This Old House plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey helps a homeowner repair her leaky kitchen faucet. (See below for a shopping list, tools, and steps.)
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Shopping List for How to Repair a Leaky Kitchen Faucet:
– Rubber seats and springs
– Rubber gasket and cam cap
– Ceramic cartridge, to repair a ceramic-cartridge faucet if you have one
Tools List for How to Repair a Leaky Kitchen Faucet:
– Hex-hey wrench, to loosen the hex-head screw
– Pocketknife or narrow-blade screwdriver, to extract faucet parts
– Sharpened pencil, to install new seats and springs
– Spanner wrench
Steps for How to Repair a Leaky Kitchen Faucet:
1. Close the hot- and cold-water shutoff valves under the kitchen sink.
2. Place a rag over the sink drain to catch any dropped parts.
3. Use a pocketknife to pry off the small index cover from the side of the faucet to reveal the hex-head screw.
4. Loosen the screw with the hex-key wrench and pull off the faucet handle.
5. Use the spanner wrench that came with the faucet to loosen and remove top cap assembly.
6. Pull straight up to remove the stainless-steel ball from the faucet body.
7. Use a pocketknife to extract the rubber seats and springs from inside the faucet.
8. Slip a new spring and rubber seat onto the tip of a pencil and lower it down into the faucet. Repeat to install the remaining seat and spring.
9. Reinstall the stainless-steel ball, making sure to align its keyway with the corresponding tab inside the faucet body.
10. On top of the stainless-steel ball install a new rubber gasket and cam cap. Align the keyway on the cap with the corresponding slot to ensure proper alignment.
11. Hand-tighten the top cap assembly back onto the faucet.
12. Open the two shutoff valves under the sink.
13. Use the spanner wrench to tighten the nut to provide the proper tension against the stainless-steel ball.
14. Reinstall the faucet handle, tighten the hex-head screw and then press on the index cover.
15. If your faucet doesn’t have a stainless-steel ball, it’s likely a ceramic-cartridge faucet. To repair the leak, simply remove the handle, pull out the ceramic cartridge and replace it with a new cartridge.
About Ask This Old House TV:
Homeowners have a virtual truckload of questions for us on smaller projects, and we’re ready to answer. Ask This Old House solves the steady stream of home improvement problems faced by our viewers—and we make house calls! Ask This Old House features some familiar faces from This Old House, including Kevin O’Connor, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook.
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How to Repair a Leaky Kitchen Faucet | Ask This Old House
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View Comments
OK, that shirt has to ride up more...maybe lose the belt and I'll believe you. LOL
No not leaking from there. It leaks out of the sides.
Richard gets all the hot kitchen chicks.
My faucet just like the one you fixed is leaking from the neck of the faucet. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you very much.
Delta will send the repair kit under it's lifetime warranty in about 4 days first class mail. Should be fine for another 10-15 years depending on mineral and sand content.
Recommend a high pressure whole house water sediment filter after the water meter.
By the time my faucets would leak they were ready to replace anyway. My kitchen faucet lasted 25 years and never leaked. I finally replaced it because it had low water flow and was getting ugly. My bathroom sink faucet is also nearly 25 years old and has never leaked.
I have same unit, how can I increase the pressure when I use it. Coming out the spout it is alot stronger
Hi how I may contact you