terkio wrote: ↑Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:30 am
JR. wrote: ↑Mon Jan 04, 2021 4:49 pm
I really hate it when physical things do not behave as expected (its the laws of physics).
I previously mentioned it was an odd "coincidence" that the sink cut off valve started dripping after I shut off the hot water heater... Now after repairing the heater and bringing it back online, the drip has stopped. WTF?
This is inexplicable. I am inclined to replace the under sink shut-off valves anyhow, but what is going on?
No hurry for the plumber to repair a drip that stopped dripping.
[update, still some moisture... just not dripping like before./update]
JR
I think, this leak variation is from temperature.
One can feel the temperature difference at the hot and cold water pipes under a sink.
that was the first thing I checked for. The bathroom is probably 50' away from the heater and copper plumbing run under the house in the crawl space. I just checked again and there is no discernible temperature difference between hot and cold pipes under the sink, without hot water flowing in the pipe.
It is likely, the shut off valve, needs a new gasket at the pipes.
With these cheap valves I often I see leaking from around valve handle/stem, my suspicion is that these valves are not engineered for many lifetime operations. Sometimes the leaking stops when turned hard open or hard closed, so I stopped trying after neither position stopped the drip.
These red gaskets like cardboard can become leaky. Try a tab of retighning, some 1/8 turn. But be ready first, with new gaskets, old ones are not reusable, when tempered they desintegrate.
There are better gaskets. I replace with Aramide, blue/green color, stiffer.
Since I brought my hot water heater back on-line the valve stopped dripping so fast, but it still is leaking slowly down the pipe. The water has probably been running down the pipe and dripping down into my crawl space for years. So no visible water accumulation/damage under sink for now. When I stuffed bath towels down there around the pipes, the towels filled up with water so I stopped doing that. I don't know how long it was leaking. I only noticed the visible drip after I cut off the hot water heater.
I could do a post mortem on the faulty valve but nah...
My best evidence right now is that fully pressurizing the hot water heater again caused the significant reduction in drip rate, but sometimes I am willing to just let life's unsolved mysteries go, when they are of little consequence. Life is short.
JR
Cancel the "cancel culture", do not support mob hatred.