# bath sink hot water supply line leak



## jmjoseph (Apr 21, 2007)

Hello,

I have a bit of a leak under my sink, and I figured out why it is leaking.  A piece is rusted and I will need to get a new one.  I thought maybe someone here could help me name this piece (a metal type covering that is between a nut and the base of the sink) and how hard it would be to fix myself and if there could be any more problems.  

Thanks

J


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## glennjanie (Apr 22, 2007)

Hello JM Joseph:
It appears someone has made a transition in the pipe with a steel pipe fitting or galvanized steel fitting. The one on the hot water always fails first, the heat speeding up the oxidation; your cold water pipe is probably set up the same way and will be in trouble a little later. 
By the time you get all that off the faucet you will probably have to replace it also. Turn the water off and bleed  the pressure off the system, turn off the water heater so it won't burn itself up and start ripping it out. I would cut the copper tube off a foot or so from the sink (assuming there is no little valve on the line) so you can put a valve on the supply line. If your pipe comes out of the wall you can use an angle stop (valve) or, if it comes up from the floor you could use a straight stop. In either case it will be a chrome plated valve with one end designed to connect to the water line and the other is set up to take a plastic or copper supply. I like the ones that are plastic with stainless steel braid covering it.
Follow the instructions with the new faucet; they will tell you how to make the connection without the risk of rusting again.
I wish you much success with the new set-up and post back if we can help further.
Glenn


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## Kerrylib (Apr 23, 2007)

Good recomendation Glenn,

I would recommend getting ball valve shutoffs.  So much easier to make a 1/4 turn and have the water OFF, rather than 5-10 yrs down the road, trying to turn that fiddly little plastic handle hard enough to get the water to shut off because the valve has corroded, filled w/ deposits, etc.

I agree the corrosion you see there is enough that by the time you clean it up to "fix" it, you are going to have knuckles that look like roadkill, you will have invented at least a dozen new xxx rated phrases, and you will end up without an operational sink for a couple days for what you expected to be an hour long process.

Don't be surprised if you need to pull out the hack saw to cut the thing off.  With the rust on there, it is going to be hard to turn anything, then whatever wrench you have on the nut is likely to slip and round it off quicker than you realize.  If you can loosen things just a bit, then you can slip the blade in under the faucet on top of the sink (put down rags to protect the sink) and cut the connections from there.  It beats laying on your back under the sink, working up over your head with only enough room for one hand, but needing three.

Good luck.  I know I probably made it sound miserable.  Just realize sometimes it is better to replace than to repair.  Plumbing w/ corrosion and hard water deposits are a good example of this.  When you start futzing w/ them to repair one thing, about the time you get it all back together is when something else acts up.


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