Faucet Repair

So I know it seems like forever since I have posted anything, and to be honest it has been. I have been busy though. Yard work, working on that fence, which by the way I have realized I did wrong. I should have used primer, even though it says it is unnecessary, I still should have used it. I also had a birthday and received a new DeWalt miter saw from my wife and a rolling tool chest and work bench from my parents. All in all I was spoiled. 

So my first project to cover that I have done recently is the repair of our kitchen faucet. From day one this thing has leaked. It leaked at the base and the spout dripped when off. This is both annoying and costly, those drips add up. So I decided I would fix it one day. It cost me about $12 to do it, which is a lot better than paying $50 or more for a new faucet. 

So here is the faucet before hand, I seemed to have caught it between drips, but as you can see it has both a sprayer and one of those converters on the spout. Not sure why, it seems to only reduce clearance for pots and to just look dumb. So that was the first thing to go.

I went to the local hardware store, only 3 blocks away. It's kinda sad, I have only lived here a few months and some of the staff there know me by name. Anyway I bought a faucet repair kit, $10, and a new aerator for $2. 

Now the repair kit came with instructions, but they are tiny and small. But luckily I have a book, a nice one at that with all sorts of How To advice.

I highly recommend this book. It has lots of color pictures, step by step instructions, and even handy tricks of the trade. I can't tell you where I got it as it was a gift many years ago from my parents, but it is a gift that keeps on giving.

Here is the page with my faucet type. It is much more detailed than the instructions that came with the faucet repair kit.

Before starting I recommend cleaning the sink and area, then having some paper towels on hand, perhaps an old tooth brush and some cleaner, I just use toilet bowl cleaner, it is great for hard water deposits etc. Then I also recommend plugging the drain, we are working with little parts and the last thing we want to do is to have to take apart the drain to fish out some little piece we dropped. Also, I shouldn't have to say it but, remember to turn the water off to the sink. 

So here I have removed the handle and the ball valve assembly. Inside you see 2 black rubber washers and underneath each of those is a  little metal spring. These washers are what caused the spout to drip. Mine were so bad they fell apart. They are pretty easy to pull out, either use needle nose pliers or a pair of tweezers.

Here are the parts I had removed.

Here is the faucet with everything removed. Notice 2 black O-rings, once near the top and one at the bottom. When these go bad that is what causes the base to leak. This took a small flat head screw driver to remove. I recommend taking the bottom one off first and rolling it on up and off. Then put the new O-ring on the bottom before doing the top. Or you could do the top one first, but if you take the top one off, and then try to take the bottom one off it will just get stuck in the groove for the top one. 

Once this is done it is a simple reassembly. Make sure to tighten everything properly.

And here is the finished product. It took maybe 15 minutes to do. A simple and economical fix. 

I have more pictures of projects in the yard, but I have to find my wife's camera as she took the pictures. Once I get that all in order I will get them posted.