forces travel: bathroom faucet suddenly stops

Saturday, February 2, 2013

bathroom faucet suddenly stops - DIY Home Improvement ...

Yesterday, 08:45 PM

Member

Join Date: Apr 2011

Location: orange county, ny

Posts: 96

Hi all, as the title says. tonight while my son was using the faucet in the downstairs bathroom, it suddenly stopped working. I was able to replicate it myself. when the hot water faucet is left on for a few secs. it suddenly makes a banging noise and then the water stops flowing. this only affects the hot water side. I checked the other faucets in the houe and everything else is working fine. I took the stem out and turned on the water and there was no issues. the stem looked fine with no deposits. when I increased the water flow via the stop valve underneath the sink it seems to have corrected the problem. what would cause this problem? never had a problem until tonight. thanks

Yesterday, 09:06 PM

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Join Date: Jan 2010

Posts: 1,327

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Loose washer or almost never a loose valve seat. The problem should also stop at very low flow rates.
The banging is "water hammer" caused by liquids being virtually incompressible and the pipes they're in being virtually 'unstretchable.' No water hammer with garden hoses, they give.

Last edited by Wuzzat?; Yesterday at 09:13 PM.

Today, 10:08 AM

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Location: San Diego

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Today, 12:17 PM

Member

Join Date: Apr 2011

Location: orange county, ny

Posts: 96

thanks all for your responses. but on the stem there wasn't any washer. it's plastic and when you turn the stem there's two triangular openings on the bottom that opens and closes.