With a little knowledge on doing some plumbing work will definitely help you in fixing minor leaking to your faucet without the need of hiring a professional plumber. Dripping water faucets will cost you more on your monthly water bills, for example, even a small leak can waste up to 3-gallons of water each day if you do not fix it immediately and it will also permanently create water spots or stain on your sink or bathroom floor. Although nowadays, there are many types of faucets in the market such as mixing faucets or stem faucets that comes with different design but the basic parts are still the same. Below are some of the steps that you can do in order to fix your leaking faucet.
What you need:
- Instructions for faucet
- Stopper for faucet drain
- Philips-head screwdriver (X-shaped)
- Flat-head screwdriver
- Slip-joint pliers (wrap the jaws in cloth or tape to prevent any wear and tear on the faucet parts)
- Allen wrench
- Seat wrench
- Heat-proof plumber\’s grease
- Utility knife
- Rags or towels
- Faucet repair kit (for compression or ball-types)
- Replacement cartridge (for cartridge or disc type)
- Washers that comes with several different sizes.
Method:
- First of all, you have to check the faucet whether there are any loose nuts around the faucet. If you notice that there are water leaking either around the packing nut area or at the base of the handle, there might be a loose connection where you can simply tighten up the loose nuts by using an adjustable wrench, plus also tighten up the nut located below the faucet\’s handle. Other than that, it might be because of the leaking was caused by poor washers which are worn-out, not in proper condition due to wrongly input or installation using faucets which are too small.
- The next step to do is to turn off the main water (faucet valves) supply to the sink and bathroom. Then, turn it counter-clockwise to loosen up the packing nut located below or inside the faucets individual handles, while a decorative bathroom faucet handle, you need to remove the cover of the decorator. In order to pull out the entire valve, you need to use the faucet handle by twisting and also turning it until you can pulls it free.
- Then, you need to locate the old washer, normally at the bottom of the valve unit before removing the screw that holds the old washer. The old washer can be used as a size guide enabling you to replace the old with the one that comes with an equal size. Always remember to also replace the old screws with a new one.
- After that, you need to place the valve unit into the faucet and then turn the handle to proper position before you start to do the tightening process.
- Next, starts tighten its packing nut and now you can turn the water back on as usual, plus you need to test if there are any leaks to your newly installed faucet.
- If the faucet continues to leak, it is possible the problem was caused by the washer and you should replace the old washer using a one of a different size.
- If you want to prevent any damage to the soft metal parts of your faucet, you can wrap the jaws of your pliers or wrench by using a masking tape or duck tape. Always remember to close the drain before starting to repair any faucet so that there will be no parts that can slip down into the drain.
- When removing certain items, make sure that you know how to re-assemble them when you have finished. Then, lubricate threads using a plumber\’s grease for increasing its sea level.
- For washers that are located on a hot controlling temperature handles, it can wear out even twice as fast as those which are controlled using a cold water.
Additional Reading:
http://www.greeniacs.com/GreeniacsGuides/Fix-Your-Leaky-Faucet.html
http://www.essortment.com/all/repairfaucetpl_remn.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Leaky-Faucet
http://ezinearticles.com/?Faucet-Repair-Saves-Water-and-Saves-Money—Fix-Your-Leaking-Faucets-and-Stop-Wasting-Money-Today!&id=2489955
http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/plumbing/how-to-do-faucet-repairs.htm
Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennyromney/1174415892/
