[garsch]

I need to replace my single lever kitchen faucet but both the hot and cold shutoff valves do not work. If I shut off main water to the house the cold water does not run but the hot water keeps running. What do I need to do to shut off the hot water.

[massplumber2008]

Hi Garch

Shutting off the cold water has to shut off the hot water... cold water feeds the hot water heater..

After you shut off the main cold shutoff, open all faucets to drain the water and water pressure from the system... that should do it for you.

Mark

PS, there is a cold water shutoff going into the water heater... could close this to shut down hot water, but that shouldn't be necessary here.

[garsch]

Thanks Mark,

Shutting off the water to the house did what you said but for some reason there was still a small amount of hot water constantly running. I left the bathroom tub farthest from the main water source with the hot water open and it had hot water coming out at a small rate. I did not remove the shutoff valve as I did not want the hot water to drain out onto the kitchen floor but I did remove the dishwasher hose and the hot water came from the valve through that path. I actually caught about 3 gallons berfore I stopped and reconnected the dishwasher hose back to the hot water shutoff valve. Any thoughts?

[garsch]

Thanks Mark,

Shutting off the water to the house did what you said but for some reason there was still a small amount of hot water constantly running. I removed the dishwasher hose and hot water kept coming out. Any thoughts?

[ballengerb1]

Shut off your main and then open the outside sill cock. If necessary connect a drain hose to your water heater and crack open the drain cock a bit

[massplumber2008]

Hi all...

As Ballenger suspects, it sounds like the water main is not shutting off completely...

I'd start at Ballenger's suggestions and see if you are able to proceed with your work.

Otherwise, shut the main shut off off as best you can and then crack the fitting at the meter itself and let that drip into a bucket if possible. Open faucets/valves to drain the pipes to the rest of the house as well.

Then, I'd recommend purchasing a sharkbite (or gatorbite) ball-valve (see image) and installing that somewhere directly after the water meter... no soldering required... a simple push-fit type fitting. In this way you can be sure that you can shut off the cold water main without needing to involve your city/town... unless you want, too and then you would contact them and discuss the recommended procedure for changing out your main water shutoff... ;)

The way I see it, you can shut off the water main and let the water drip at the water meter and just go for installation of the faucet... plumbers do it often... OR you install the new shutoff and gain control of the water system now and for the future and then work on the faucet.

If you think this goes deeper than you want then call in a plumber and see what they recommend... :)

Back to you...

Mark