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That $12 water shutoff valve I almost ignored saved my kitchen floor

Last Saturday I was swapping out a leaky faucet in my bathroom, nothing major. My neighbor Bill walked over and said 'don't forget the shutoff valve under the sink, those things fail at the worst times.' I rolled my eyes but checked it anyway, and sure enough it was dripping a little. Replaced it with a brass one from Ace Hardware for $12, and now I'm wondering how many other cheap parts I've been skipping that could save me a flood. Anyone else had a tiny fix that felt pointless but turned out to be huge?
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2 Comments
the_dylan
the_dylan21d ago
Man oh man I gotta disagree hard on this one. Half the time I replace a part that's "about to fail" and the new one breaks in a month while the old one would've been fine for years. I've got a pile of perfectly good valves and fittings in my garage that I swapped out just to be safe and nothing ever happened.
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rowan2
rowan221d ago
Man oh man, you're speaking my language. I've got a whole shelf of "perfectly good" belts and hoses I yanked off just because they were a certain age, and half of them looked better than the new replacements. What's the point of being proactive if the new stuff is just gonna let you down faster than the old junk ever did?
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