faucet fully seating. Is there any kind of set screw or means of removing the handle part from the internally threaded section so you can re-assemble that to the faucet then put the handle back on? Are the threads on the brass part of the faucet corroded or in some other way no longer engaging?
these threads, which look a bit corroded: http://forums.carmudgeons.com/attach...4&d=1641909014 Once you get the handle fully re-threaded onto the faucet, then the plastic peice w/ the o-ring moves up and down within the internal of the faucet when the handle is turned to allow a 'metered' amount of cold water to mix with the hot. If the hande isn't threaded on, any kind of water hammer from turning the water on/off within the house could pop it off. Caveat: I'm not a plumber.... good luck. |
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My only contribution to this is that while there may be a way to repair that handle, faucets are fairly cheap and (assuming you have under-sink shutoffs, which you do) relatively easy to install. I would just put a new one in and not worry about trying to troubleshoot the failure of that handle/valve. |
Looking at that aged plastic, I wouldn't worry too much about diagnosing it. I'd go straight to Home Depot or Lowes or whatever and buy a new one. We're talking about $50 or less.
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The piece with the black rubber gasket needs to be installed or water will come out of the spot where the handle would go.
Biggest mistake a person can make is to remove that part with the water pressure turned on. Also I recommend you grow out your thumb nail, it looks too short :lol: |
Having worked at a company that designed products exactly like that, here are my thoughts:
- There is no "standard" on how faucets ought to work, but they are usually designed to avoid crossflow for health reasons (one should not drink hot water). That is, each valve (h & c) allow/disallow flow into a common mixing chamber leading to the spout for use, and other than pressure-related issues, no crossflow should be allowed such that hot supply goes into cold supply. - It seems as though your cold valve is cutting off supply water, but it assumes the top portion of that valve shuts flow from the mixing chamber. That part is not sealing, it is allowing water up the handle cavity. That function is apparently done by the yellow parts with O-rings. Either O-rings are bad, or the part is not seating well enough. Typically all elements of sealing are independent of the handle and are part of the "valve," there being a hot halve and a cold valve. - Weirdly, your faucet design would appear to need the handle assembly to "complete the valve." (Or maybe you inadvertently took the top chunk of the valve along with the handle). Super busy at work, so maybe I was not clear. Sorry. |
Upon further review, yes, it does appear your handle came off taking the top of the valve along with it. Must find a way to separate, rebuild valve ensuring proper seal, then then simply screwing handle to turn the stem on the top of the valve open/closed.
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Clyde - Installing a new faucet is pretty easy. The only specialized tool you should need is a basin wrench (a link to one on Amazon is below), which makes it much easier to reach up behind the sink basin and loosen the nut holding the faucet to the counter. You might also need to put a small mirror in the cabinet to help see up there if you can't crawl in (if your cabinet has a center post between 2 doors -- if so, it can be hard to crawl in there)... https://www.amazon.com/DURATECH-11-I...85&sr=8-8&th=1 |
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While it may not matter with replacement, I'm still interested in the failure. There's a collar(?) within the handle that should screw onto the pipe. I can't figure out any way to get it in place because it's slightly loose within the handle. It seems like it's being retained some way from within, but I'm not sure how. If this is all because there's something that broke inside, I can't see it and really curious as to what and why. :dunno: An aggravating underlying condition is that the water on my block (maybe a slightly larger area in the neighborhood) was shut off for a few hours one day a few weeks ago. Since then, when some water using objects (washer, dishwasher, toilets) turn on or draw water, there is a strong ticking noise that lasts for a little bit and then eventually subsides. It's a ticking, not a banging, and I can't quite identify where it's coming from. It's most apparent in the basement (and the main water cutoff is down here), but I can't tell from where. |
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Thanks for all the help and suggestions, guys! |
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