drjimmy
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I think I have a problem caused by a common mistake homeowners make each fall - shutting off the outside water valve inside my house, but also shutting off the valve outside after disconnecting the hoses for the lawn and garden, and not allowing any remaining water to drain out.
Last Sunday, here in the East, we had thawed to about 40 degrees after a very cold week where temperatures were about 10 -15 during the day, lower at night. I think that the water inside the piper that remained must have froze and when the temperature rose, the water pressure of what was remaining in the pipe from the fall shut off couldn’t escape through the outside spout, so it kind of "burst" through the end of the pipe that connects to the outside spigot
This scared the heck out of me because I first thought there was a burst pipe ( the pipe leads from the valve under my kitchen sink, through a wall in an adjoining porch ( not heated ) and out to the hose area.) After inspecting the pipe, thankfully there was no problems in the house -
I turned the valve on outside and noticed the water flowing out, but I had just assumed it was the water melting and escaping because later in the day, it went from a flow out of the hose connecter, to just a dripping at the connector part, so it didn’t seem at the time that the water was coming from the main line, because the valve under the sink is shut off by hand as tight as I could shut it off.
After a few days, I notice that the dripping hasn't stopped , and now I believe that quite possible the valve under my kitchen sink even though shut off, might have a bad seal ??
I have no idea if I am describing this right - I hope I am - but if that valve is shut tight and I still have dripping outside - that has to be a bad seal/seat from the valve under my sink allowing the water to get past and get through that pipe going to the outside hoses, yes ?
My only other assumption is that what is dripping out is STILL what is remaining in the pipe - but I would think after a week it would have emptied by now - and my bad valve under the sink needing replacement seems more likely…even after I allowed what I thought was melted ice water to come out.
On the other hand - if the valve was bad the whole time - why wouldn’t the water have dripped out or forced its way out since I shut both the outside and inside valves off way back in early November..? Could I have just been a victim of 3 months of bad under the sink valve mounting up all this time?
It's hard for me to understand which scenario is right - it’s a bad valve that caused water backed up and had to escape and froze on me - or its not the valve and just water trapped from "summer use" that I didn’t allow to drain….
I can't hand tighten that under the sink valve any more than it is - so I think it might be the issue - that being said - is this valve easy to remove and replace just by going to the local hardware mega store and getting a replace ment ?
Someone told me I need to take the valve apart and replace "seat seal" ?
Sorry for the long story, but I am a novice at plumbing to say the least, and very nervous when it comes to water issues in the house…. Opinions.?
Last Sunday, here in the East, we had thawed to about 40 degrees after a very cold week where temperatures were about 10 -15 during the day, lower at night. I think that the water inside the piper that remained must have froze and when the temperature rose, the water pressure of what was remaining in the pipe from the fall shut off couldn’t escape through the outside spout, so it kind of "burst" through the end of the pipe that connects to the outside spigot
This scared the heck out of me because I first thought there was a burst pipe ( the pipe leads from the valve under my kitchen sink, through a wall in an adjoining porch ( not heated ) and out to the hose area.) After inspecting the pipe, thankfully there was no problems in the house -
I turned the valve on outside and noticed the water flowing out, but I had just assumed it was the water melting and escaping because later in the day, it went from a flow out of the hose connecter, to just a dripping at the connector part, so it didn’t seem at the time that the water was coming from the main line, because the valve under the sink is shut off by hand as tight as I could shut it off.
After a few days, I notice that the dripping hasn't stopped , and now I believe that quite possible the valve under my kitchen sink even though shut off, might have a bad seal ??
I have no idea if I am describing this right - I hope I am - but if that valve is shut tight and I still have dripping outside - that has to be a bad seal/seat from the valve under my sink allowing the water to get past and get through that pipe going to the outside hoses, yes ?
My only other assumption is that what is dripping out is STILL what is remaining in the pipe - but I would think after a week it would have emptied by now - and my bad valve under the sink needing replacement seems more likely…even after I allowed what I thought was melted ice water to come out.
On the other hand - if the valve was bad the whole time - why wouldn’t the water have dripped out or forced its way out since I shut both the outside and inside valves off way back in early November..? Could I have just been a victim of 3 months of bad under the sink valve mounting up all this time?
It's hard for me to understand which scenario is right - it’s a bad valve that caused water backed up and had to escape and froze on me - or its not the valve and just water trapped from "summer use" that I didn’t allow to drain….
I can't hand tighten that under the sink valve any more than it is - so I think it might be the issue - that being said - is this valve easy to remove and replace just by going to the local hardware mega store and getting a replace ment ?
Someone told me I need to take the valve apart and replace "seat seal" ?
Sorry for the long story, but I am a novice at plumbing to say the least, and very nervous when it comes to water issues in the house…. Opinions.?