Four Fix - It's In Faucet Maintenance
December 2nd, 2008

Faucets don't go out very often, but when they do it's a mess. If you're a home owner expect to have a few leaky faucets to fix in your house. There's no need to panic over the water spraying in your home, just get busy and find the problem and fix it. Most indoor plumbing disasters have an easy solution. Read on about a few leaky issues you might run in to, and how to fix or prevent them from happening.

Here is a handy tips list for some common everyday solutions to your plumbing problems.

Kitchen Leaky Pipe Joints. Your kitchen gets as much use as your bathroom, in fact maybe even more use than you realize. Joints in faucets can spring a leak that are either slow leaks or fast quick ones that can leave your face and shirt a mess. To fix a leaky pipe joint is not a problem. All you have to do is to turn the water valve off that goes to the sink. Take out your joint and hold it up to a bright light. Check for the cracks or holes in the joint line. When you find it replace the line that's cracked. On the open end that's exposed wrap the line with plumbers tape, or any type of Teflon tape will do. Wrap the line about 4 â€" 5 times with a firm grip. You need a firm grip because you'll want the tape to get inside the groups of threads in the joint line. After wrapping just pull the tape off at an angle. There's no need for scissors. Next put it all back together and hook up the faucet. Turn the water valve back on to the kitchen sink. If it's still leaking then turn the water off at the main valve, and repeat the steps by adding more tape. Reconnect and see if it sprays again. If it's still spraying take it apart and remove the tape. Double check your line for more holes and the fitting too. Rewrap and put it back on. That's it, you're done.

Finding Frozen Water Pipes. There's nothing more maddening than to wake up and your water pipe is frozen. The solution to finding which one is the tricky part, but it can be found and fixed. You'll just need a little patience and a warm coat. Remember not all of your pipes have to freeze it can be only one pipe in the myriad of many pipes of your house. So the first thing is to identify how many are frozen. Turn on every water supply to the inside of the house. Look for ones that are not producing water. Next turn off the ones that work, and leave the valve open on the ones that don't. After this turn off the main water valve that brings water into the house, make sure to turn off the main because the only thing stopping the water from coming through is a packed tight ice plug in the line. You're now readying to thaw your pipe.

Thawing out Frozen Pipes. Before crawling under the house examine what type of pipe that's under your house. Your lines are one of two types under your house; they are either a metal alloy or made of plastic. A hand held hair dryer or a heat gun should be used to thaw them out. Be careful not to over heat your line made of plastic, it can melt them. Be sure to take along an extension cord, hair dryer, plumbing tools, hanging flash light, rags, and a pan or a bucket. Also you might need to replace a line so check the size of the line before going under the house. It could be that an ice plug has formed because of a hole or split in the line. Repair the line if needed. If a pipe that is interior and copper, tie off two in two places, one in front of and back of the leaky joint, and heat with a swishing motion. This should take no more that 5 min. Turn the main water supply line back on to the house and check for leaks. If your pipe is on an outside wall, or one that comes through the floor and connects to a sink, open the cabinet and leave a heater on. You should have unfrozen the clog.

Preventing Frozen Pipes. There are several things that you can do. If your pipes are always freezing every winter then you can line them up with a heated pipe space, or you can install new insulation where the pipes run. Also consider wrapping any of the pipes with insulation or wrapping the lines with a heat tape. All of these products can be purchased at your local home improvement or hardware store

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