Noisy bathroon sink or pipes?

[calberto22]

Hi all, i just purchased a beautiful 1988 house and moved last week. the master bath has a double sink. today when i got in from work i heard a "hissing" type sound coming out of the pipes under one of the sinks. I didn't see any water leaking, nothing looks wet. i check the sink and water pressure was fine. so i decided to turn off the water by kneeling down under the sink and turning the water lever towards the right on both the hot and cold. so the water turned off completely but hte sounds is still there. it sounds like the water is running kind of, but it's not. anyway, so i decided then to turn the water back on and turned the lever to the left. no water turned on. now, no matter what i do, no water comes out of that sink AND the sound is still there. what do you all think this is? i have hard wood floors and am scared to death of a leak, but i don't see water anywhere. waht would be causing this noise? also, how do i get the water going again? thanks,

Carlos

[Speedy Jim]

The hissing may be a toilet tank filling. The fill rate may be so slow you won't see it. To check, pour veg coloring into tank; look for the color in the bowl water.

As for the sink no-water, when you closed the lever underneath, the rubber washer inside probably got stuck (jammed in the closed position).

To fix this you'll have to shut the water off. There may not be any other valves in the house except the Main shutoff, so you'd better find that. Then drain the piping so water won't spray everywhere. Use a wrench to unscrew the "bonnet" nut on the "lever valve".

If this sounds daunting, better call someone in.

Jim

[Speedy Jim]

I just thought of another possibility on the sink- If there is now no Hot OR Cold water, it's possible that the aerator screen in the spout is clogged with debris. This sometimes happens when a shutoff valve is closed and opened. Take the screen out and check before doing anything more drastic :-)

Jim