Quick Plumbing Problem

The hot water knob on the downstairs bathroom does not fit and you also had to turn it the wrong way.  So I decided to fix it.  I should have known it would develop into a whole project.

I casually took the handle off, and went to "Home-I-Depo" to replace it.  Oh my goodness.  It took forever.  This was the most complicated system to organize faucets.  For example, there might be a part named 2H-1C/H.  Are you kidding me?!?  What kind of system is that?  Anyway, eventually (R almost went crazy) I figured out that the first number is the length, the letter was the style and size of the part that goes into the handle.  The next number is the type of threading (?) and C or H or C/H stands for hot or cold or both.

The problem was that I didn't know what I had.  There were no markings on my faucet.  Anyway, after a few missed tries, and I finally got a set that seemed right.

When I went to replace it, I started to turn out the shutoff valve right under the bathtub.  As soon as I started turning the knob, it started to leak profusely.  Oh no.  This is not good.

I finished the replacement of the faucet, but now I had a bigger problem.

Let's see...

I had to replace the valve with a new one.

I went back to "Home-I-Depo" and got a $20 Benz-O-matic (propane torch) for copper sweating and a new shutoff valve.

I crawled into the crawlspace (I hate doing this), and turned off the water.

It took forever to unsolder the connections, and once it was undone, I couldn't move it anywhere.  The way it had been constructed, there was no play in the pipes, and I couldn't separate the connections.  I had to cut the pipe and work it off that way.

Eventually, I replaced the valve, but not before making a HUGE mess of solder and copper and almost burning myself a few times.  Man, I had forgotten about doing this.  I did a lot of soldering when remodeling my kitchen.  I don't exactly remember it fondly, but at least I felt the soldering joints were pretty.  My soldering looks horrible, but on the other hand, I only had to do it once!  After looking at my soldering job, I was sure that I would have to do it again.

Two things to remember for next time:

1)  Use a male-male adapter that doesn't have a stop.  That way, I can slip it on, and still fit very tight fitting.

2)  Make sure that you get all of the water out if you can, it took forever to heat the pipe when there was still water in the pipe.

3)  Try not to end up with the red handle for the cold and the blue handle for the hot.