Leaking kitchen faucet

My kitchen faucet has a slow leak.

I turned off the shutoff valve for the hot water and the leak stopped.

Is there a gasket under the hot water knob that I can replace to stop the leak ?

Thanks, Andy

Reply to
Andy
Loading thread data ...

Andy:

Yes there is, but it's called a "cartridge", not a "gasket". If you don't have much experience with plumbing, it's probably better that you simply replace the whole cartridge under the hot water knob rather than take the cartridge apart to fix the leaking part in it.

Most hardware stores or home centers will sell replacement cartridges for common faucets, so what you should do is just buy a replacement, and keep the old cartridge so that you can rebuild it with new wearing parts so that you have a replacement cartridge you can use it if the faucet ever starts to leak again. The new cartridge will typically have instructions on how to replace it, but if it doesn't, then anyone in the plumbing department of the store should have a good idea of how to replace it.

Before you do that, however, what you should do is:

  1. get a 3 or 4 foot piece of 1/8 inch ID vinyl tubing at any home center

  1. unscrew the aerator at the end of the faucet spout (it turns counter clockwise to remove it, just like a light bulb)

  2. use the vinyl tubing to suck or siphon the water out of the faucet spout.

NOW, shut the water off to the hot side of the faucet, remove the hot knob and replace the hot cartridge.

If you don't drain the water out of the faucet spout first, then when you remove the hot cartridge, the water still in the spout will spill out into the faucet body, and much of that water may end up spilling into the holes drilled into the counter top to install the faucet. If it's a plastic laminate counter top, that water could get absorbed by the particle board the counter top is made of and cause the particle board there to swell up and get very weak. By removing the water from the spout before taking either cartridge out, you ensure that doesn't happen.

I do that as standard practice before I do any work on kitchen faucets because of the possibility of the leaked water damaging the counter top particle board in the area of the faucet. It's just good plumbing practice that no plumber ever bothers with doing unless he's working in his own house.

When you replace the aerator on the end of the faucet spout, you may find that it leaks or sprays water out in a different direction when you run the water. That's usually because you need a new gasket in the aerator, but most places don't sell the gasket alone. You have to buy a new aerator, but they typically only cost $1 or $2. Also, most aerators are now a standard male or female thread so if you can't find an exact replacement, any generic aerator costing $1 or $2 should fit.

Reply to
nestork

Andy,

Older faucets may use "faucet washers", which do wear out and cause leaks. The washer is a rubber thing on the end of the stem. It's held on by a screw. When you remove the washer it will have some important notation on it like 34P. You must buy another '34P". Newer faucets have a cartridge. You must replace the whole cartridge. Call the manufacturer and see if they'll send you a new one. If not most hardware stores have a good collection of cartridges. This is an easy DIY project and there are a lot of YouTube videos.

Dave M.

Reply to
David L. Martel

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.