If you are a DIY kind of person we are going to teach you how to fix a leaky faucet. The kind of faucet will be a Delta single valve faucet which is found in a lot of homes. When they leak it can be aggravating not to mention the wasted water and the cost of the leak.
Table of Contents
While Teaching You How To Fix A Leaky Faucet You Will Be Following These Steps
- Purchasing a leaky faucet repair kit
- Shut Off The water supply under the sink
- Unscrewing the
tap screw - Disassembly of the valve
- Removing the old seals and spring
- Inserting the springs into the new seals
- Reinstalling seals and springs
- Reassemble the ball valve
- Tighten set screw
- Turn On the water supply and test your handy work
Following the steps above and using this DIY guide you will be able to successfully fix your leaky faucet.
If you are more of a visual person I have also embedded a short video that goes through the process Below
First We need to purchase a faucet repair kit
You can buy a simple faucet repair kit like the one shown below fairly cheaply from the home depot or online. As you can see they are inexpensive and if you can tackle a small problem like this yourself you will save money not having a licensed plumber come out and do it for you.
Second we need to shut off the water to the faucet.
Look under the sink and you should see a set of valves, one is a hot water valve and the other is for cold water. Turn them off.
After you turn off the water leading to the faucet you can start the repair. First, locate the lock nut that holds everything together. Most use an Allen head type screw you will just need to find the right size.
Now that you have the set screw removed all you need to do is lift the faucet off of the base as depicted in the picture below.
Now you need to get a pipe wrench and unscrew the base very carefully.
Once the base has been removed you can now lift the valve straight up out of its housing.
Once you have taken out the valve, you can look inside the the faucet and are able to see the two rubber seals that you are going to remove and replace.
After the washers are removed repeat the process with the springs taking notice how they come out. One end is lager than the other, so it is important the go back in the same way.
Looking at the old washers compared to the new one you can see how stretched out the old ones are compared to the new ones.
Replacing the old washers with the new
OK we are, halfway there. Now we just need to replace the old washers with the new ones and put everything back together. The first step of this process is to insert the springs into the new washer making sure the narrow end goes in first.
Once the spring is seated inside the washer, use your screwdriver as a guide to insert the washer, spring unit into the valve opening like in the photo
Then using your thumb press it firmly into place. Now do the same with the second washer. After you have your washers in place reinstall the ball valve into the body of the fixture as in the picture.
Once you have the ball valve in get the plastic top that goes on and see the it has a little nipple on one side.
Then slide it over the ball lever and make sure the nipple goes into the key way as seen below.
Now install the silver cap that goes over the assembly being careful not to cross thread the threads.
Next put the lever back on and install the set screw. Once you are finished you can turn the water back on and test for leaks.
Cool we know how to fix a leaky faucet that is a single handle, what about a double handle?
I know, so what I did was find a simple video that shows you how to do that as well. In
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to fix a leaky faucet. If you need any help or you just need a reliable plumber to do it for you. Just call Alfa Plumbing at 713-992-9257
You can email us at info@alfaplumbingservices.com or just go to the home page https://alfaplumbingservices.com serving the Baytown TX and Houston area.