Tuesday, November 19, 2019

The Kitchen Sink

     Not the sink, really, but the faucet.  I noticed last night there was a fine spray coming from it somewhere unexpected.  A mist.

     Had an O-ring failed, or some plastic part of the single-control faucet?  Was it a build-up of lime scale?  Indiana water is generally very hard and Indianapolis city water is no exception.

     Nope.  There's a pinhole on the underside of the spout.  I'm going to have to replace the entire thing.  Can't really afford a plumber right now and Tam dislikes overseeing repair guys, so I'll have to do it myself.  There's a basin wrench around here somewhere, but this will need to be a weekend project.  I'm not a big fan of plumbing work but I have done it before.

10 comments:

Chuck Pergiel said...

You might be able to plug the pinhole with a small, sharp screw. Or a small piece of rubber and a hose clamp. Having to use a basin wrench is not something I want to contemplate.

Anonymous said...

Flexspray to the rescue!

Anonymous said...

From The Captain's own experience, plumbing is one of those things that are never "one and done." There's a reason plumbers drive a van full of pipe, fittings, adapters, and doo-dads to complete the job. We have to run out to the orange or blue big box store several times to get everything we need. Then we either buy or rent the larger, more expensive special tools. IMHO, the key to DIY plumbing is knowing your limits and the true scope of the job before ever touching a thing. Good luck.

JayNola said...

If it's a Moen, Delta, or Kohler it's got a lifetime warranty on it. The Moen and Delta versions just entail emailing them a photo.

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

I replaced ours a few months ago, and my basin wrench turned out to be useless. Your mileage may vary, of course; but in our case it was simpler to use a pair of needle nose pliers to start the nuts to turning, and once I got them loose, they came off by hand. And that faucet was pretty limed-up underneath from the sink-top gasket being mostly gone for several years, so I was surprised how easily everything came apart.

I don't know if you have a cast-iron or stainless-steel sink. We have the latter, which I think provides more working space due to being less bulky. But I'm still not sure how I got in and under there, as big as I am and as much junk is in the way (drain pipes and garbage disposal). Thankfully my wife was available to hold the faucet steady while I tightened things up from below, so hopefully Tam will be around when you're working on it.

My only complaint is that I wish my arms were about an inch longer :)

pigpen51 said...

My biggest problem has always been laying down on my back under the sink, on top of things that tend to dig into my back, shoulders, hips, or neck. After I am done, I end up with aches and pains from laying on top of all the stuff under the sink, plus they normally have a ledge where the doors close, and those hit me in the back or hips, as well.
I worked for a couple of years in a trailer park, as a maintenance man, and I did probably 6 or 8 faucet replacements in both kitchens and bathrooms. They always were the same thing. Not enough light, and room, to make it easy. I am not a plumber, just a trailer park maintenance man, which means that I did everything from replacing plumbing that had frozen up, to water heaters, showers, etc. Plus painting, mowing lawns, digging trenches, wiring lights, and other fun things, like sewer repairs.

The worst part of the job was that of replacing frozen water pipes under trailers, because you had to lay in muddy, half frozen water, while working above your head, at a level that is too high to reach without stretching.

The actual job of replacing a faucet is not that hard, it is the problem of reaching the faucet and the fittings.

Anonymous said...

Pipes with pinholes suddenly appearing is kinda common down here in Flori-Duh.

It tends to pop up in plumbing about 40 years old here. Does Indy have similar time-delayed plumbing 'issues'?

EdB said...

I've had the same problem a couple of times over the years with Pfister faucets, now I simply avoid that brand.

Best of luck with the installation, I hate doing sinks as they are so difficult to get under.

knuckledraggertech said...

I had a Pfister faucet that I loved that developed the same pinhole in the faucet bow. Went to a Moen, so far, so good. BTW, avoid Home Depot faucet repair kits at all costs; A set I purchased made my Pfister leak worse. I went online and purchased real factory repair components for less money.

Will said...

You may find that a pull-out spout/sprayer type is about the same price now. Or cheaper! The old style swivel spout seems to be going away, hence the prices. They are fairly easy to install, generally mounted by the central column base. The biggest hassle is getting the old one off.
I've seen that pinhole problem on faucets that are just a few years old. For that matter, I've seen it in stainless sinks of similar vintage.

Biggest problem with the single handle kitchen faucets is the cartridge valve not shutting off when it gets clogged with a mineral buildup. Covered under warrantee, they mail you a new one.

BTW, if you have rusty water, I recommend pulling the nozzle of every faucet once a month and flushing the hot and cold lines. Also, exercise each shutoff valve, including the main house valve. Really annoying to find you can't turn off a valve when needed, to service a plumbing problem. Along that line, do you know where the city valve is? Sometimes that needs to be used, and knowing where it is, along with having the tool needed, or reasonable facsimile thereof, can be the difference between annoyance and big bucks.