Faucet wont turn on everytime

[Joeped281]

I just bought this house. Built in 1977.
When i go to turn the water on at the sink sometimes it comes on, sometimes it does not come at all or its just a slow drip. I went to turn the water off below the sink but neither one of the knobs will turn the water off. Im weak in the plumbing area and need help. Should i turn the water off at the street and replace the whole thing or what?

 

[jeffmattero76]

There is usually a shutoff valve where the water line enters the house from the street. You can turn that off to shut off the water. I would then open the lowest faucet in the house (basement utility tub), and open the faucets upstairs to drain the water out of the pipes. You can then change the shutoffs under the sink, as well as take apart the faucet to see what is going on. It sounds like you have debris in the line.

 

[Geofd]

if your not getting water when using hot or cold check your aerator

 

[Joeped281]

I took the end peices of the goose neck of the faucet off already and that did not help. So i went to turn the water off at the street so i could look at everything but the water does not turn off at the street either. The valve only turns 90 degrees and neither way turns the water off. So i went back to the valves at the sink and messed with them and figured out that if i turned really hard on them they would slow the water but they would not stop the water and im afraid to turn to hard on them. It looks like someones already had a wrench on them trying to get them to stop. I bought a new faucet. Im thinking about just getting wet and replacing it as fast as possible to see if that helps. But a new concern is that now if something happens down the road i cant turn off any water anywhere. Any ideas?

 

[jeffmattero76]

Two ideas.

1 - wait until tomorrow and call the water company. They will come out and turn off the water. Just fyi, the street valves are typically off when the handle is perpendicular to the pipe.

2 - turn off the street valve as much as you can, cut the pipes under the sink, and install a shark bite valve. Make sure the valve is in the off position. It's going to be a mess, unless you can get the water turned off, but this would be the quickest way I know to work on it.

 

[Geofd]

unless you can shut off the water at your meter or under your sink I would not attempt changing the faucet on the fly.....when you are able to stop flow change the stops under the sink disconnect the supplies from the faucet turn on each supply...seperatly to see if you have flow or change the supplies also

 

[Joeped281]

Ok so i went back to the street and turned it a little further. I had to make a little t handle wrench from a pipe and crank on it with a big pipe wrench to get the last two degrees. It didnt shut the water off completly but i went inside and shut it off at the sink as hard as i could then i turned all the showers on to give the little water somewhere else to go. Still got a mess and all but i changed out the faucet and all is good now. Thanks yall. My wife thanks ya to.

 

[Diehard]

Your things to do list...
1. Replace street valve.
2. Replace the valves below the sink.

 

[Joeped281]

Your version of my to-do list is much shorter than my wifes version