How do I switch the hot and cold water lines under the kitchen sink?
I recently bought a home that is 10 years old and which the prior owners did no maintenance on, and am having to repair many things myself because 1. I am on disability income, so I don’t have much money to pay repair people (unless I don’t eat for a week or two); 2. I have no friends to help me since they all abandoned me when I became disabled; and 3. My family members won’t help me because they are too busy working, except for my elderly mother who has M.S. who I try to help when she is ill and needs it and who helps me when I am extremely ill and need help.
I used to be able to make lots of repairs myself, so I have the knowledge and skill but the weakness and pain from my conditions makes it extremely difficult if not impossible to do things I used to do myself. I fear spending money on a handyman (at $50 to $75 an hour for unlicensed and licensed) because everything I own at this point, including my car, furniture, etc., must last forever since disability income doesn’t go up as though I were working a job and might get a raise every two or five years.
Enough of that though, because I don’t want to feel sorry for myself, so my question is this: There are flexible copper lines running under my kitchen sink with shut-off valves to each, but the hot and cold water lines are reversed. I thought by using a pair of pliers (very painful) to remove a bolt on each copper line that that I could then just take off the black O-ring/washer and threading and just swap them so the cold would come out where it should and the hot would come out where it should, but I am either not strong enough to take off the threading or I need to cut the pipe. Or could I swap them at the valve by removing the valve switches and then swapping the lines there?
I have an old 1973 “Reader’s Digest everything you need to DIY home repair book” because my late father was a contractor/builder, and I learned how to frame a house, install new locks, lay tile and hardwood flooring, carpeting, install insulation, repair roofs, check for termite infestation, install windows, install blinds, draperies, do landscaping, install a sprinkler system, etc., and actually did lots and lots of that while growing up after school and as I got older after work, even if I worked 12 to 14 to 18-hour days at a job (perhaps that’s what made me sick), but I always had difficulty with plumbing, don’t know why, since it’s supposed to be so simple.
Thanks in advance for your help and advice.
It should actually be quite simple.
Go under the sink where the two valves are. Just on top of the 2 valves where the hoses connect are compression adapters. Turn off the water at the valves. Using TWO wrenches, so the valve doesn’t move, loosen the compression nuts attached to the flex lines. You will get a little water, that’s OK. then swap the 2 lines and re tighten. Turn the valves back on and look for any leaks. If they are stainless braided lines you should have no problems.
P.S. I here you about the disability thing. I have been out of work for a year and still waiting an answer.
