Hi folks,
I do handyman repair and have a client that has a plumbing problem that has me stumped (but that is not too hard to do, lol).
When they turn on the hot water in the bathroom sink, the water flows or about 5 seconds, then stops. If they open the cold water valve (for just a second or two) the hot water starts flowing again and continues as normal.
I should add that I replaced the valve stems on this faucet about 2 months ago. There was no problem until about a week ago.
What gives with this faucet? What info have I left out that will help in the diagnosis?
Replies
Normally when the hot water stops like that it's due to having the wrong type of washer on the HW stem. A standard neoprene washer will expand when heated, and that causes the gap between washer and seat to get smaller, cutting off water flow. Replacing the neoprene washer with a fiber washer is the usual solution.
However, when that happens usually opening the HW faucet a little bit more will restore water flow, and opening the CW faucet will have little effect.
I suppose it's possible that some sort of anti-scald valve inside the faucet is causing problems, but I've never heard of such a thing in a standard two-handle faucet. And, since this is a bathroom (vs kitchen) faucet, I assume that there's no spray diverter valve to go wonky.
About all I can think of is that something has worked loose inside and is blocking the flow.
happy?
Thank-you both for the suggestions.
I will be going to look this in a couple of days and will see if it works out.
I am guessing that "something" is down inside the hot water side that moves up and blocks the flow of water.
One possibility is the head of the screw off the faucett it is of that type.
You might try disconnecting the riser and trying to flush out the unit from the top down.
And if the stop valve is connected to the supply with a compression fitting or threaded then remove it and then flush out the line and look for "stuff" in the stop valve or riser.
I was working on a job where that is exactly what happened. I was doing some plumbing in another part of the house and on a different line when I went into the kitchen for some reason and ran the hot water. I wasn't doing any work in the kitchen just using the faucet. The hot water would run for a few second and then stop. I did seem to hear a slight "click" in the pipes most of the times it happened. As that line didn't have any shut off (and I wasn't being paid to put one in) I had to keep running into the basement a shut off the hot line from the tank. I ended up taking the hot faucet apart so there was no valve in the way and I upended a bucket over the now open faucet. I went into the base ment and opened the hot water valve for a second then shut it off. I went back up into the kitchen and of course found a bit of water on the counter and the floor but I did find one of those screws that hold the rubber washers in place in one of those in-line shut off valves. I have no idea where it came from because the only valve on that line was working. I had been using it to shut the line off. It must have been a problem for years. When the owner came I don;t think she believed the story. It had been a rental sho she wouldn't know if there had been a problem or not. I know that if I hadn't fixed it and she had found the problem I would have been blamed because I was doing some plumbing.
roger
> When they turn on the hot water in the bathroom sink, the water flows or about 5 seconds, then stops.
Another test to try: Turn on the hot and let it stop. Then turn on the hot at a different location, without touching the cold. If it's off at both places (or more likely one allows air in and water to drain from the other), then I'd suspect that the water heater has those built-in check valves in the nipples, and one of them is crudded up and blocking flow in the wrong direction. Opening the cold reduces the pressure holding the blocking item in place.
I haven't seen a W/H check valve do that, but I have seen them malfunction and vibrate rapidly, making a squealing sound.
-- J.S.
Thanks again guys for your input. I wen t by today, pulled the valve stem and found the the screw that holds the rubber seal was loose. A couple of turns and all was well.
Just for fun, I checked the cold water side as well, and it was loose too. I bet I know the 1st ting I do the next time I have to replace a valve stem. Tighten the screw holding the rubber seal!!!!!