How to Fix a Dripping Faucet

November 16, 2017 Our BlogPlumbing Tips

In typical fashion, it was a Sunday morning when the dripping faucets in our kitchen began dripping relentlessly, bringing with it the unnerving and unending sound of water dripping into a stainless steel sink. The incident served only to remind me that when things go wrong around the home it’s usually at an inopportune time. Being Sunday, the stores in our neighborhood were closed and had the situation warranted it, professional help would have cost a bundle. Fortunately, many repairs like this and others that involve plumbing are simple, straightforward and easy to do yourself if you go about them in a logical fashion.

Here is how to fix a dripping faucet

As in many homes nowadays, our kitchen sink is a washer-less ball faucet with one handle that mixes the hot and cold water supply. You’ll want to turn off the fixture’s shut-off valve under the sink. Next, you’ll want to drain the pipe by removing the faucet handle. Once this is removed you’ll replace the two inlet seals that are found on the springs, this helps control the water flow to your sink. Here is a summary bullet list of what you did to fix your faucet:

1. Turned off water shut-off valve
2. Drained faucet pipe
3. Removed handle of faucet to replace 2 inlet seals.

With this problem, the solution is simply to remove these seals and springs with needle-nose pliers and replace them with new ones. The faucet is then reassembled. Many irritating plumbing problems are like this. Whether it’s preventing and fixing clogged drains or stopping a run-on toilet, they’re usually simple to fix and inexpensive as well.