95+ year old house and I decided to get a new kitchen wall-mount faucet.
The one I had only had a 5.5" reach spout. So, I look all over and
finally find one I figure is OK for me. A store close by sells me a
Pasco commercial medium duty wall-mount with a 10" spout, which is what
I figured might be about right for my sink and me. $58 bucks or so out
the door.

I install it a couple of days ago and made a mistake, but I may have
gotten away with it. I removed the adjustable brass fittings that the
old faucet was attached to and put on the new ones that came with the
Pasco. The reason it was a mistake is that the pipes coming out from the
wall tiles are so old that they crumbled somewhat in taking off the old
fittings. I wasn't at all sure I could put on the new ones and not have
a leak. However, I don't detect any leaking... yet. If I had it to do
again, I would have left the old fittings on there and attached the new
faucet to THEM. The old ones don't look THAT bad. I really don't want to
get into replacing tile, and I figured that would have to happen if I
replace the water piping coming out of the wall.

The faucet worked fine for a couple of days and then this morning I
noticed that the pressure on the cold was reduced. In a matter of
seconds it was reduced to zero. No flow.

The water main was replaced in January, which was old and crumbling, but
the short distance of pipe from where the new main enters the house and
goes to the kitchen sink (maybe 8-10 feet), is still old galvanized
pipe. I figured that something had sluffed off from the pipe and was
blocking the cold water.

So, I turned off the water main, removed the cold valve on the new
faucet. It looked OK. I then turned on the water main, what I figured
was not much more than a trickle, to blow out whatever was blocking the
flow. I turned the water off again at the shut-off, and came back into
the kitchen. Water all over, but no catastrophe. There was water on the
ceiling... I'd opened the main too much. Anyway, I put the valve stem
back in, turn on the water again and all was fine... for a few hours.
This afternoon, again the cold flow was slow and in a matter of seconds,
nothing!

I turn off the shut-off again, remove the stem, get a slower flow going
in the shut-off, come back and put the stem in and still no water from
the cold. The hot is fine, evidently. Sometimes when I turn the cold on,
water flows for 1/100 second and then, wham! It hammers shut, no water.

I figure maybe, just maybe something is stuck between the cold water
valve and the join, where the hot and cold mix, just before going into
the spout. Is that what's causing this? If so, how can I expel
whatever's in there? This just seems so weird. I've never experienced
anything like this. Does anyone have an idea what's wrong? Thanks for
any help.

Dan

Dan_Musicant wrote:
95+ year old house and I decided to get a new kitchen wall-mount faucet.
The one I had only had a 5.5" reach spout. So, I look all over and
finally find one I figure is OK for me. A store close by sells me a
Pasco commercial medium duty wall-mount with a 10" spout, which is what
I figured might be about right for my sink and me. $58 bucks or so out
the door.

I install it a couple of days ago and made a mistake, but I may have
gotten away with it. I removed the adjustable brass fittings that the
old faucet was attached to and put on the new ones that came with the
Pasco. The reason it was a mistake is that the pipes coming out from the
wall tiles are so old that they crumbled somewhat in taking off the old
fittings. I wasn't at all sure I could put on the new ones and not have
a leak. However, I don't detect any leaking... yet. If I had it to do
again, I would have left the old fittings on there and attached the new
faucet to THEM. The old ones don't look THAT bad. I really don't want to
get into replacing tile, and I figured that would have to happen if I
replace the water piping coming out of the wall.

The faucet worked fine for a couple of days and then this morning I
noticed that the pressure on the cold was reduced. In a matter of
seconds it was reduced to zero. No flow.

The water main was replaced in January, which was old and crumbling, but
the short distance of pipe from where the new main enters the house and
goes to the kitchen sink (maybe 8-10 feet), is still old galvanized
pipe. I figured that something had sluffed off from the pipe and was
blocking the cold water.

So, I turned off the water main, removed the cold valve on the new
faucet. It looked OK. I then turned on the water main, what I figured
was not much more than a trickle, to blow out whatever was blocking the
flow. I turned the water off again at the shut-off, and came back into
the kitchen. Water all over, but no catastrophe. There was water on the
ceiling... I'd opened the main too much. Anyway, I put the valve stem
back in, turn on the water again and all was fine... for a few hours.
This afternoon, again the cold flow was slow and in a matter of seconds,
nothing!

I turn off the shut-off again, remove the stem, get a slower flow going
in the shut-off, come back and put the stem in and still no water from
the cold. The hot is fine, evidently. Sometimes when I turn the cold on,
water flows for 1/100 second and then, wham! It hammers shut, no water.

I figure maybe, just maybe something is stuck between the cold water
valve and the join, where the hot and cold mix, just before going into
the spout. Is that what's causing this? If so, how can I expel
whatever's in there? This just seems so weird. I've never experienced
anything like this. Does anyone have an idea what's wrong? Thanks for
any help.

Dan


If your assumption is correct and there is a piece of crud in the
section between the cold valve on your new faucet and the place where
the water enters the spout, Then....

How about shutting off the main supply again, removing the cold stem
once more, and forcing some compressed air or water into the end of the
spout via whatever means you can? That should push anything in that path
back out the valve stem opening, huh?

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.98*10^14 fathoms per fortnight.

On Aug 17, 7:19 pm, Dan_Musicant wrote:
95+ year old house and I decided to get a new kitchen wall-mount faucet.
The one I had only had a 5.5" reach spout. So, I look all over and
finally find one I figure is OK for me. A store close by sells me a
Pasco commercial medium duty wall-mount with a 10" spout, which is what
I figured might be about right for my sink and me. $58 bucks or so out
the door.

I install it a couple of days ago and made a mistake, but I may have
gotten away with it. I removed the adjustable brass fittings that the
old faucet was attached to and put on the new ones that came with the
Pasco. The reason it was a mistake is that the pipes coming out from the
wall tiles are so old that they crumbled somewhat in taking off the old
fittings. I wasn't at all sure I could put on the new ones and not have
a leak. However, I don't detect any leaking... yet. If I had it to do
again, I would have left the old fittings on there and attached the new
faucet to THEM. The old ones don't look THAT bad. I really don't want to
get into replacing tile, and I figured that would have to happen if I
replace the water piping coming out of the wall.

The faucet worked fine for a couple of days and then this morning I
noticed that the pressure on the cold was reduced. In a matter of
seconds it was reduced to zero. No flow.

The water main was replaced in January, which was old and crumbling, but
the short distance of pipe from where the new main enters the house and
goes to the kitchen sink (maybe 8-10 feet), is still old galvanized
pipe. I figured that something had sluffed off from the pipe and was
blocking the cold water.

So, I turned off the water main, removed the cold valve on the new
faucet. It looked OK. I then turned on the water main, what I figured
was not much more than a trickle, to blow out whatever was blocking the
flow. I turned the water off again at the shut-off, and came back into
the kitchen. Water all over, but no catastrophe. There was water on the
ceiling... I'd opened the main too much. Anyway, I put the valve stem
back in, turn on the water again and all was fine... for a few hours.
This afternoon, again the cold flow was slow and in a matter of seconds,
nothing!

I turn off the shut-off again, remove the stem, get a slower flow going
in the shut-off, come back and put the stem in and still no water from
the cold. The hot is fine, evidently. Sometimes when I turn the cold on,
water flows for 1/100 second and then, wham! It hammers shut, no water.

I figure maybe, just maybe something is stuck between the cold water
valve and the join, where the hot and cold mix, just before going into
the spout. Is that what's causing this? If so, how can I expel
whatever's in there? This just seems so weird. I've never experienced
anything like this. Does anyone have an idea what's wrong? Thanks for
any help.

Dan

just for drill take the strainer off the end of the faucett and see if
it isn't blocked with crud

beecrofter wrote:
On Aug 17, 7:19 pm, Dan_Musicant wrote:
....
I turn off the shut-off again, remove the stem, get a slower flow going
in the shut-off, come back and put the stem in and still no water from
the cold. The hot is fine, evidently. Sometimes when I turn the cold on,
water flows for 1/100 second and then, wham! It hammers shut, no water.

....
just for drill take the strainer off the end of the faucett and see if
it isn't blocked with crud

Interesting "crud" that would be hot-water side selective going through
the strainer...

Is this a cartridge-style faucet? To prove the problem is in the
cartridge if so, swap hot and cold and see if the problem follows -- if
so, I'd ask for replacement cartridge under new product warranty...

--

In article , dpb wrote:

beecrofter wrote:
On Aug 17, 7:19 pm, Dan_Musicant wrote:
...
I turn off the shut-off again, remove the stem, get a slower flow going
in the shut-off, come back and put the stem in and still no water from
the cold. The hot is fine, evidently. Sometimes when I turn the cold on,
water flows for 1/100 second and then, wham! It hammers shut, no water.

...
just for drill take the strainer off the end of the faucett and see if
it isn't blocked with crud

Interesting "crud" that would be hot-water side selective going through
the strainer...

Is this a cartridge-style faucet? To prove the problem is in the
cartridge if so, swap hot and cold and see if the problem follows -- if
so, I'd ask for replacement cartridge under new product warranty...

--

I think the OP already fixed this. A loose screw or something. Or was
that another thread? I'm so confused...

On Fri, 17 Aug 2007 22:12:30 -0400, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:

:If your assumption is correct and there is a piece of crud in the
:section between the cold valve on your new faucet and the place where
:the water enters the spout, Then....
:
:How about shutting off the main supply again, removing the cold stem
nce more, and forcing some compressed air or water into the end of the
:spout via whatever means you can? That should push anything in that path
:back out the valve stem opening, huh?
:
:Jeff

I removed the cold stem and the spout and blowing into the spout hole I
could readily tell that there was no kind of stoppage between that hold
the the cold stem... water passed quite freely. I was flumoxed. I soon
realized that the problem was caused by the washer not being held down
firmly by the reverse-thread screw. The screw had backed off, somehow. I
screwed it back in, not too tight... and reassembled everything and the
faucet was again working fine.

Next morning, the same syndrome occurred! First, the handle had to be
turned more than usual to initiate flow, then the flow started having
less than usual pressure. The pressure soon diminished with repeated
turnings of the handle until there was no flow! Of course, I realized
that the screw had backed off again. I've never experienced this before.
So, I reassembled, this time putting a pretty good amount of tightness
on the screw.

Looking at the screw's threads, I see a bluish compound on them,
probably some kind of loctite. If the problem persists, I'll contemplate
using some grade of loctite (or similar) to keep the screw from coming
loose!

Dan

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 08:07:33 -0500, dpb wrote:

:beecrofter wrote:
: On Aug 17, 7:19 pm, Dan_Musicant wrote:
:...
: I turn off the shut-off again, remove the stem, get a slower flow going
: in the shut-off, come back and put the stem in and still no water from
: the cold. The hot is fine, evidently. Sometimes when I turn the cold on,
: water flows for 1/100 second and then, wham! It hammers shut, no water.
:
:...
: just for drill take the strainer off the end of the faucett and see if
: it isn't blocked with crud
:
:Interesting "crud" that would be hot-water side selective going through
:the strainer...
:
:Is this a cartridge-style faucet? To prove the problem is in the
:cartridge if so, swap hot and cold and see if the problem follows -- if
:so, I'd ask for replacement cartridge under new product warranty...

I actually had the idea of turning the faucet over, not swapping the
valves. Turning the faucet over (belly up) would have allowed me to
force water through the portion of the faucet which I thought was
blocked. Fortunately, before doing this work-intensive test, I realized
that the problem was caused by the washer-screw having come loose in the
cold water valve. Why that would completely stop water flow, I do not
comprehend.

Dan

Dan_Musicant wrote:
On Fri, 17 Aug 2007 22:12:30 -0400, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:

:If your assumption is correct and there is a piece of crud in the
:section between the cold valve on your new faucet and the place where
:the water enters the spout, Then....
:
:How about shutting off the main supply again, removing the cold stem
nce more, and forcing some compressed air or water into the end of the
:spout via whatever means you can? That should push anything in that path
:back out the valve stem opening, huh?
:
:Jeff

I removed the cold stem and the spout and blowing into the spout hole I
could readily tell that there was no kind of stoppage between that hold
the the cold stem... water passed quite freely. I was flumoxed. I soon
realized that the problem was caused by the washer not being held down
firmly by the reverse-thread screw. The screw had backed off, somehow. I
screwed it back in, not too tight... and reassembled everything and the
faucet was again working fine.

Next morning, the same syndrome occurred! First, the handle had to be
turned more than usual to initiate flow, then the flow started having
less than usual pressure. The pressure soon diminished with repeated
turnings of the handle until there was no flow! Of course, I realized
that the screw had backed off again. I've never experienced this before.
So, I reassembled, this time putting a pretty good amount of tightness
on the screw.

Looking at the screw's threads, I see a bluish compound on them,
probably some kind of loctite. If the problem persists, I'll contemplate
using some grade of loctite (or similar) to keep the screw from coming
loose!

Dan



You're not the first person that's happened to Dan. Happy you found it.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.