how to replace bathroom and kitchen sink faucets:dealing with supply line

One of the things in your house that will receive the most use and abuse is the kitchen or bath room faucets. These ultimately important creations are touched by many hands in many different ways, translating to a story of stressful existence. However, sometimes it is simply a matter of choice in replacing the fixture as either the design taste changes or the occupant of the dwelling is different. Whatever the reason, this hub will offer information on how to change a faucet.

Before you can replace your old faucet, you must remove it from the sink. Unless you want a bath, water everywhere and a stern disapproving look from your spouse, it is wise to access the water cut offs under the sink and twist them clockwise until they are closed, which will shut off the water supply.

Next, you will take a wrench and loosen the supply lines just above the water cutoffs. These will likely be tightened down to prevent leaks, so may take a little effort to free. As you may already know or will soon find out there is a ridiculously small amount of room underneath your sink to do this job, so have patience as you figure out your strategy.

Once the supply lines are free, you can trace them up to the underside of the sink, where they will screw into the bottom supply stubs of the old faucet. Again you will probably need a wrench to free the connectors from the threaded stubs. If your supply lines are very old, you may want to replace them to prevent the possibility of leaks at a later time.

The next step involved removing the plastic washers that hold your faucet tight against the sink. These washers are screwed onto the sink stubs just above where you removed the supply hoses. A pliers will work for this, but be careful no to strip these washers before you get them off or you might explore your adult oriented vocabulary.

After the washers are off you should be able to lift the old faucet out of the sink, unless the sprayer hose is still connected. If so, take your wrench and unscrew the connector for this to free the old faucet. It is probably obvious that if your faucet is damaged it should be disposed of properly.

To install your new kitchen faucet you will do much of the preceding in reverse order. First, you will place the new faucet in the old holes. Then take the two plastic washers and screw them onto the faucet stubs to make the faucet secure to the sink. If you do not get this done correctly, your new faucet will squirm around as you use it.

Next you must screw the supply lines onto the faucet stubs, being careful to thread them correctly. If you cross thread or screw them on out of sequence you can strip the threads which will cause your hoses not to tighten up correctly, which will lead to leaks. If your hose is tightening on the stub easily, you can proceed to tighten it as far as it will go. This should guarantee no leaks when you return water pressure to the line.

The sprayer should be attached now. You will likely have a supply line already connected to it that will require connection to the faucet near the cold water supply point. Again, take care in connecting this line that it is threaded correctly.

The standard pattern for supply lines plumbing in the United States has the hot water on the left and cold on the right. If your old sink was set up this way, your new one should be too, but it is up to you to connect things that way. Pay attention to the supply lines hanging down from the newly installed faucet. The left one will go to your left supply line, which should be hot water. The right will go to the right side line, which will be cold. Again paying attention to the threads gently screw on and tighten down to prevent leaks.

After everything is secure you need to make sure your sink is turned off before you open the supply lines. When opening the supply valves, do so slowly watching for potential leaks as you open the valves. If there is no sign of moisture after a couple of minutes you should be okay.

Many of the same steps are necessary to replace a bath room faucet. The difference will be that a bath room faucet has a part that allows you to stop up the drain. This device will need to be replaced with your new faucet as each one has this in the style of the faucet’s finish.

After you have received the stopper mechanism for the old faucet, you can begin to install the new one. The main part of this is the long piece that has a round top with a rubber seal around the under side. This part is what actually prevents the water from escaping the sink when in use. This will be inserted into the whole at the bottom of the sink to await the other pieces that make it work.

Next you will need to locate the long lever that will have a handle behind the faucet controls and extended down through the faucet to the underside of the sink. This long piece will have several holes drilled into the length, which allow you to connect his to the control for the sink stopper.

On the back side of the short piece of PVC pipe that screws onto the bottom of your sink will be a small round hole. In your faucet kit you should find a stainless rod with a plastic ball molded onto it. The end with the ball goes into this hole and you need to be sure the end of the rod engages with the hole in the stopper post. You can determine this by wiggling the rod after it is inserted why you look at the stopper. If the stopper moves up and down you are successful. If not you must keep trying.

Once you have this connected you will look for a thin piece of metal that looks as if it is folded nearly in half. This piece of metal will keep everything in place and must be squeezed to release enough tension to insert it where needed. After all of this is done you should be able to open and close the stopper easily.

If this is your first time replacing a faucet, plan at least a couple of hours to the task.

Be sure to think about how your new faucet will fit your sink before you purchase as there is a multitude of styles and you don’t want to make multiple trips.