Just beneath the surface in any house lie mysteries that most of us would be happy to remain oblivious to, and yet when something goes wrong, there is little choice but to launch an exploratory expedition under the kitchen sink or into the basement, where pipery and knobbery of baffling complexity awaits to stymie and perplex.
One option is to call a plumber, but a phenomenon known as "Princeton prices" has caused many of us to seek guidance from the collective wisdom of the internet and take wrench in hand.
Take something as seemingly simple as a dripping faucet. Though I have over the years grown more confident in finessing the faucet handle off and replacing the rubber gasket, that operation requires first shutting water off to the faucet. Chances are, the shutoff valve has become encrustified over the years, and will fail to shut the water off. In the worst case, the shutoff valve will itself begin leaking, compounding the original problem in the faucet.
Such a scenario came to pass in our household just before the holidays, prompting a search of the internet for sage advice. Judging from the placement of his youtube tutorial at the top of the heap, Max Lemberger must be the rock star of shutoff valve repair. The tutorial called for first tightening the packing nut, and yet my leaky shutoff valve (lower right in the photo) lacked any nut to tighten. Deeper did I dig into the bowls of cyberspace, plumbing the depths, so to speak, to find at last the key to repairing my aging home's bout of incontinence. Emboldened by a ThisOldHouse video, I took hacksaw in hand and carefully cut the faulty shutoff valve off, then replaced it with a new one (upper left in photo) that requires no soldiering to install. Not only was the problem fixed, but it has remained fixed for one month and counting--a good omen for the new year.
That operation required first shutting off the main shutoff valve for the house, which itself began to drip when in the closed position. Fortunately, it was a slow drip that slowed further and finally stopped soon after I opened the valve up again. Fortunately, not all mysteries need to be solved, but with the help of the internet and the local hardware store, each successful repair adds to a sense that some portion of destiny is, literally, in our hands.
2 comments:
I've been trying to find different shut off valves for my water pipes and saw something about automatic shut off valves. When I looked into it I thought they looked like something that I would want to try. My friend said that FloLogic, Inc. and a few other places offer them. I'm going to have to find one that fits what I need.
From the FloLogic link you gave, it looks like a unit that shuts water flow off to the house when unusual flow is detected. It would be useful for avoiding leaving water on outside, or damage inside if leaks start while one's gone on vacation. It's another way, like home energy monitors, of making the house a little smarter and communicative.
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