Fixing an Old Faucet with Graphite Packing

[frank1492]

I have a couple of these that provide water to some old soapstone set tubs. I have been told that I need two items to do the job correctly: Some graphite-saturated rope packing and graphite "crown" washers which must have hole diameters to match the faucet stems. I noticed that these washers seem to come in different shapes. I'd appreciate a few comments on how best to go about this. I intend to try to fill most of the cavity around the stem with the rope packing by winding it around the stem. Then at the end, I would place the graphite washer at the top before squeezing down with the nut at the top of the faucet. Any additional tips? How important is the shape of the washer? Thanks for your help. Frank

[Jeff Wisnia]

I don't believe the washer shape is all that important as long as it fits inside the nut.

If the ID of the nut is pretty close to the stem diameter you can probably get away without the washer if you use teflon packing like this:

I've done it that way many times and never had a stem leak.

Jeff

[frank1492]

Thank you Jeff. I think I will try the graphite washer first. As for the packing, is Teflon better than graphite? Maybe I was doing something wrong in the past, but I never found it "squishy" enough. Frank

[Jeff Wisnia]

The stuff I've used probably wasn't "pure" teflon, it WAS sort of squishy. I've also used a similar soft plastic single strand stuff about

1/8" diameter which was black and IIRC had some graphite mixed in it.

Jeff