Yes, have your plumber replace those valves (angle stops) with 1/4 turn ball valves. Somewhat easy job for a plumber.

 

supplyhouse.com search for your products. Support people are friendly and helpful.

 

I just watched a couple of videos on replacing these valves. It looks pretty straightforward. My only concern is how tight you tighten the new compression nut. Also, do you go with compression or sodder fitting? Consensus I gathered from the internet is most DIY’rs use compression. Dealing with pressurized water can be scary, but with the multitude of great walkthroughs on google, anything is possible.

I love doing these type jobs, learning something new. Not much better than working with your hands. Thx for the advice!

@Matt1963 -would the picture below work for me? I don’t know how much exposed pipe I’ll be working with until I get in there. That’s another concern. Would be awful if I cut it short, leaving not enough to work with. Assuming it even needs to be cut? 😄 this is going to be a great weekend warrior project for me.

 

I just watched a couple of videos on replacing these valves. It looks pretty straightforward. My only concern is how tight you tighten the new compression nut.

I doubt you'll find the answer to HOW TIGHT by reading this crap i've copied . I do recommend what i read on a box of ferrules . After finger tight turn the nut 1 revolution . I've not had that fail .

COPIED :
How Tight Should a Compression Fitting Be? Compression fittings should be tight enough to create a watertight seal but not so tight that the pipe warps or the thread is damaged as this could encourage leaks and make the fittings much harder to remove later. Proceed with caution.

A Complete Guide to Compression Fittings

 

Need a better picture of the stops, are they compressions stops?

 

Can you not just replace the washer inside the stop? Seems like a simpler solution.

 

Yes, that is the correct valve accept we don't know how it's attached.

If it's a compression fitting at the wall you will need a tool to remove the ferrule. If it's threaded iron pipe you will need different stuff.

Give us more of a close up of the side of the valve at the wall line and here is an example of the tool.

 

Thank you for all the replies! I’ll take an up close picture and report back asap.

 

I believe on a single handled faucet, you will get cross-over from hot to cold. So, turning one stop off, won't cut it.

 

Also change out the supply lines; those polybutylene ones can burst all on their own.

 

@Matt1963 Close up shot. Might be a job for a professional. Looks like it’s fused together. I’m so tempted to just leave it be. Shut the water off at the main, unhook the supply lines and replace it that way. Thing is, I have a plumber coming next week for something unrelated. May as well just have him deal with it. I’ve done the toilet, floor and soon the vanity. Saved a good chunk of change. What’s a couple hundred dollars for a couple of valves?

@bob22 I’m definitely changing the supply lines.

@Grounded-B I didn’t know that was a thing. So there’s faucets that you can’t shut the hot water off? Why would anyone want that? That could be the case here but more likely it’s just worn out. It hasn’t been serviced/replaced in decades. But what the hell do I know? 😄

 

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@Matt1963 Close up shot. Might be a job for a professional. Looks like it’s fused together. I’m so tempted to just leave it be. Shut the water off at the main, unhook the supply lines and replace it that way. Thing is, I have a plumber coming next week for something unrelated. May as well just have him deal with it. I’ve done the toilet, floor and soon the vanity. Saved a good chunk of change. What’s a couple hundred dollars for a couple of valves?

@bob22 I’m definitely changing the supply lines.

@Grounded-B I didn’t know that was a thing. So there’s faucets that you can’t shut the hot water off? Why would anyone want that? That could be the case here but more likely it’s just worn out. It hasn’t been serviced/replaced in decades. But what the hell do I know? 😄

They are soldered.

I agree, plumbers coming out next week anyway, have him take care of all that.

 

Assuming by the look of that handle, your house main shut off also may not shut completely. Esp if a gate valve. Tell the plumber you'll pay for sharkbite. Then maybe there's enough copper so he doesn't have to try desolder the valves.

 

Those supply lines are fine. That is not the PB pipe that has the leak/burst issues. Don't use Sharkbites!

Sent from my SM-T500 using Tapatalk

 

I have installed hundreds of supply lines like that. It is what we used before the stainless braided ones came out. It is not the same as PB crimp or Qwest pipe

 

Well I’m back with another question. The sewage line has what looks like an adapter on it to angle it one way. The vanity I took out had an offset sink so that’s why it’s like that. The new vanity is not offset.

Please tell me there’s a workaround. No way that adapter is coming off right? This is probably a simple solution but I’m not a plumber so what do I know? The angle isn’t too bad, do I even need to do anything at all?

 

Well I’m back with another question. The sewage line has what looks like an adapter on it to angle it one way. The vanity I took out had an offset sink so that’s why it’s like that. The new vanity is not offset.

Please tell me there’s a workaround. No way that adapter is coming off right? This is probably a simple solution but I’m not a plumber so what do I know? The angle isn’t too bad, do I even need to do anything at all?

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Looks like you have just enough room to cut out the 22 fitting. Cut it out and the red line and buy a new 1 1/2 trap adapter which is what the blue line represents. You will need a 1 1/4 gasket.

 

Thank you @Matt196

Unfortunately, I’m not DIY savvy enough to cut that pipe. Pisses me off too because I’ve done everything else by myself in this bathroom. Toilet, floor, vanity. Everything is ready to go but this damn plumbing. I may bite the bullet and pay a plumber to just update all of this. (Like I said earlier in this thread)

I could probably do it, at least the water lines, but I don’t feel overly confident. $160 plumber will redo it all. I’ve already saved a couple of thousand as it is.

 

Thank you @Matt196

Unfortunately, I’m not DIY savvy enough to cut that pipe. Pisses me off too because I’ve done everything else by myself in this bathroom. Toilet, floor, vanity. Everything is ready to go but this damn plumbing. I may bite the bullet and pay a plumber to just update all of this. (Like I said earlier in this thread)

I could probably do it, at least the water lines, but I don’t feel overly confident. $160 plumber will redo it all. I’ve already saved a couple of thousand as it is.

Understood. Sounds like your money ahead.

 

@Matt1963 If I may bother you one last time. (And anyone else that wants to chime in)

I’ve decided to get a plumber to deal with the sewage pipe, but I want to tackle the shutoff valves. I just need you to make me feel good abt this. It’s not rocket science, but it it’s still pressurized water and that can be problematic if not treated properly. So as you already know, the pipes are soldered together. I have watched a lot of videos on how to replace them. There’s enough room to cut them, but I can just as easily heat them up and pull them off w/ a small blow torch.

All the videos I’ve seen just show applying heat to the connection, and slowly working it off. Then, scraping clean the copper pipes with sand cloth (120 grit), and finish up with a deburring tool. Finally, attach a 1/2” compression x 3/8” compression brass quarter turn stop straight valve onto the pipe. Tighten the nut carefully, trying to not collapse the pipe, but enough to prevent a leak. Or there’s the push valve. Push valve straight back on pipe while holding part of the pipe, simultaneously, for better fit. And I think specifications state mark a line at 1” depth (shark bite). Seems to me, the push-on might be easier. I’m guessing most professionals prefer soldered, curious to know what would choose? Would you cut this pipe or heat it?

Both our houses have old valves everywhere. If I can figure this out, I will save a ton of money redoing them all myself. I’m not expecting a detailed answer for this long, drawn out post/comment. If you could just point out any tips/corrections, that would be great. I intentionally omitted some stuff like turning water off at main and other obvious things.

Thanks for taking time to give me some advice. Really appreciate it.

 

Yes, good plan. De-solder or cut off and use shark bite fittings. Much easier and there well proven. I put plumbers grease on everything before I slide them on.

 

A couple of things.

My opinion is your have the two projects, supply line side and drain side effort level reversed. If it's me I would pay someone I would pay someone the supply side because it needs more experience.

The drain side, all you need is to cut the fitting off as far away from the wall as you can. Steps:
(1) cut the fitting off, if you have a saw use a saw, use the back of the fitting as a guide, if no saw you can get a PVC cable cutter which is basically some metal wire (less then $5), and cut it off. If you are worried about not cutting it at a tight angle, buy a steel hose clamp for another $1.50 and tighten it behind the fitting as a guide.
(2) clean deburr the cut end, a putty knife may be some emery cloth.
(3) buy a trap adapter with a hub end and cement it on.
Done and ready for drain connection as long as this drain is within the width of a U bend from your sink drain tailpiece. There isn't much that can go wrong.

The supply side, I would desolder them because it's always good to have extra length for the future. Personally I do not use Sharkbites but be warned that SB use requires not just the exposed length to be the socket depth of the SB fittings, you need more than that. Some copper pipes out of the wall were not secured, if you push on them they may yield a bit. Therefore you need a way to hold onto the pipe when you push the SB on to have it fully bottom. In the future when you need to remove a SB, you will have an orange horse shoe thing you insert behind the SB fittings, then your fingers go behind that so you can go forward a tad then pull back to remove. If your SB sits tight against the wall, future removal can be a challenge. I would suggest removing these valves without cutting. Steps:

(1) turn off supply hot and cold. By the way your hot side not shutting off due to single handle faucet cross over, that faucet needs service too.
(2) open faucet to relief water pressure, turn on nearby hose bibbs to let most residual water out. Disconnect supply hoses to valves, use a bucket to catch residual water until they stop completely, hopefully.
(3) use a torch to heat the connection and tease valve off with a pliers, be careful with a torch in confined space, watch your eyebrows. If there is residual water in the pipes it may act as a heat sink and not melt the solder, worse yet super hot steam starts shooting out of the pipes. This is where experience matters.
(4) wipe off excess solder on the pipe ends.
(5) either solder on male adapters and use threaded QT valves, or use compression QT valves. For compression valve don't overtighten to the point of causing the ferrule to strangle the copper pipe.

The supply side requires more experience.

 

A couple of things.

My opinion is your have the two projects, supply line side and drain side effort level reversed. If it's me I would pay someone I would pay someone the supply side because it needs more experience.

The drain side, all you need is to cut the fitting off as far away from the wall as you can. Steps:
(1) cut the fitting off, if you have a saw use a saw, use the back of the fitting as a guide, if no saw you can get a PVC cable cutter which is basically some metal wire (less then $5), and cut it off. If you are worried about not cutting it at a tight angle, buy a steel hose clamp for another $1.50 and tighten it behind the fitting as a guide.
(2) clean deburr the cut end, a putty knife may be some emery cloth.
(3) buy a trap adapter with a hub end and cement it on.
Done and ready for drain connection as long as this drain is within the width of a U bend from your sink drain tailpiece. There isn't much that can go wrong.

The supply side, I would desolder them because it's always good to have extra length for the future. Personally I do not use Sharkbites but be warned that SB use requires not just the exposed length to be the socket depth of the SB fittings, you need more than that. Some copper pipes out of the wall were not secured, if you push on them they may yield a bit. Therefore you need a way to hold onto the pipe when you push the SB on to have it fully bottom. In the future when you need to remove a SB, you will have an orange horse shoe thing you insert behind the SB fittings, then your fingers go behind that so you can go forward a tad then pull back to remove. If your SB sits tight against the wall, future removal can be a challenge. I would suggest removing these valves without cutting. Steps:

(1) turn off supply hot and cold. By the way your hot side not shutting off due to single handle faucet cross over, that faucet needs service too.
(2) open faucet to relief water pressure, turn on nearby hose bibbs to let most residual water out. Disconnect supply hoses to valves, use a bucket to catch residual water until they stop completely, hopefully.
(3) use a torch to heat the connection and tease valve off with a pliers, be careful with a torch in confined space, watch your eyebrows. If there is residual water in the pipes it may act as a heat sink and not melt the solder, worse yet super hot steam starts shooting out of the pipes. This is where experience matters.
(4) wipe off excess solder on the pipe ends.
(5) either solder on male adapters and use threaded QT valves, or use compression QT valves. For compression valve don't overtighten to the point of causing the ferrule to strangle the copper pipe.

The supply side requires more experience.

Sometimes advising a homeowner (rookie) to use a torch with the water off is a recipe for a burned down house. I really don't use shark bites except in special circumstances.... but I'm a pro....they also have better tools for removing the shark bite that doesn't require as much clearance as the plastic c clips.

In this case the shark fitting is probably best.

Uponor also makes push on fitting and there much cheaper. All push fittings are working with little to no failure rate so advising not to use them in circumstances like this doesn't seem like good advice.

Cheers.

 

@miamicuse Thank you for the detailed post! Valuable information. This is exactly why I’m here asking questions.

@Matt1963 Question for both of you: obviously, I will turn off the water at the main, but should I shut the water heater valve feed as well? I feel pretty good going into this after all this great advice. Thank you so much.

 

I usually do, most don't. It's possible a siphoning event could happen and burn up your tank.

Never hurts.

 

@miamicuse What size trap adapter? Would this one work?

 

That's the right slip on piece but you need the nut with the 1 1/4 washer for the nut for almost every lav sink drain. In this case this one.....

One thing though, in the future make decisions and stick to them....I call it "captain of the ship decisions"

 

One thing though, in the future make decisions and stick to them....I call it "captain of the ship decisions"

Yeah, I hear ya. I’m definitely flip flopping everywhere. I have a lot of stuff going on in my life right now, so this project doesn’t get my full attention. I’ve been taking this bathroom apart slowly. The longer it takes the more I question things. I feel good from here on out. You guys have basically typed up a handbook for dummies in this thread, and I’m very grateful for it. I will report back with the finished product.

 

Better description of the product

 

The trap adapter in post #28 that you asked about is a PVC trap adapter, your existing piping is black in color and ABS. The one that Matt1963 linked in post #29 is the one you want.

As for shutting off the feed to the water heater while replacing supply valves, sometimes I do sometimes I don't depends on the nature of the work. If your main shutoff to the house is not closing 100%, and still allowing water to slowly spill out of the cut pipe ends, sometimes shutting off the feed to the water heater feed helps on the hot side. But opening a hose bibb near the shutoff most likely will do the same. This is only important because water still coming out slowly acts as a heat sink and cause problems with soldering. If you are using SB push on connectors then a little dripping doesn't matter.

 

@miamicuse thank you. I feel good with all the knowledge I’ve acquired here.