I though about putting this in Survival and Disaster... 
So today started at Midnight with watching the Ferguson Standoff/Riot until 2:30 am then got to sleep around 3:30 am, only to have to wake at 6:45am up for 8 hours of work starting at 8:15. At 11:45 am my wife calls and tells me there is water on the kitchen floor and it's coming from "under the sink".
I take lunch and come home to find water on the floor and in the cabinet under the sink but no leak... My wife tries her hardest to explain what she saw, but I can't recreate it. I look around and way up under the sink to find just a bit of fluffy blue copper corrosion on the faucet's feed lines and rust and water spots up there, and one droplet of water dangling.
I try everything I can to make it leak, I jiggle pipes and flex lines and run water down drains... nothing. Then I notice it leaks a little above the sink from the o-rings at the neck pivot when you jiggle and turn the neck... I knew that but forgot because it was never a problem before... I figured water is running down under the faucet base and in under the sink. I know this faucet has given us trouble before and it has hard water deposits all in the workings and never comes clean on the outside, plus the corrosion on the permanently attached feed lines up inside the faucet... time for it to go.
Just needs a new faucet, easy fix... or so I thought...
I try the under sink shut off valves, which have always been crusty since we moved in (probably longer)... They're seized tight but they don't leak, so I leave them and I show my wife how to shut off the water to the house at the softener if need be, and ask her to check it every half hour and I go back to work.
After work I run to Lowes and buy two Delta faucets, one $84 faucet with long plastic tubes and tapered fittings, and one $55 faucet with shorter threaded copper lines and a set of some long multi-fit flexible hoses. I borrow an extra wrench from the neighbor and tear into it.
I get the old faucet off and decide to go with the $84 faucet with plastic lines because I can just mount it and hook it up to where the plastic lines on the old one connected and be done... wrong again.
As soon as I'm done clamping the new faucet in place and start to hook up the lines my arm bumps the right basin's brass p-trap and it lets loose a steady trickle of drain water from the bottom of the trap onto my chest.... There is the real leak, a pinhole in the brass P-trap... damn Comet.
I assess the situation, and how to fix the hack job some handyman did years ago without re-plumbing the entire sink. I call my dad to bring his saw and off to Lowes I go again, I get there just before closing. I get both a Poly Pro trap and another brass trap. I get home and tear into it... and find the iron drain pipe is good after the P-trap but is 90% clogged with black gunk. 
I pulled the disposal side off, it's the side we normally run the portable dishwasher over, and its clean so I leave it alone and start working on the nasty one. About that time my parents show up to watch the fun and dad happened to think to bring a snake with him. I cleaned it as best I could and test fit and pre-cut the Poly trap to test fit length. I chose the Poly trap because the Poly trap on the disposal side is in perfect condition, while the this side's brass one failed.
The handyman's install was a rubber coupling clamped OVER iron pipe threads then clamped to the brass trap which instead of cutting, he shoved inside the iron which of course means they touched in a salty food-water electrolyte bath... at least it never leaked.
I final cut the poly trap and pushed it inside the iron with a new coupler, clamped and screwed everything together and finished hooking up the faucet, then turned on the valves downstairs... and went to make dad proud by turning on the water and have everything work with no leaks the first time and... nothing... no leaks, no drips, but also no water.
I go over everything and find I installed the dishwasher aerator on the faucet wrong and blocked the tiny 1/4 outlet at the end of the faucet so I try again. Water now flows into the sink and down the drains but also into the under sink cabinet.
The under sink shut off valves chose that moment to spring leaks at their seals and not only that but the new drain trap leaks and so does the cold line's copper to cast iron to brass to plastic section (I know, BAD... galvanic corrosion...) I didn't make it that way, that handyman or the previous owners late husband did, I don't know, this house has surprises everywhere... it was all here when we bought the house. Crappy inspector.
I put pans under the valves and tighten the drain clamp and pipes and... everything still leaked. After taking the PP p-trap apart a few times and about to swap it for the brass one, I find a tiny piece of mold flashing folded over on the sealing surface of the sewer end of the p-trap... pick it off, reassemble, and no more leak.
The copper - iron -copper -plastic line section is done... no amount of tightening stopped the seeping, it has finally corroded through enough that disturbing it messed up the seal at the threads.
My wife needs her shower for work... so I had no choice... I broke the valves free.
That made things worse, now they spray when on and drip when off... There too old and corroded to trust repacking.
I shut the valves, put pans under then to catch the 1 drip every 10 seconds from each, cleaned up, and showered.
Lowes and everyone else is closed, so I now have a nice shiny-new expensive kitchen faucet, fully installed... that I can't use yet.
So, day two... or day 1 of my 3 days off I was going to use for my own enjoyment... will now be spent sweating new all copper lines up to the feed lines with 1/4 turn ball shut off valves.
But I still love this old house... we're 30... it's 2/3 paid with it being our ONLY debt. It's a 1958 single story ranch with basement in a wonderful neighborhood. Hand set plaster walls and real wood hardwood floors throughout... even today's $350K+ homes don't have that.
Night.
So today started at Midnight with watching the Ferguson Standoff/Riot until 2:30 am then got to sleep around 3:30 am, only to have to wake at 6:45am up for 8 hours of work starting at 8:15. At 11:45 am my wife calls and tells me there is water on the kitchen floor and it's coming from "under the sink".
I take lunch and come home to find water on the floor and in the cabinet under the sink but no leak... My wife tries her hardest to explain what she saw, but I can't recreate it. I look around and way up under the sink to find just a bit of fluffy blue copper corrosion on the faucet's feed lines and rust and water spots up there, and one droplet of water dangling.
I try everything I can to make it leak, I jiggle pipes and flex lines and run water down drains... nothing. Then I notice it leaks a little above the sink from the o-rings at the neck pivot when you jiggle and turn the neck... I knew that but forgot because it was never a problem before... I figured water is running down under the faucet base and in under the sink. I know this faucet has given us trouble before and it has hard water deposits all in the workings and never comes clean on the outside, plus the corrosion on the permanently attached feed lines up inside the faucet... time for it to go.
Just needs a new faucet, easy fix... or so I thought...
I try the under sink shut off valves, which have always been crusty since we moved in (probably longer)... They're seized tight but they don't leak, so I leave them and I show my wife how to shut off the water to the house at the softener if need be, and ask her to check it every half hour and I go back to work.
After work I run to Lowes and buy two Delta faucets, one $84 faucet with long plastic tubes and tapered fittings, and one $55 faucet with shorter threaded copper lines and a set of some long multi-fit flexible hoses. I borrow an extra wrench from the neighbor and tear into it.
I get the old faucet off and decide to go with the $84 faucet with plastic lines because I can just mount it and hook it up to where the plastic lines on the old one connected and be done... wrong again.
As soon as I'm done clamping the new faucet in place and start to hook up the lines my arm bumps the right basin's brass p-trap and it lets loose a steady trickle of drain water from the bottom of the trap onto my chest.... There is the real leak, a pinhole in the brass P-trap... damn Comet.
I assess the situation, and how to fix the hack job some handyman did years ago without re-plumbing the entire sink. I call my dad to bring his saw and off to Lowes I go again, I get there just before closing. I get both a Poly Pro trap and another brass trap. I get home and tear into it... and find the iron drain pipe is good after the P-trap but is 90% clogged with black gunk. I pulled the disposal side off, it's the side we normally run the portable dishwasher over, and its clean so I leave it alone and start working on the nasty one. About that time my parents show up to watch the fun and dad happened to think to bring a snake with him. I cleaned it as best I could and test fit and pre-cut the Poly trap to test fit length. I chose the Poly trap because the Poly trap on the disposal side is in perfect condition, while the this side's brass one failed.
The handyman's install was a rubber coupling clamped OVER iron pipe threads then clamped to the brass trap which instead of cutting, he shoved inside the iron which of course means they touched in a salty food-water electrolyte bath... at least it never leaked.
I final cut the poly trap and pushed it inside the iron with a new coupler, clamped and screwed everything together and finished hooking up the faucet, then turned on the valves downstairs... and went to make dad proud by turning on the water and have everything work with no leaks the first time and... nothing... no leaks, no drips, but also no water.
I go over everything and find I installed the dishwasher aerator on the faucet wrong and blocked the tiny 1/4 outlet at the end of the faucet so I try again. Water now flows into the sink and down the drains but also into the under sink cabinet.
The under sink shut off valves chose that moment to spring leaks at their seals and not only that but the new drain trap leaks and so does the cold line's copper to cast iron to brass to plastic section (I know, BAD... galvanic corrosion...) I didn't make it that way, that handyman or the previous owners late husband did, I don't know, this house has surprises everywhere... it was all here when we bought the house. Crappy inspector.
I put pans under the valves and tighten the drain clamp and pipes and... everything still leaked. After taking the PP p-trap apart a few times and about to swap it for the brass one, I find a tiny piece of mold flashing folded over on the sealing surface of the sewer end of the p-trap... pick it off, reassemble, and no more leak.
The copper - iron -copper -plastic line section is done... no amount of tightening stopped the seeping, it has finally corroded through enough that disturbing it messed up the seal at the threads.
My wife needs her shower for work... so I had no choice... I broke the valves free.
That made things worse, now they spray when on and drip when off... There too old and corroded to trust repacking.
I shut the valves, put pans under then to catch the 1 drip every 10 seconds from each, cleaned up, and showered.
Lowes and everyone else is closed, so I now have a nice shiny-new expensive kitchen faucet, fully installed... that I can't use yet.
So, day two... or day 1 of my 3 days off I was going to use for my own enjoyment... will now be spent sweating new all copper lines up to the feed lines with 1/4 turn ball shut off valves.
But I still love this old house... we're 30... it's 2/3 paid with it being our ONLY debt. It's a 1958 single story ranch with basement in a wonderful neighborhood. Hand set plaster walls and real wood hardwood floors throughout... even today's $350K+ homes don't have that.
Night.
Last edited:
