[gtorich]

My mothers downstairs sink is leaking, tried replacing just the cold side stem, seemed ok, but my mother said its still leaking, so I bought the whole facet...……..by looking at the pics does this seems doable or do I need to get a plummer over there.

Thanks for any help

Rich

[tigergto]

Is it leaking from the valve or spout? Either way it’s and easy fix. Replace rubber washer and o ring at both valves. Unlike modern faucets,the old ones have rubber parts that eventually wear out.

[Sirrotica]

FWIW, if it were me I'd tackle it, but when you start disturbing galvanized plumbing it can be a total nightmare, especially if it's really old. It really depends upon how badly the interior of the pipes are corroded, which has to do with mineral content of the water and the age of the original plumbing.

It looks like the ends of the pipes have unions on the and if you are able to get the nuts loose you should be able to replace the entire faucet by just loosening the hot and cold pipe unions, and screwing them back on to the new faucet. The thing you need to do is to keep from twisting, or bending the rest of the pipes that rise upwards by using a pipe wrench as a backup when you're loosening the nuts at the union. Flexing old pipes can cause leaks upstream from where you're working on old galvanized plumbing.

I never call anyone to fix stuff, but that's the way I was brought up by my father. He was a mechanic all his life, as I was also. I also worked as a plant maintenance mechanic for a few years so I have automotive background as well as general building maintenance experience.

Tools are another consideration, and I have accumulated plenty of them over 50 plus years including torches, pipe wrenches and large crescent wrenches, which can be a big help when working on plumbing projects.

Jack Pumphrey, known in the race section as "Lil Jack" owns a plumbing company, you could always PM him, and ask his opinion too.

[gtorich]

Hey guys, thanks for the tips, the pipes are pretty old, so hoping I don't screw it up worse than it is.

Rich

[Jeff Hamlin]

Just be sure to firmly hold the short nipples (RED) above the faucet with a pipe wrench.
Then with an adjustable or channel lock pliers loosen the unions(GREEN).
It should be a breeze if you bought an exact replacement.

[sdbob]

You could try just replacing o ring after removing handle and unscrewing stem. Sometimes stem may be very tight. Then check oring, and seat it may need a little dressing up for oring to seat properly. You can buy necessary tools for seat at hardware store. What's the worst that can happen,another leak,upstream? You will learn next time you'll feel more confident. If you've worked on your cars you can do this.

[West Coast GTO]

The unions are brass, the replacement faucet should be brass( if it is the exact same faucet) so just take care not to twist the galvanized piping when you loosen and remove and replace!

[gtorich]

Originally Posted by Jeff Hamlin

Just be sure to firmly hold the short nipples (RED) above the faucet with a pipe wrench.
Then with an adjustable or channel lock pliers loosen the unions(GREEN).
It should be a breeze if you bought an exact replacement.

Jeff, that's what I did, everything looks good, knock on wood. No drips

Thanks again guys

Rich