How to Install a Shutoff Valve for a Kitchen Faucet

It is convenient to be able to turn the water off under your kitchen sink if the faucet is in need of repairs or replacement. This is only possible if there is a shut-off valve installed on the hot and cold water lines feeding the kitchen faucet. Adding shut-off valves to the supply lines sounds more intimidating than it really is.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 2 crescent wrenches Water supply lines Teflon tape Shut-off valves Emery cloth

1. Turn the main water supply valve to the whole house or building off and turn a water faucet on in another room to relieve pressure on the water system.

2. Wrap Teflon tape around the supply connection (the connection that the supply line for the hot and cold water for the faucet will be hooked up to) of the shut-off valve that will be installed under the kitchen sink. Look at the photo of the two valves above. The supply connection is the small hook-up pointing forward on the top valve and the small hook-up pointing upward on the bottom valve.

3. Clean the hot and the cold copper supply lines coming out of the wall under the sink with a piece of emery cloth to remove any dirt and debris. Cleaning the copper pipes will help the connection between the copper pipe and the shut-off valve become stronger and minimize the possibility of leaks.

4. 
   This is what is called a compression fitting.

   Realize a leak-free connection between the copper pipe and the shut-off valve is made possible by what is called a compression fitting. A compression fitting is composed of a threaded nut, a compression ring and the shut-off valve itself. Slide one nut onto each copper pipe with the threading toward the ends of the copper pipes, followed by one compression ring for each pipe.

5. Slide the valves onto the ends of the pipes and slide the compression rings and nuts toward the valves. Tighten the nuts into the valves with a pair of crescent wrenches. Tightening the nuts onto the valves smashes the compression rings onto the copper pipe creating a water-tight seal. Be sure the valves are in the "off" position so all of the water pressure does not hit the faucet all at once.

6. Thread the hot and cold water supply lines that feed the faucet onto the supply connection of each valve and tighten with a crescent wrench.

7. Turn the main water supply to the house or building back on. Then turn the valves to the kitchen faucet to the "on" position.