House of Frost: Master bath flow Issues

Ever since we moved in here, an ongoing issue has been the lack of water pressure in the hot water at the sink in the master bathroom. Cold water rushes out, but hot barely dribbles. I would have tackled the problem earlier, but the way the faucet was hooked up, you have to turn off water to the whole house in order to service the faucet.

An hour's work, and that's all changed...

First, meet the sink. This bathroom is on the long list for a remodel, but kid and family space come first, parental space is way down the list.

And meet the connections of the supply lines to the taps beneath the sink. Whoever installed these used a lot of solder, but they also used fittings that don't allow the lines to be removed without turning off the water to the house. You will also notice that they have used a prodigious amount of teflon tape on threads that do not have anything to do with getting a decent seal. this is a pet peeve of mine. For some reason, every spot where teflon tape could be applied in this house has GOBS of the stuff. At least they put braided stainless supply lines on.

In order to turn off water to the house, I use the valve in the basement next to the water meter - you house likely has one too. You should cycle it every now and then to be sure its working right. Ours was, so turning off water was a non-event. With the house water turned off, I turned on the water on the lowest sink in our home (at the bar) and left the taps in the 'on' position. This will allow water to drain from the lines in the house. Then I went to the bathroom in question and opened the taps there. Now gravity (and a siphon) will drain the water lines so I don't get flooded when I unscrew the water supply lines under the sink.

Using an adjustable wrench, I was able to remove the hot and cold water supply lines in a matter of moments. Now its time for the mini tube cutter.

A mini tube cutter allows you to cut away a piece of pipe. In this case, I wanted to remove the soldered portion of the supply in order to replace the fitting on the end of it. I could have heated the pipe to remove this, but then I would have had to clean off the solder, and this was easier. The way the tube cutter works, you set it over the pipe, and tighten it in place until there is resistance if you try to roll it around the pipe. Now you spin it around the pipe until there is less resistance, then tighten and repeat until the pipe is cut through.

And when the pipe is cut through, guess what you find inside it...

Apparently at some point in the distant past, a screw found its way inside this fitting, restricting flow to the sink. Can you see it inside there? Now I know what was wrong with the faucet!

With the end cut off the pipe, its time to start the cleanup process. Using some 220 grit sandpaper, I clean the ends of the pipe of any solder or corrosion. Once done, the pipe should be shiny and smooth.

The new fittings going on the pipe are called angle stops. They are a valve that goes on the pipe so you can turn off the water to replace or repair a leaky faucet. There are a lot of types of these valves, but I like to use compression fit ball valves. I have never had these leak, and a quarter turn of the valve is the difference between on and off. Good for an emergency.

A compression fitting is easy to install because it doesn't require soldering. It also doesn't come off easily. But if the valve gives me trouble in the future, it will be easily replaced. The way a compression fitting works is that the brass ring (centre, above) hugs the pipe forming a seal. The nut (left above) squeezes the ring between itself and the valve as you tighten the threads on it. Between the body of the valve and the nut, no water will escape a compression fitting once its been tightened up enough.

Here is everything assembled on the pipe ready for tightening. This is for demonstration only. You really don't need to take apart the parts to put this together. Usually its all preassembled in the package and you can just cram it on the pipe. The downside of a compression fitting is that if there are any gouges or scratches in the pipe running longitudinally, it may not be able to get a good seal. As far as I know, soldering is your best bet if that happens. Note the lack of Teflon tape in this picture.

And the final product... one angle stop installed on a supply line. Still Teflon free.

The same process works on the other supply line, et voila! 2 angle stops installed, and braided stainless supply lines reattached. No Teflon tape involved.

Here they are both in the off position, ready for the house water to be turned back on. I like to have valves in the off position when I turn on the water. This way, air in the line compresses and I can ease it out slowly while watching for leaks. Sometimes you can hear the air hissing out and know there will be a leak before the water reaches the spot. Some other folks I know prefer to have taps wide open so pressure can't build on the new fittings so fast.

This job only took about an hour from start to finish. It was quick and easy, and when the water was turned back on, there were no leaks. Had there been any, I would have just had to tighten up the compression fittings or supply lines a little more.