Maybe. I’ve replaced a handful of them in my life. They are rarely fun, especially the new ones with thin bendy connections.

So, you don’t currently have a new faucet?

It would probably be better to start a new thread and take lots of pictures.

pj,
You certainly know how to have a good time.

quote:

Originally posted by piqué:

quote:

At Mrs pj’s condo, a tiny leak from under the toilet annoyed her. She called a commercial plumber. I think it was about $200. If I knew how easy it was (assuming it was just a simple wax ring replacement), I’d have done it myself.

can you instruct on how to install a new kitchen sink faucet? We bought one on sale, then had to take it back because we could not figure out how to install it. We have the guy who put in our hot water heater. He is so backed up he doesn't even want the job.

Post a picture of the faucet you have now, the faucet you want to install, and the water supply piping under the sink and I’ll walk you through the process if you like.

Have you tried shutting off the valves under the sink? DON’T try to force them. If they’re frozen in the open position the process becomes more complex.

What was it about installing the last faucet that you found confusing?

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:

quote:

Originally posted by piqué:

quote:

At Mrs pj’s condo, a tiny leak from under the toilet annoyed her. She called a commercial plumber. I think it was about $200. If I knew how easy it was (assuming it was just a simple wax ring replacement), I’d have done it myself.

can you instruct on how to install a new kitchen sink faucet? We bought one on sale, then had to take it back because we could not figure out how to install it. We have the guy who put in our hot water heater. He is so backed up he doesn't even want the job.

Post a picture of the faucet you have now, the faucet you want to install, and the water supply piping under the sink and I’ll walk you through the process if you like.

Have you tried shutting off the valves under the sink? DON’T try to force them. If they’re frozen in the open position the process becomes more complex.

What was it about installing the last faucet that you found confusing?

to you and pj for offering to help

we didn't even get as far as shutting off the water under the sink.

it looked like we had to unclip the entire sink from the countertop (which, of course, is caulked), and that stopped me right there. it was more complicated than I expected and more work than I wanted to take on. i will try to find a pic of the type of faucet we have...

quote:

Originally posted by CHAS:
pj,
You certainly know how to have a good time.

Pique, if you can also give us the brand and model of the new faucet, we can probably pull up the instructions. Most brands have the instructions for all current products on their web sites.

As I’ve mentioned on previous projects, I now stick with big name brands like Kohler, Delta, Price-Pfister, etc because it’s more likely that parts will be available well into the future.

*UPDATE*

gotta love this community. we've been struggling with this faucet for going on six years. we gave up on it and figured the next owner of this house can deal with it. not only was installation of a new faucet daunting, we didn't have a plumber to do it for us (help of this kind in this town is a challenge all its own).

Then the hot water heater fried last year and we got a referral to a good plumber to get a new one in for us (good thing we didn't try to do that ourselves--the 50 gallon tank was so full of sediment the water couldn't be drained).

Said plumber recently was back to a hot water tank warranty repair and we asked him about doing the kitchen sink for us. He said, "call me in a few weeks." The guy had over 200 emergency calls over Christmas. He doesn't do anything for people who aren't already established customers. Typical of this area.

So, now pj's toilet replacement and mention of not using a plumber if he doesn't have to gets me thinking about the kitchen pull down faucet again.

And Steve saying I should send him a pic gets me looking online for a pic I can link to (I have no idea what brand or model it is)

Google lists Amazon first, so I go have a look.

And lo and behold, they aren't showing me whole faucet assemblies. They are showing pull=down faucet HEADS. JUST THE HEADS.

Well, our whole problem is that the sprayer in the pulldown faucet head no longer works.

YOU MEAN THEY ARE REPLACEABLE???

But our faucet head doesn't come off, does it? I can't seem to find a way to remove it, it looks like it's all one assembly.

So I google videos of how to replace a pull down faucet head. By gum, they just unscrew them!!

so I go back to my faucet, and by all that is ridiculous, our faucet head UNSCREWS!!

So I get out my fancy typesetter's Schaedler rule that is super precise and measure the part you screw into the faucet, scroll through Amazon's selections, and find a very nice very similar faucet head that should fit, and if it doesn't, return shipping is free.

Total price: $9.99.

It will be here next week.

My plan: Mr. Pique is the household dishwasher, but I am not going to tell him a thing about this. When he is out of the house, I will unscrew the old faucet head, screw in the new one, and let him be amazed that suddenly the sprayer on the faucet works. Not only that, it also has a high-power option for scraping pots with water, kinda like a power-washer.

A new faucet plus the plumber would have cost us hundreds of dollars and been a real headache.

Such a simple and cheap solution, all due to being a member of WTF. You guys are priceless!

pique, you are WINNING!

My kitchen sink has a side sprayer that stops working periodically. The culprit is rust chunks from my 70 year old galvanized pipes that get caught in the diverter valve. The diverter is actually in the base of the faucet, so I have to pull the spout off to get to it. Unfortunately, the last time I did that, I never got it to seal right again, so I get a tiny trickle coming out of the base of the spout when the handle is at full hot or full cold. I have the box and receipt from the faucet sitting here; I just haven't called Delta for help.

But, I learned how to do this from yootoob.

I will say, like anything with yootoob or the interwebz, watch several videos before you actually start to work on something. Sounds like you did that.

So, before I replace that sprayhead, I would try to figure out WHY it's not working. It could be a diverter valve, not the head itself. Or the tiny holes in the head could be clogged with deposits -- that depends a lot on what's in your water, which will be different if it's well water versus river water, and what your pipes are made of. But if it has calcified, it would probably stop working gradually. Did it slow down and stop, or stop working all of a sudden?

If it's a pulldown, the valve to switch between stream and spray is probably inside the head... so maybe replacing it will be the way to go. I've never lived with one of those, I've always had a side-sprayer. I also have a roll-around dishwasher that hooks up to the aerator on the faucet, so that limits my options for what kind of faucet I can have.

You mention your water heater silted up. I would guess that your sprayhead or the diverter valve has suffered the same fate. Depending on the nature of the gunk, a soak in vinegar or a product called C-L-R which dissolves Calcium, Lime, and Rust should fix that. (Do the same thing for your showerhead.)

Still, take lots of pics and post them here. Someone else probably has the same problem.

quote:

Originally posted by AdagioM:
pique, you are WINNING!

quote:

Originally posted by pianojuggler:
My kitchen sink has a side sprayer that stops working periodically. The culprit is rust chunks from my 70 year old galvanized pipes that get caught in the diverter valve. The diverter is actually in the base of the faucet, so I have to pull the spout off to get to it. Unfortunately, the last time I did that, I never got it to seal right again, so I get a tiny trickle coming out of the base of the spout when the handle is at full hot or full cold. I have the box and receipt from the faucet sitting here; I just haven't called Delta for help.

But, I learned how to do this from yootoob.

I will say, like anything with yootoob or the interwebz, watch several videos before you actually start to work on something. Sounds like you did that.

So, before I replace that sprayhead, I would try to figure out WHY it's not working. It could be a diverter valve, not the head itself. Or the tiny holes in the head could be clogged with deposits -- that depends a lot on what's in your water, which will be different if it's well water versus river water, and what your pipes are made of. But if it has calcified, it would probably stop working gradually. Did it slow down and stop, or stop working all of a sudden?

If it's a pulldown, the valve to switch between stream and spray is probably inside the head... so maybe replacing it will be the way to go. I've never lived with one of those, I've always had a side-sprayer. I also have a roll-around dishwasher that hooks up to the aerator on the faucet, so that limits my options for what kind of faucet I can have.

You mention your water heater silted up. I would guess that your sprayhead or the diverter valve has suffered the same fate. Depending on the nature of the gunk, a soak in vinegar or a product called C-L-R which dissolves Calcium, Lime, and Rust should fix that. (Do the same thing for your showerhead.)

Still, take lots of pics and post them here. Someone else probably has the same problem.

pj, we have the most delicious water from our 350-ft deep well. i have no interest in getting a water softener, even if it were possible (there is absolutely no place to put one). so, we will live with the hard water. we may go through a lot of hot water heater elements as a result.

the pull-down faucet head is both clogged with mineral deposits and the button for the spray option is broken. for $10 i am happy to just replace it. i use plain white vinegar to dissolve minerals in my humidifiers and it seems to work as well or better than CLR.

the replacement operation couldn't be simpler: just unscrew one head and screw on the new one.

Depending on the make of the faucet, you might have gotten that for free.

I have a Kohler faucet in my bathroom. I've replaced the handles twice already. They're like $175 if I were to purchase them - but I call Kohler and use their lifetime warranty.

Similarly, on our Moen kitchen faucet, I've had a few issues with it over the past decade - and every time, they send replacement part for free.

Ten bucks for happiness is a bargain.

Pics, please.

As for the toilet replacement vs floor tile issue....

We had a similar thing with a broken liner to the bathtub. Replacing it would have cost us about $300...but then...we could replace the liner with a real tub - maybe a wider one...and if we're going to do that, we could replace the floor - and if we did that we could replace the sink and tile on the walls - and if we did that, we could install new water lines that would improve the water pressure - and if we did that, we'd need to move out a brief time - and if we did that why not replace all of the pipes in the house -- and if we did that we could replace the kitchen cabinets - and if we did that we could replace the sink and countertop - and if we did that we could replace the damaged kitchen floor .. and if we did that, we could replace the ceiling with the popcorn coating in the hallway... it actually goes on a bit but essentially, we ended up spending $95,000 in lieu of a spending $300 on a tub liner.

quote:

Originally posted by kluurs:
As for the toilet replacement vs floor tile issue....

We had a similar thing with a broken liner to the bathtub. Replacing it would have cost us about $300...but then...we could replace the liner with a real tub - maybe a wider one...and if we're going to do that, we could replace the floor - and if we did that we could replace the sink and tile on the walls - and if we did that, we could install new water lines that would improve the water pressure - and if we did that, we'd need to move out a brief time - and if we did that why not replace all of the pipes in the house -- and if we did that we could replace the kitchen cabinets - and if we did that we could replace the sink and countertop - and if we did that we could replace the damaged kitchen floor .. and if we did that, we could replace the ceiling with the popcorn coating in the hallway... it actually goes on a bit but essentially, we ended up spending $95,000 in lieu of a spending $300 on a tub liner.

That was us and our toilet paper holder that wasn’t big enough to hold the Costco roll!