How To Fix A Leaky Kitchen Faucet Under The Sink – If the sound of a dripping faucet keeps you up at night and the thought of how much water you’re wasting worries you, you can relax. Fixing a leaky faucet is quick and cheap; Even the most amateur DIYer can handle this task.
The most common sources of faucet leaks—a worn washer or gasket, a loose O-ring, valve seat corrosion—can be easily identified and repaired with most faucet repair kits. Damaged or damaged faucet parts are the main cause of leaks in bath, shower and kitchen faucets, especially if you have an older one at home.
How To Fix A Leaky Kitchen Faucet Under The Sink
The type of faucet in your kitchen or bathroom may be single or dual handle, may have a modern pull-out wand design, or may be a swivel ball faucet on your shower or tub. Before you start fixing a dripping faucet, your first step is to turn off the water supply.
How To Fix A Leaky Faucet: Guides For Every Design And Style
Tip: put a stopper in the sink or cover the sink opening with a towel to prevent dishes from falling into the drain.
The faucet cartridge or faucet stem is found on most styles of two-handle kitchen and bath faucets. This is the part that regulates the flow of hot and cold water.
Now that you have inspected the cartridge or stem and identified it as the source of your leaking kitchen faucet or dripping bathroom faucet, you will need to replace it.
Cartridges and stems come in many shapes and sizes, and the easiest way to find the right replacement part is to know the faucet manufacturer’s name and faucet model number. If you’re not sure, take the old cartridge or rod you’re replacing to a shop so you can use a reference guide to match it to the exact cartridge you need.
Faucet Repair Hi Res Stock Photography And Images
After you have installed the new cartridge or stem, go back to the previous steps and reattach the faucet handle. Turn your water line back on, remove any debris or towels, and clean your sink.
Run hot and cold water through the faucet for a few minutes to make sure your fan isn’t clogged. The fan is the part that screws into the end of the faucet mouth. Can be easily removed and cleaned if build-up interferes with continuous water flow.
When you know the types of parts that make up your faucet hardware, you’ll know how to classify your faucet. Fixing a leaky faucet takes some of your time and effort, but the right tools are needed for a plumbing repair or essential faucet replacement. Download the Home Depot mobile app to purchase the supplies you need to fix your leaky faucet at home. This article was written by Dave Jones and editor Eric McClure. Dave Jones is a professional plumber and Midwest Regional Vice President at Roto-Rooter Plumbing and Water Purification. In 1992, at the age of 18, Jones joined Roto-Rooter as a pipe maintenance technician. Since then, he has risen through the ranks to positions of increasing authority. Dave served as General Manager of Roto-Rooter locations in Charlotte, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia before being promoted to Regional Contracting Manager and then Regional Vice President. Dave holds master plumber licenses in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.
There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
Two Handle Kitchen Faucet In Chrome 21987lf
This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the correctness of all the facts cited and confirming the authority of its sources.
If you have a dripping faucet or a handle that spits water every time you turn it, you may be tempted to call a plumber. What if you could solve the problem yourself and save money? It’s easy to fix a leaky faucet yourself. We’ll help you figure out what type of faucet you have and then guide you through the repair step by step, so read on to find out more.
Turn off the water in the sink and put a rag in the drain. Disassemble the handles by finding a small screw slot and releasing the clamp. If there is no slot, remove the handle manually. Depending on the sink style, you will need to replace the rubber O-ring inside the valve or replace the entire assembly.
Thanks for reading our article! If you want to learn more about faucet repair, check out our in-depth interview with Dave Jones.
The Ultimate Guide To Kitchen Faucets: 8 Things To Consider Before Buying
This article was co-written by Dave Jones and editor Eric McClure. Dave Jones is a professional plumber and Midwest Regional Vice President at Roto-Rooter Plumbing and Water Purification. In 1992, at the age of 18, Jones joined Roto-Rooter as a pipe maintenance technician. Since then, he has risen through the ranks to positions of increasing authority. Dave served as General Manager of Roto-Rooter locations in Charlotte, North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia before being promoted to Regional Contracting Manager and then Regional Vice President. Dave holds master plumber licenses in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. This article has been viewed 2,360,138 times.
To fix a leaky faucet, first shut off the water to your faucet by turning the valve under the sink. If there is no valve, turn off the water supply to your entire home. Open the faucet to empty the water from the pipes and close the drain so that nothing falls out while working. If there is a set screw behind the faucet handle, use an Allen wrench to remove it, then remove the handle. Alternatively, if there is a top screw cover on the handle, remove it with a flathead screwdriver, then loosen the screw underneath and remove the handle. With the handle removed, use a wrench to loosen and remove the nut from the handle assembly. Pull the handle cartridge up and out of the sink. Use a rag to wipe off any loose parts and the area around the handle. If the O-ring looks old or damaged, replace it. Obtain a compatible replacement for the old cartridge, then reinsert the new cartridge into the sink. Now tighten the nut in place with the wrench and reattach the handle. Finally, turn the water back on and check that your faucet is no longer leaking. If you need to learn how to repair a compression faucet or cartridge, read on! Our Moen high arc kitchen faucet started leaking around the base of the high spout. We’ve had the Moen Monticello 7700 series single handle faucet for 8 years and it still looks great, it just developed a leak around the base of the spout. Looking at the instruction manual for the Moen Monticello 7700 series faucet, this kitchen faucet has a lifetime home owners warranty and there is an o-ring (#25 on the parts diagram) that is most likely the source of the leak. Use the exploded view on page 2 of the manual to get the part numbers in the rest of the article.
The high arc faucet will leak around the base for several hours after it is turned off. It was mouthwatering after the faucet was turned off.
I called the 800 number at 1-800-289-6636 and asked for an O-ring kit for the faucet (I think ours is a model 7730). They shipped it for free in about 10 days. It included the leaky O-ring, the plastic ring that holds the faucet in place, and a pack of silicone grease to lubricate it during reassembly.
How To Fix A Leaky Faucet
To avoid hitting or scratching the faucet when I took it apart, I used a pair of strap wrenches that I bought at Menards ($3 a pair). They worked very well because the calcium build-up made the faucet threads very tight. Using the strap wrenches I was able to grip the chrome without scratching the chrome surface. When I first removed the nut, I had to use the small and large wrench to loosen the spigot nut (#26) without turning the spigot bridge ring (#30).
The rest of the faucet repair process is captured on video (below). It literally took me about 5 minutes from the time I got the free replacement parts from Moen to fix the leaky faucet.
I hope this helps you fix your leaky high arch kitchen faucet with minimal effort and cost. After replacing the o-ring and plastic ring, the faucet was pretty much like new.
On this same Moen faucet, I had to replace the cartridge. It started to leak a little and the single handle was hard to move. If you have a similar problem, check out my video on replacing the Moen 1225 cartridge found in the main handle of this faucet. It’s also quite simple to do yourself.
How Do I Stop My Kitchen Faucet From Leaking?
Is the Moen single handle kitchen faucet hard to use or leaking around the handle? If so, the 1225 cartridge can easily be oiled or replaced with a faucet. If you are the original owner of the faucet, Moen guarantees it will be leak free for life. I called the 800 number at 1-800-289-6636 and requested a replacement cartridge kit for the faucet.