Water Supply Lines for Dummies - The Freelance Files MMCCLVIII

faucet water lines

The business model of the cluster of niche sites formerly known as eHow.com was deceptively simple: collect questions asked of search engines by random English-speaking (or approximately so) knowledge seekers and send them to a stable of freelancers to answer them. We say deceptively simple because, well, the sad fact is that the freelancers often knew even less about their topics than the people who asked the question in the first place. Take, for instance, today's nominee. Like many a contributor to the mother lode of misinformation, Christopher John was a J-school grad; a career choice that apparently did not lend itself well to answering questions like "How to Replace Kitchen Faucet Water Lines That Don't Reach" (now living at niche site HomeSteady.com).

Given that the original question borders on idiotic – "For Pete's sake, buy some longer supply lines and start over!" – it's truly telling that Christopher simply did not understand the situation. Why else would he opine in his introduction that,

"If the water lines that supply your kitchen faucet are too short, the water flow will be hindered and the lines will likely leak underneath the sink."

Idiot, if the supply lines are too short, there will not be a connection between the shutoff valve and the faucet. We guess that's the ultimate "hindrance"! That's not to mention that the open end of the supply line would cause the ultimate leak!

Given Chris's lack of first-hand knowledge, it's no surprise that this idiot wasted copious page space explaining how to remove the existing lines from both shutoff valve and faucet – at worst, they're only connected at one end, because – duh – they don't reach! He also confused the supply line connections on the faucet with the larger nuts that hold the faucet to the deck. No, Christopher, you won't need a basin wrench to remove the supply lines!

Other than that stupidity, John successfully reworded instructions he found at an eHow competitor (hometips.com). He neglected to mention that some shutoff valves require a compression fitting, but hey: he probably wouldn't know the difference!

The sad fact is that John's "content editor" didn't know where he'd failed his assignment, so the work our Dumbass of the Day pounded out has spent the past decade or so misinforming the public. Feh.

DDIY - PLUMBING