Faucet Repair: Taking on Those Washed-Up Washers
Your faucet is having problems, but that’s not so surprising, is it? When you consider how often the a standard faucet gets used in a day, to provide washing, rinsing, cooking, or drinking water for each, or every, member of the family-including the pets-wear and tear on its working parts is to be expected.
Depending on the type of your faucet, and the nature of its malfunction, you might try playing the faucet doctor. You can start by picking up an inexpensive faucet repair kit-a selection of washers and O-rings, which resemble large washers, but are used to seal the faucet at its base.
If your faucet is not leaking, but the water flow seems to be less than normal, your faucet repair may be as simple as removing, and cleaning, the aerator. Simply unscrew it from the mouth of the spout, check its mesh screen for any mineral deposits your water has left behind, and scrub them off. A toothbrush will do a great job.
But if your faucet repair job entails fixing a leaky or dripping faucet, you’ll have a bigger task ahead. First, you’ll have to identify your faucet type.
Every faucet has a part which regulates the flow of water; your faucet regulator will be one of four types. A single-handled faucet contains a ball, cartridge, or disc regulator; a two-handled faucet will be cartridge, disc, or compression-regulated.
Compression-regulated faucets, because they use washers to stop water flow
when turned off, are the faucets most susceptible to dripping; washers,
quite simpy, wear out. Your faucet repair job, in that case, could merely
entail replacing the worn washers with the washers in your handy-dandy home
faucet repair kit.
All the other faucets' water regulation systems are washer-free, but by
no means repair-proof. They will, for a variety of reasons, begin to leak
around the base, where the O-rings are located.
A disc faucet’s weakness lies at the juncture of the water supply line and the faucet inlet, where either the seal may become worn, or the faucet inlet become blocked with sediment. Perform disc faucet repairs by shutting off the water, and installing new seals, positioned to align with the faucet holes. If the inlet is merely blocked, remove the sediment with that toothbrush.
A ball faucet leak will also involve worn inlet seals and worn, or broken, O-rings. You can repair a leaky ball faucet handle by removing the handle and increasing the adjusting-ring tension. You can purchase a kit with all the equipment, including tools, that you’ll need to perform faucet repairs on ball faucets.
Cartridge faucets are the most simply designed, so need the simplest faucet repairs. When they leak it is almost always due to wear, or a break, in the cartridge stem; simply remove and replace the cartridge with the identical model.
If, in spite of your best efforts at doing faucet repairs, your older faucet just keeps leaking or dripping, it might be time for a new model. A little drip, drip, drip, after all, can go a very long way.
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