Which Way Should Hot & Cold Water Faucets Turn In A Bath Tub?
We had a scalding incident in our Apartment with a Hot Water Faucet in the tub with our 20 month infant. He usually likes to play with the water while its flowing into a small mug. Luckily we acted immediately and contained the effects. Background, The Hot water faucet was leaking, so we complained to the apartment mgmt and the maintenance guy replaced the valve/stem. Thats when the problem started.
The Hot Water Faucet now has to turn CLOCKWISE to OPEN and ANTICLOCKWISE to Close.
All these years the Hot water Faucet worked the other way until this maintenance guy touched it. Now on complaining to the Apt management, and their senior staff, the story they give is that the Hot Water Faucet is supposed to turn Clockwise to Open as designed by the manufacturer.
The cold water faucet works the opposite way or correct way as one would expect. ANTICLOCKWISE to Open and CLOCKWISE to Close.
Could somebody let us know which way is correct. The irritating this is the maintenance guy opened the whole stem and took it to the management to tell them that stem was “new” and working (sic because he had fixed 2 weeks back the leak) and management agreed to his observations and this guy comes and fixes it the same way it was and does not even turn on the Hot water to the apartment he had shut off. had to make another phone call to have him come and fix after some time.
Faucet Photoshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/15340820@N0…
Tagged with: Bath • Cold • Faucets • Should • Turn • Water • Which
Filed under: Home Repair
Actually, my sink and bath faucets both work like that. The cold turns clockwise to open and the hot is counterclockwise to open. So, if you are turning them on together, you turn both hands inward, and outward to turn them both off. Most two-faucet taps(as opposed to a mixer tap), work that way (in the US, at least) so bath faucets are usually designed the same way. I think the repair guy had it right, and your original faucet was actually installed wrong.
It will feel strange at first, but you will get used to it.
Counter-clockwise is on, clockwise is off. It would be very simple to fix the one that is opposite. When the stem was replaced, it was turned 180 degrees the wrong way. It needs to be removed, turned either direction 180 degrees and put back. Anyone who was able to put in the new stem is capable of taking it out and putting it back correctly. The mistake was easy to make, but he should have tested it before he left.
I have in my home two bathrooms and both tub and shower faucets, HOT and COLD turn “on” counterclockwise and turn “off” clockwise.
On and Off.lol.
You don’t mention how old this fixture is, but it must be comparatively new if it’s possible to install a stem incorrectly. I’ve been plumbing for 35 years and have never seen a double handled tub/shower fixture that had the hot and cold side both turn on/off the same way. The HOT side should turn on in a clockwise manner and OFF in a counter-clockwise direction. The cold works opposite. As Ro-Bot said, turning both together, hands twist toward the center on top for on, towards the outside for off. If yours was different originally then it was repaired incorrectly at some point in the past.
I’m sorry about your baby.
The maintenance guy didn’t do anything wrong.
If you go to Home Depot, you will find that many shower valves have hot and cold stems. They turn opposite of each other. The reason for this is if you were to try to adjust the water temp and had soap in your eyes, turning either valve would give the same result, either making the water hotter or colder. You couldn’t go wrong even if you couldn’t see which valve you turned. The stem that was in there before was the wrong one, and he put in the right one.