Faucets

     The house was cold when I walked in, 47 degrees.  It was 55 outside.

     I disarmed the security system and glanced around.  Everything seemed in order.  No need to go downstairs for the usual chores of turning on the water heater and turning off the cameras.  I wouldn’t be there long enough to worry about either.

     Next step, check the water.  Nothing at the kitchen faucet.  I was a little surprised.  It was only a week or so since I last checked in.  Probably a dripping faucet or something.

      I grabbed the keys and unlocked the shop.  Then I turned on the pressure pump.  On my way back to the house, I stepped in the shop to turn on the well pump.  I walked back to the house.  I didn’t run.  I probably should have. 

      When I opened the porch door, there was water on the floor in front of me.  There was the ominous hiss coming from the corner beside the washing machine.  (A hiss must be a universal danger signal that puts us mammals into fight or flight mode.) 

      It wasn’t just a broken hose I saw.  There was an open pipe, no shutoff, nothing.  The only way to stop it was to go downstairs and shut off the main valve.  Through the kitchen door, across the kitchen, through the cellar door, down the stairs, around the stairway and to the southeast corner I went as fast as I safely could.

     With the main valve shut off, I grabbed a mop and went back to the porch.  Well, it wasn’t exactly an open pipe that I saw.  There was a piece of brass still attached to the galvanized iron pipe.  I could see threads where the rest of the shutoff valve should have been.

      But where was the rest of the valve?  And how on earth did it get unthreaded from the adapter still fastened to the galvanized pipe?

     The rest of the valved was still attached to the washing machine hose.  It didn’t take long to answer that question.  How did it come loose?  It took a while to answer that one.

     A couple of trips to the garage and then my pickup got the right tools.  I removed the brass fitting from the pipe.  I took the valve off the washing machine hose.  I began the process of putting the two parts of the valve together.

      Then I saw it.  There was a big crack in the bottom of the valve body, the piece attached to the washing machine hose.  It must have frozen.  The ice split the valve body.  When it got warm enough to thaw out, the water pressure must have blown the valve body apart.

     That brought on a few more questions.  I had been there since the great freeze.  It was a warm day when I was there.  It wasn’t leaking then.  I had used the water and even run the pressure pump up to its maximum of fifty-some pounds.  Why had it had a delayed reaction?  The pump was off as usual when no one is there.

      Oh well.  Ours is not to reason why.  I set about repairing the damage.  A half inch plug would stop the leak so I could turn on the water again.  I thought about making a run to town for a new valve.  Then I realized that there were three valves in the cluster that supplied water to the washing machine, a spare one in case someone need to attach a garden hose. 

       I took off the spare and put it where the damaged one had been.  I put the plug where the spare valve had been.  As common sense began to take over after the panic, I realized I would not have had to make the change of valve and plug.  I could have simply put the washing machine hose on the valve where it was.  Oh well.  I had already done the work.  No need to redo it. 

      I turned on the water and checked for leaks.  All was well.  Now the process of bleeding pipes.  Loss of water pressure usually means a lot of flushing to get the air out of the pipes, and then a lot of faucet screen cleaning because the old iron pipes have a certain degree of rust and even some sand in them. 

     When a faucet is turned on, the air escapes not with a whimper, but with bang.  The bang jars stuff loose inside the pipes. 

       I started the process in the upstairs bathroom.  Air likes to go up, I think.  When I opened the lavatory cold water faucet, I got the usual boom and pop, some rust, and some sand.  But then it wouldn’t shut off entirely.  There was a prodigious drip I could not stop.

       Of course, there are no stops under the lavatory counter.  Back down two flights of stairs to shut off the main valve again.  I thought the problem with the lavatory faucet was the friction between stem and stem body made it difficult to turn all the way off.  I had been having some problems with it last fall.

      As I was in the process of greasing the valve stem, I noticed the screw holding the faucet washer to the stem was loose, so loose it wouldn’t let the seat washer close on the seat.  The screw head hit the seat and stopped the washer from going all the way down.

     That problem was easily solved with a screw driver, which was handy since I had to have it to take the  handle off the valve stem.  I reassembled the faucet and took the two flights of stairs down to turn on the water.  Then back up the stairs to check for leaks.

     Aha!  There were none.  The faucet now shut off and held, no drips. 

     I cleaned up and put away the tools.  The rest of my trip was routine.  Check this, check that.  Everything seemed ok. 

      Home again, I thought about being able to solve the plumbing problems in an hour or less.  Actually, I was a bit proud of myself for the day’s work.  Then I drew some water from the kitchen sink at home.  Dang!  It takes special attention to get it to shut off and not drip.

      That wasn’t a new discovery, either.  It has been that way since Christmas.  I just never get around to doing anything about it.  Well, ok.  I did have a hip replacement and carpal tunnel surgery.  I gave myself a little break.

      But the aggravation didn’t go away.  This kitchen faucet has only been in a little over two years, and this will be the second time I have had to operate on it. 

      I had a Franke faucet there, one where the main head is on a hose that comes out of the faucet spout and can be used either as spray or stream.  It leaked where the handheld part connected to the hose.  The water dripped down underneath the sink and made a mess. 

     Try as I might, I could find no repair part for a Franke faucet.  I checked with Lowes who sell the Franke brand.  Nothing.  I went to Ace Hardware.  The helpful Ace guy referred me to a local plumbing shop.  I could buy hose, spout and all for $150 or something ridiculous.

     So I bought a Delta faucet, thinking I would be able to buy parts.  Which I can, but I thought I might get a little more than a year or two out of it before I had to buy parts.

      I'll get to the kitchen faucet one of these days.

      And so it goes.