# Bad, Bad, Bad ideas that should be eliminated **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 25, 2024, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-bad-ideas-that-should-be-eliminated/1002075 "2024-05-25T22:15:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-bad-ideas-that-should-be-eliminated/1002075/1 "2024-05-25T22:15:48Z")
(With credit to @Beckdawrek for the title). I had to do some work on the kitchen sink faucet. But first, I needed to shut the water off. The shutoffs were 1970’s-vintage washer-and-seat valves, and I had to really crank the hot down to get it to stop dripping. When I opened it up again, I had very little flow on the hot side, and I knew that was probably because the washer had disintegrated. I tried to shut it off again, and couldn’t. So, I went to the hardware store and bought a pair of 1/4-turn compression shutoffs. After fighting with the compression nuts on both the hot and the cold, I was able to replace them both. I managed to break off one of the outlets on the hot side, and looky where the washer was: [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/pTSUKvt.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/pTSUKvt) Actually, that was only _most_ of the washer - the rest was in the faucet somewhere, but I was able to clear the pieces by blowing compressed air backwards through it. Having a shut-off that doesn’t is such a terrible idea. I don’t know why these exact same valves are still being sold - they are just a bad, bad, bad idea, and should be banned! ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-bad-ideas-that-should-be-eliminated/1002075/2 "2024-05-25T22:18:48Z")
New name: beowrek ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-bad-ideas-that-should-be-eliminated/1002075/3 "2024-05-25T22:31:41Z")
Sweet! (It’s amazing the crap that’s sold as plumbing parts. I have an old brass faucet that is on a hose connection in the garage. It’s brass(got tired of breaking the plastic ones) it’s metal. It now has only a stem. The ears broke off. I looked the other day and my son has a vice grip pliers on it. Yep. That works.) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-bad-bad-ideas-that-should-be-eliminated/1002075/4 "2024-05-25T22:34:09Z")
I like _wulffdawrek_