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Home > Archive > Home Repair forum > April 2006 > Sink and shower faucet problems
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Sink and shower faucet problems
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| mattsings@att.net 2006-04-03, 11:21 am |
| We live in an apartment. Our faucets - more precisely the HOT and COLD
water knobs are HOT and COLD to the touch. In the kitchen sink, after
doing dishes (time is usually 30 minutes) the hot water knob is HOT to
the touch - hot enough that my wife usually uses a towel to turn it
off. In the bathroom the shower knobs are warm and cold to the touch -
they don't usually get hot, but the bathroom sink knobs both hot and
cold get HOT. It's incredibly frustrating and our landlord has sent in
a plumber twice now and has no solution.
Naturally, I find this unacceptable, but more frustrating, was the
plumbers resignation at not be able to find the source of the issue.
I went to a hardware store and spoke to a person who said that it's a
problem with the pipes in building going to my apartment - that they
probably cleaned the pipes and left a valve turned all the way in one
direction.
My question is:
Does that sound right? Does anyone have any other ideas on what might
be causing it?
I do agree with the plumber on one thing which is that a new faucet
won't solve the problem.
Please, anyone, if you have any suggestions, let me know.
Thank you!
MATT
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| 30 minutes to wash the dishes? You must have more kids than the
Waltons.
The cold water knob in the bathroom sink gets hot? When running just
the hot water or when both are on?
I'm not a plumber but it sounds to me like the hot water tank is set
too high and your landlord needs a new plumber.
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| Doug Kanter 2006-04-03, 2:21 pm |
| <mattsings@att.net> wrote in message
news:1144072381.127707.86070@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> I went to a hardware store and spoke to a person who said that it's a
> problem with the pipes in building going to my apartment - that they
> probably cleaned the pipes and left a valve turned all the way in one
> direction.
Are you sure you didn't mistakenly walk into a Radio Shack???
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| <mattsings@att.net> wrote in message
news:1144072381.127707.86070@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> We live in an apartment. Our faucets - more precisely the HOT and COLD
> water knobs are HOT and COLD to the touch. In the kitchen sink, after
> doing dishes (time is usually 30 minutes) the hot water knob is HOT to
> the touch - hot enough that my wife usually uses a towel to turn it
> off. In the bathroom the shower knobs are warm and cold to the touch -
> they don't usually get hot, but the bathroom sink knobs both hot and
> cold get HOT. It's incredibly frustrating and our landlord has sent in
> a plumber twice now and has no solution.
>
> Naturally, I find this unacceptable, but more frustrating, was the
> plumbers resignation at not be able to find the source of the issue.
>
> I went to a hardware store and spoke to a person who said that it's a
> problem with the pipes in building going to my apartment - that they
> probably cleaned the pipes and left a valve turned all the way in one
> direction.
>
> My question is:
>
> Does that sound right? Does anyone have any other ideas on what might
> be causing it?
>
> I do agree with the plumber on one thing which is that a new faucet
> won't solve the problem.
>
> Please, anyone, if you have any suggestions, let me know.
>
> Thank you!
>
> MATT
>
Like another poster said - The HW heater may be turned up too high. Get a
thermometer and check the temp of the water after a few minutes of running
just the hot. It should not be hotter than 120 degrees or so. if it is its a
potential safety hazard if you have small kids. Your landlord may want it
that hot for reasons beyond safety. Do you share a HW heater or have a
dedicated one? if you have your own then see if you can turn it down a bit.
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| Goedjn 2006-04-03, 3:21 pm |
| On 3 Apr 2006 08:02:10 -0700, "RayV" <NunyaBiznas@comcast.net> wrote:
>30 minutes to wash the dishes? You must have more kids than the
>Waltons.
>
>The cold water knob in the bathroom sink gets hot? When running just
>the hot water or when both are on?
>
>I'm not a plumber but it sounds to me like the hot water tank is set
>too high and your landlord needs a new plumber.
Well, a more expensive knob&faucet set on the sink,
esp. one with longer stems and plastic handles, will
probably not conduct as much heat between the handles
and the pipes. But while that addresses the symptom
you asked about, it doesn't address the real problem.
Almost certainly the hot water supply is too hot.
If you run the hot water with no cold water, is the
result too hot to touch? You probably don't want any
hot water fitting delivering water that's more than
50 degree Centigrade (120F).
Depending on where
your hot water comes from, you may not be able to fix
that. If not, or possibly even if so, you probably
want an anti-scald valve upstream of the kitchen sink.
(It sounds like you've already got one in the shower)
The down side to this is, some people want hotter
water than that to do the dishes in, assuming that
hotter water is better. (It's not, really. If the
water's hot enough to kill germs, it's also hot enough
to scald you)
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| mattsings@att.net 2006-04-03, 9:21 pm |
| I can answer all questions posed to me - even the ones I assume were
jokes.
As far as how long it takes me to do the dishes - we have a small sink
- and it takes a few minutes. (and we don't have kids)
The cold knob, not the water on our bathroom sink gets hot EVEN when no
water is running.
As for the hot water heater - I happen to know from the Super that it
is set at 130 degrees. And it was adjusted down to that AFTER I called
to complain that the shower water would get TOO hot all of a sudden.
It was at 160 degrees which I now know was WAY to high. The super said
he would not lower any more than 130 (or more accurately, the plumber
who was with the super wouldn't lower any more than that)
<<<Are you sure you didn't mistakenly walk into a Radio Shack??? >>>>
Huh?
<<< If you run the hot water with no cold water, is the result too hot
to touch? >>
If I run the hot water WITH cold water the result is too hot to touch -
it gets even hotter when I run without cold water.
Any other information you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to
all who have posted.
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| On 3 Apr 2006 06:53:01 -0700, mattsings@att.net wrote:
>We live in an apartment. Our faucets - more precisely the HOT and COLD
>water knobs are HOT and COLD to the touch. In the kitchen sink, after
>doing dishes (time is usually 30 minutes) the hot water knob is HOT to
>the touch - hot enough that my wife usually uses a towel to turn it
>off. In the bathroom the shower knobs are warm and cold to the touch -
>they don't usually get hot, but the bathroom sink knobs both hot and
>cold get HOT. It's incredibly frustrating and our landlord has sent in
>a plumber twice now and has no solution.
>
>Naturally, I find this unacceptable, but more frustrating, was the
>plumbers resignation at not be able to find the source of the issue.
>
>I went to a hardware store and spoke to a person who said that it's a
>problem with the pipes in building going to my apartment - that they
>probably cleaned the pipes and left a valve turned all the way in one
>direction.
What does that mean? Is this a one handle bath tub faucet, that has
some sort of mixing adjustment, aiui. At any rate, you can adjust the
water to a good temp, right, so I don't see how it could be the mising
adjustment, but I"m guessing.
>
>My question is:
>
>Does that sound right? Does anyone have any other ideas on what might
>be causing it?
>
>I do agree with the plumber on one thing which is that a new faucet
>won't solve the problem.
It would if it had plastic handles. But I think you can get plastic
handles for the current faucet, probably.
The plastic handles on my bathtub and my bathroom sink will fit any
stem.
I don't know what your underlying problem is -- it sounds wierd -- but
you can get plastic handles for 3 or 4 dollars a set, I think.
Is your hot water made by the furnace boiler? I haven't had that
since I lived in an apartment. Because the owner thought he was a
plumber, he was never able to fix the cold water pressure tank, and
because we had flushometers, that use a lot of cold water, when
someone in my line flushed the toilet, it made the shower too hot. If
I turned the shower temp down, then when they didn't flush it was too
cold.
So I started taking baths and still do.
>Please, anyone, if you have any suggestions, let me know.
>
>Thank you!
>
>MATT
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