There appears to be some sort of blockage in the hot water supply of the break room sink. Turning on the hot water fully only results in a pitiful amount of water that does not quite get up to temperature.
I took a look inside the access panel in the fiber arts room
It looks like the hot water valve is really corroded. Can’t currently get to it without cutting another hole in the drywall
Good eye Evelyn! Way to troubleshoot a problem!
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Fyi, I have some plastic access panels I could bring in if you need to cut an access hole. I have a bunch of them collecting dust.
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@CBennett when do you work next? Or when are you going to be in the shop? I know how to solder and can replace the valve, and repair the drywall cutout, that access panel would be clutch for future repairs too!
I could drop it off tomorrow If someone will be around. I will be in Lansing around 11. I can’t get in after hours.
Also I have a manual pro-press
I stopped by And put the access panel by the side door
First see if the valve is repairable/ rebuild washers or teflon packing so you don’t have to cut it out
I think you’ll find a 6x9 hole to be too small to work through… that valve is far back from the hole you’ll make.
Maybe find where the copper enters the wall cut it off and fish some pex to replace the copper. There shouldn’t be valves in the wall that can’t be accessed. Add new valves where the pex exits the wall.
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Your PEX idea sounds pretty good. I was up in the rafters the other day checking out where the copper comes down and the TWO lines (hot and cold) drop down very near some large ductwork… a little cramped. I would throw out this suggestion: cut a larger hole (large enough to comfortably work on TWO valves if need be in the future) and either repair the old shut off valve or use the existing copper lines to install a new valve. If you newly install a hot water valve near the existing access hole using PEX, you’ll still have the cold water shut off hidden inside the wall to deal with. I also suggest using a rotozip tool to neatly cut out the access hole in the wall, glue a frame around the piece that you cut out and reuse the “panel” to cover the access hole.
Are we 100% sure the valve is the problem? I know it looks bad but sometimes a small leak can cause that kind of ugly. I would hate to go to all that trouble and find out that’s not it. If it’s still an issue when I come in Sunday I will poke around a little and try to make sure we are barking up the right tree .
I think to be 100% sure, we’ll have to access the corroded valve and see; but, I think we can say that we’re 100% sure we have two valves which are inaccessible (which you pointed out in one of your posts) and that we have a badly corroded valve which needs repair or replacement. I’d say the chances are pretty good that the water restriction in the kitchen is being caused by that bad looking valve. All the other water outlets are working as they should except for that one and the only other valve in the kitchen hot water line is the water shut off under the sink… I’ve taken that one apart (new valve) and checked for obstructions. I didn’t find any debris in the line, the shutoff or in the newly installed faucet. When I did the kitchen fixture replacement and the dishwasher repair, I was advised to use a 1/4 turn shutoff under the sink. This valve is itself quite small and possibly the orifices in it somehow restrict the flow, but it shouldn’t be as bad as it is. That said, it would be great to get another opinion.
Yeah that sounds pretty conclusive. Only other way to test it would be to check upstream of that valve and see if you had flow. We’re probably not lucky enough to have that kind of access. And like you say those valves are badly corroded. Just to bad it’s so hard to get to the stupid things.
Replaced valve but it was a different issue. It was the gasket in the tee between the sink and dishwasher when you tightened it down it completely it choked off the water. Looked fine when you took it apart. Anyway seems to be fixed.
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Terrific! Thanks for finding the problem… I’m throwing all my plumbing tools out!
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Ohh no you don’t get off that easy! Better keep those tools.
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