Need *quick* plumbing answers!

I am facing a similar situation, plumbingly speaking.
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I dunno. I looked at those and the O ring didn’t inspire confidence.

I prefer soldered joints for most items but I’ve had such good luck with copper-on-copper ferrule fittings that I wouldn’t hesitate to use one. I just replaced all the water pipes from my basement to the first floor kitchen. I used a combination of fittings and I had a number of the soldered ball valves leak briefly at the stem. the leaks stopped when the valve cooled. Didn’t give me any warm and fuzzies against future leaks.

I have never seen a copper-on-copper fitting leak once it’s tightened down.

Do not ask me WHY I did not just take pictures of the durned pieces/parts for you!

This is the existing stop valve with what looks to be a soldered on water line.

This is what I think is called the valve stem- see how the gasket thingie isn’t as long as the opening is deep? We just get a major leak when we try to tighten it all down this way, and the only thing I can imagine is that there’s all kinds of water pressure inside that opening where the gasket is not fitting, and blammo. (And don’t even mention what happens when the water line gets moved- then there’s a spray!!)

What I would really love is to find a way to get the existing line attached just so we can make do until we can get the bathroom redone, at which point someone can gladly steam-solder-compress-cut away!

Suggestions?

that doesn’t look like the right seal. I would try to find a compression/cone washer that fits snugly over the tube end. As you tighten the nut it compresses the washer and seals. Something like This.

Bring the end that fits into the faucet line and find the size that fits snuggly. I’ve used this method many times on damaged flared tubing ends (I just cut off the flared end and slip the cone washer on).

The washer should be as pliable as possible. You don’t want a hard rubber one that won’t compress.

I have some cone shaped ones that came in an assortment pack with the one I linked to above, but only the tip of the cone fits into the valve stem opening- it’s not like it’s fitting well up in there. I just presumed that for this reason, it wasn’t the right gasket. And it is pliable. I’ll take a pic of it & the valve stem opening & post it tonight.

Are you a plumber?

It’s only after I took this picture that I realized this wouldn’t even fit snugly around the water line hose anyway- it’s too big. So do I just need something that looks like this but that fits snugly around the hose?

If I’m interpreting the photos correctly, your flexible supply riser tube is cut at the end that is supposed to fit into the fitting at the faucet end, and at the other end is soldered (??!!) onto the stop, with either some duct tape or tin or something for additional strength.

The kind of supply tube you need to fit into that faucet fitting has a cone on one end. A nut fits over the (plastic or copper) cone and compresses it into the faucet supply tube. I can’t find exactly the right picture, but it looks something like this: http://www.hardwareandtools.com/invt/1138205 Any hardware store guy can show you what they are.

Then end of the supply tube riser that fits into the stop can have a variety of fittings which depend on the stop; the one in the picture I linked has a small compression ring (often plastic if the whole riser is plastic) but there could be other types as well–it just has to match the stop. Although my photo doesn’t show it, obviously there are nuts at each end that go on before you put the compression ring on.

I don’t think your repair can be made without replacing the stops and risers with the proper parts, and it looks to me like one of the supply lines is so close to the wall or cabinet that it will be very tricky.

If you don’t have experience sweating copper, the likeliest successful home repair is going to be cutting the stops off and using new compression fittings for new stops. This is very inexpensive–a few dollars–but if you can’t get the new stops on all the water in your house will be off. The other unfortunate thing I see is that the clearance is so tight it will be hard to use a copper tube cutter (you can get pretty tiny ones made for close spaces) and when you are cutting copper it’s best to use a cutter and not a hacksaw.

I have been very unhelpful so I’ll stop now…

No. Just someone who has rehab’d a lot of houses over the years. I was raised around tradesmen and engineers and over time have learned what works and what doesn’t. Those old-school plumbers new a thing or two.

I just replaced a bathroom for a plumber. We both worked on the supply lines. It was kinda funny to see one of his joints leak but in all honesty he did most of the soldering and it was a tough compound joint. I wasn’t going to tell him his business but I saw it coming. He pulled solder from one joint to the other.

I didn’t look close enough at this picture. You’re missing the end piece on the flexible tubing. There’s nothing for a cone washer to grab onto. You COULD cobble some horrible thing together as a temporary fix but you would be wasting more time than if you did it right and save neither time or money.

Also, your picture of the valve doesn’t show a lot of line coming out of the wall so you would be best served by sweating off the fitting to preserve what you have left. If you sweat it off you might as well solder another one in it’s place. It’s not a good idea to use a compression fitting over old solder (pipe has lost it’s smooth surface). Make sure you or the plumber protects the plastic drain line next to it.