Efiwym, my wife, texted me one morning, stating that the towels under the laundry sink were wet. Apparently, something was leaking. I texted her back, asking if the leak was bad, as if she could see water dripping. She texted me that she could not see anything. I texted her that I would look at it when I got home after work.
After work I immediately went to the laundry sink to check it out. I could feel some water from the hot side of the water lines. Could it just be condensation? We had not turned on our air conditioning yet this year and today was somewhat humid. Or could it be a loose connection of the hot water supply hose for the washer? I got my channel locks from my toolbox and proceeded to crank down on the connector nut. I put a piece of cardboard under the shutoff valves and let Efiwym know, I would check it later to see if it was still leaking.
That evening I noticed that the cardboard was wet under the hot water valve. Well, that is where the leak is from, but from which part. I started to believe it was leaking from the valve stem. I would need to re-pack the valve stem under the nut. This would definitely be a weekend project.
I told Efiwym, I would work on it this weekend, and she responded that we do not need hot water for washing our clothes. Only our daughter, Fets, uses the hot water for her clothes. “Just shut off the hot water,“ Efiwym replied, “and turn it on when she drops off the wash on Thursday,” That was a great idea, and I turned off the hot water valve. Maybe I could delay the project for now.
That Thursday when I opened the hot water valve for Fets’s wash, I put a dry piece of cardboard under the valve. Throughout the wash there was a small amount of water on the cardboard. Efiwym had some Flex Seal® tape from some project of hers. I decided to wrap up the valve stem with several layers of the tape just to seal it up for now. The leak was not too serious yet, but it needed to be addressed.
The following Thursday, I opened the shutoff valve and the leak was worse. I tried using additional Flex Seal® tape, but the leak did not stop. I put a plastic container under the valve to catch the water. I did not have time that weekend to work on this project.
Again, next Thursday, I opened the valve, and the leak was progressively worse. I used a 9-inch by 12-inch pan to catch the water, and I had to empty it twice. I definitely needed to work on it this weekend.
However, I put so much Flex Seal® tape on the packing nut, I could only remove the nut if I removed the tape. I tried to see if it would be easy to remove the tape, and that stuff would not budge. I needed a plan B.