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My bathroom sink started leaking water, so I wanted to replace the hoses connected to it (red arrows in picture). Before removing the hoses, I wanted to turn off the water, but both regulators (circled in green), for the hot and cold water, are not moving at all. I've tried turning left and right, to no avail.

If I understand correctly, these should be able to turn in order to control the water pressure. What can I do in a case when they seem to be stuck? Is there a tool I can use or something I'm missing to get them to turn?

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  • how would replacing hoses fix a leaking tap?
    – jsotola
    Commented Nov 13, 2022 at 0:12
  • The tap is not leaking, the hoses are.
    – GTS Joe
    Commented Nov 13, 2022 at 0:48
  • Those are not 'regulators' and they don't control pressure. They're just simple valves.
    – brhans
    Commented Nov 13, 2022 at 3:58

2 Answers 2

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Crescent wrench on the valve stem nut (so you don't spin the valve or the stem out of the valve), not just on the valve body somewhere.

Then channel locks on the handle. Be careful because you can easily crush the handle.

If it wont move, loosening that nut will also make it easier to turn, but avoid messing with that if you don't have to. If afterwards it leaks, then you tighten the valve stem nut to the valve body.

But hopefully it all goes horribly wrong and you replace the valves with 1/4 turn valves and then no one ever has this problem again.

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  • To loosen that nut you grab the valve body with a wrench (so that you don't spin the compression fitting on the pipe lose or start to unthread it) and turn the nut with another wrench.
    – Mazura
    Commented Nov 12, 2022 at 22:52
  • I like your idea of replacing the valves with better 1/4 turn valves, but I'm not familiar with the process. Could you point me to a YouTube video with a similar setup? I'm willing to try it if I see a good walkthrough.
    – GTS Joe
    Commented Nov 13, 2022 at 1:12
  • I will try and find something for you tomorrow. The hard question is how the angle stop attaches to the supply piping. (Second hardest is the size of the hose attachment.) I'd say it's totally diy friendly, with the proviso that plumbing often comes out to bite you at the worst possible moment.
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Nov 13, 2022 at 1:23
  • Pretty decent, mercifully brief video for valves that are compression and soldered on. youtube.com/watch?v=TMp4DqkJazY If you have ones that are threaded onto a nipple coming out of the wall, I'd unscrew the entire valve and take it with me to the plumbing store.
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Nov 13, 2022 at 23:15
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Some of the advice here is good, but misses the fundamental point that these angle stops are junk and need to be replaced.

Shut off the water. Go buy new ones. Install new ones. Job done.

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    "But hopefully it all goes horribly wrong and you replace the valves with 1/4 turn valves"? The only thing I missed was plumbing is a can of worms. But Ruskes already said that and people missed that too : "Know where your main water shut off is for this project."
    – Mazura
    Commented Nov 12, 2022 at 22:31
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    Also, this belongs as a comment.
    – Mazura
    Commented Nov 12, 2022 at 22:35
  • @Mazura -- not sure what "this belongs" refers to... I appreciate that my answer doesn't respond to the direct request in the OP's question, but the OP is asking the wrong question. (I'm not a plumber, but a tradesman that ends up under sinks way too often, and in my experience, a stuck shutoff will leak most of the time after you muscle it closed.)
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Nov 12, 2022 at 22:42
  • @AloysiusDefenestrate, you know your answer. Correct indeed. You saved me from having to type the same answer.
    – Meta_Alchemy
    Commented Nov 13, 2022 at 0:11
  • I'm interested in replacing them with new 1/4 turn valves, but I'm no handyman. Could you point me to a YouTube tutorial with a similar setup? If it looks easy enough, I'm willing to try it.
    – GTS Joe
    Commented Nov 13, 2022 at 1:09

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