Hey hope someone can help..

My faucet is leaking and I have decided to replace it, however when I went to use the shut off valve, the water does not completely stop flowing. The major issue is that I live in an apartment which the building told me they cannot shut off the water to just one place, and refuse to do so.

I was told I could buy "speedy connectors" however I have searched high and low on the internet for such a thing and have come up empty. I also looked for compression valves but seem to only find ones for outdoors hoses.

Anyone have any clue what I can do?

Thanks in advance,
Dustin

What faucet you are talking about, kitchen, sink, shower or any other?
You need to shut off the main S/O valve to work on the faucet and your S/O valve, good luck.

John

Hey John,

It's the kitchen sink, and that's the problem I can't shut off the main shut off valve (building won't do it) and my shut off valve doesn't work..

I can tell you a way to stop the water if it was on an outside line, but I would not use it on an indoor situation, that is up to you..

Pack around the pipe with dry ice until no more water will flow when you open a faucet, let the dry ice remain in place till you complete the job.

I would talk to the apartment manager before I tried anything like that.

Is this a rental apartment, if it is then this is your landlord’s responsibly to fix it? Good luck.

John

Hey guys,

I appreciate the suggestions, dry ice is a unique idea for sure, but I think you're right won't work inside. And I own my apartment, and when I asked the supe he said it will cost $200 for them to do it (absurd) and that they can't shut off the water to just one room, and won't shut it off to the whole building.

So I'm stuck in this situation. There as to be some sort of reasonable solution, I'm sure I'm not the first fool this has happened to.

When I turn the shut off valve, the cold water ceases but the hot water still trickles out. I need to find some sort of solution to that, possibly one where I can simply screw on some sort of shut off valve to the preexisting line.. but I know of no such appliance

Look under the sink and tell us how many angle valves do you see, there should be two one for hot and one for cold see the image below, Thanks.

John

I'll jump in with my 2 cents before John comes back...

If it is a small building do this: Shut off main water for the building at 03:00 at night. This time, everybody sleeps. Remove old angle stop, install new one and turn water back On.

If it is a high-rise building or a large complex than you cannot just shut-off water. There is more involved especially with hot water circulation pumps etc. I would contact Homeowners Association / or Owner of the building presenting him with the problem. They absolutely have to comply with your request. Usually, you have to give 24 hour advance notice to all tenants stating when and how long will the water be shut off.

Some buildings have dedicated shut-off valves for each floor, group of apartments or even for each unit. Acquire about this with your Landlord.

Ridgid makes and sells "Pipe Freezer" tool. See the link. Call around and find plumber that actually owns this tool. The tool freezes water inside the pipe without need of turning main water supply OFF.

http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/SF2500-Pipe-Freezer

Hey John,

I don't know exactly what an angle valve is, and I don't see in picture what it looks like, but cold and hot look exactly same, I took a picture under sink in case that helps.

Thanks again, I appreciate all the help

Plumbers are creative people. When we get to the job site, we want to do the work, get paid and leave. Therefore, we have to make decisions right there, on the site, that gets the job done and makes customer happy. If I was in the same situation, I would do this:

First, turn of both angle stops as much as they go. Then:

1. Unscrew s.s. flexible water supply from the faucet and put loose end into a bucket. ( If you don't have bucket you can get plug of the same size as the hose and temporarily plug to loose end of the water supply)
2. Remove faucet
3. Install new faucet
4. Reconnect both water supplies
5. Empty bucket
6. Turn angle stops back ON

I would still insist on having those angle stops replaced. But now you have more time to deal with Management Company in regards to shutting off water for the whole building.

Thank you, that sounds like a good idea, and relatively easy. Going to give it a shot on Tuesday. Thank you again everybody, I greatly appreciate all the help.

Hopefully will be a success..

Please, let us know how it went... Good luck... Milo

Angle valve is the other name for the S/O valve under the sink which has yellow handle in you picture see below.

On top of Milo instruction do one more thing open both hot and cold S/O velves all the way out and close it all the way in and see if the water stops some times it gets stuck if it would not work then follow Milo's instruction, Thanks.

John

If your hot water tutns off to just a small stream maybe the size of a match or so I would do exactly what Milo said, take the flex hose off at the top and put it in a large bucket and then do your work and put things back together.

Make sure that you have everything that you need there before you start to work. And if you have some of those hot proof cooking gloves it would not hurt to have them handy in case the small stream of hot water got too hot before you got it connected back.

Thanks again, all great ideas and would not have figured it out on my own.. will let you know how it goes

- Dustin