So my kitchen faucet has been dripping for a long time. I'm not exactly sure how long, but it would be safe to say that it has certainly been dripping for months. My usual technique for dealing with malfunctioning plumbing or appliances is to wait and see if they heal themselves. (Don't laugh! It has worked more than you would imagine. Certainly at least once!) Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case with this faucet, whose drip is even more constant than before. I did a little measurement today and it looks like it is dripping at the rate of about 1 and 1/3 cups of water per hour. That's about 32 cups of water per day (or 7 1/2 liters) per day. Yikes!
So even though I think that water conservation is important, why hasn't this been fixed? I even bought the rubber washers that should do the job. It is at this point, gentle readers, that I should let you in on a secret. I have virtually no spatial skills. I'm one of those people that have to turn a map in the direction I'm facing before I can read it. So the idea of taking apart a faucet is a little intimidating to me. This is especially the case when I start researching the solution and get diagrams like this one:
I even tried looking at the This Old House website for advice. Those folks seem so friendly! And they even wear the common folks' plaid shirt and jeans uniform. But I couldn't even tell which faucet we have so I could get started. I understand the instructions were theoretically in English, but it might as well have looked like this: τον καθορισμό ενός βρύση. But obviously, losing nearly 8 liters of water per day is unacceptable. So I'm going to enlist my much more handy husband and hopefully this problem will be solved over the weekend. I will do my best to document the process in such a way that even technologically challenged folks like myself will feel able to take on the job of their own leaky faucets.
Your faucet most likely has the washer in the very end of it. I believe a pair of pliers should get that off.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, no such luck. I will need to shut off the water and take apart the handle.
ReplyDeleteProud of you for measuring the leak rate. As I started to read the post, my thought was "Oh no! She fixed it and we have no idea how much water she will be conserving now." :-) Instead you measured and then got stymied. 's ok. I think I might have too.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time believing that you would get stymied, Brande. You seem to be much more ambitious than I am.
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