Stubborn faucet leaks - repairs did not resolve


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Old 01-03-10, 09:46 AM
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Stubborn faucet leaks - repairs did not resolve

I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what my problems are. I've seriously had enough! First, I had a badly dripping kitchen faucet, hot side, double handle, Delta, that was fixed only a month ago. A friend replaced the part under the handle that sort of looks like a spark plug and it worked fine at first. But a few days ago, it started to get stiff, and now when I try to turn it off, it is very stiff and won't turn off all the way. The only way I can get the water to stop running is to mess with it and not quite turn it off all the way. It has to be set to a certain spot to get the water to stop, but not all the way off. What is going on? Did my friend do something wrong? It would not surprise me, because he did not really seem very sure of what he was doing. After he fixed it and the faucet was turned back on, I got lots of rubber pieces coming out and clogging up the end of the faucet which I had to clean out. What was that?

He also repaired a shower head that was dripping badly. It has old, single, cross-shaped handles, and he replaced the rubber washer or gaskets at the far end of long, sort of rod-shaped metal parts. But it started to drip almost immediately again. He claimed that the dome shaped rubber washers had caved in, but I don't think that is right. I think what he was seeing were rubber gaskets that are supposed to be there, and the others had completely disintegrated and were gone. Maybe he removed the gaskets he thought were "caved in" before he put in the new dome-shaped gaskets on top of them, so the faucets only have one gasket now, but should have had two? Maybe the others were like seating or base gaskets, because I saw them, and they looked like they were supposed to be there, maybe as a base for the others?? I do not know much about plumbing, so I'm just guessing, based on the fact that, according to the people who have repaired it in the past. the shower has always had the gaskets that stop the leak completely dissolve after this amount of time, not "cave in". In other words, they have always been "gone".

I don't have many tools, but need to fix this myself. I cannot afford a plumber, and I'm so tired of these constant drips, even after repairs! These same two drips have been constant problems over the years, but never before have the repairs lasted for such a brief period of time. I know if done correctly, they should be fine, so I'm trying to avoid replacing the whole unit. I'd really appreciate some help. Thanks!
 
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Old 01-03-10, 12:00 PM
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It looks like you had someone repair your faucets that had no idea what he was doing. With your situation now you have no option but to replace the stems on both faucets, you have to flush them out after you remove the old stems, you have to check the seats in the faucet and change them if they are rough. Don't forget that stems come in a right and a left, you need one of each for both faucets, luck.
 
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Old 01-03-10, 12:29 PM
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I don't know if your repairman did the following steps:

On Delta faucets, the stem itself ( "sparkplug") almost never needs to be replaced. The simple rubber cup and spring UNDER the stem solve the problem most times.]

On the shower stem, replacing the rubber washer is important, but most of the time you ALSO need to replace the metal seat which is screwed into the valve body. A bad seat will tear up a new washer in short time.
 
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Old 01-03-10, 10:58 PM
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Thank you to both of you. I really appreciate the help. So that I understand, can you explain why the kitchen faucet was perfectly fine after the stem was first replaced, but has now suddenly gotten stiff and will only shut the water off if it's not quite turned off all the way. I just want to make sure I know what causes that sort of thing, and that it's not something as simple as tightening or readjusting a part. I suspected the stem on the Delta probably didn't need replacing, and I'm somewhat sure the rubber cup and spring did not get replaced this time, only the stem.

You each say some different things. So, just to clarify for a dummy like me, do I need to replace the stem that is brand new again (if so, why?), or just the spring and cup? Also, I don't even know what a seat is or what I'm looking for, but I will have to figure it out. Thanks again!
 
 

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