How to fix your dripping faucet
1 of 6Repair kit contents
1. Old-style cam
and seal
2. Combination
cam and seal
3. Stainless steel
ball
4. Old-style seats
and springs
5. New-style seats
and springs
6. Allen wrench
7. Different
thickness
O-rings
2 of 6Photo 1: Lift and remove the handle
Lift the handle, pry off the decorative
cover with your fingernail or a flat-blade
screwdriver, then loosen the Allen screw
underneath and lift the handle free.
3 of 6Photo 2: Remove the cam seal
Unscrew the cap under the handle and
lift out the cam seal. Make sure to line
up the tab on the cam seal with the slot on
the faucet body when reassembling.
4 of 6Photo 3: Lift out the ball
Lift out the ball. When you put the
faucet back together, line up the long
slot on the side of the ball with the pin
inside the faucet body.
5 of 6Photo 4: Remove seats and springs
Remove both sets of seats and
springs. When you reassemble the
faucet using newer-style springs, guide the
seats and springs into the hole with the
narrow end of the spring facing up (see
Figure A).
6 of 6Photo 5: Slip out the O-rings
Wiggle the spout free and remove it,
and then slip out the O-rings. Pick
matching sized O-rings from the kit, coat
them with faucet grease and slide them
on. Reassemble the faucet by following
the disassembly steps in reverse.
When your single-lever, ball-type
faucet starts dripping, it's time to
replace the parts inside. You'll know
you have a ball-type faucet (vs. a cartridge
type) if it has a dome-shape cap
under the handle (Figure A). This is an
easy repair. Once you have the parts,
the whole thing will take about 45
minutes and you'll save a whopping
$125 doing it yourself!
Everything you need is available in
a repair kit ($15 at home centers). Most
kits include the ball, springs, seats,
O-rings and an Allen wrench. You'll
also need to pick up faucet grease ($2).
There are several different models and
types of ball-style
faucets, so first follow
our instructions to
take apart your
faucet. Then note the
brand and take the old
faucet guts along to the store to make
sure you buy the right repair kit.
Before you disassemble your old
faucet, turn off the water at the fixture
shutoff valves under the sink or your
home's main water valve if the individual
shutoffs are missing (now is a
good time to install some!). Cover the
sink drain hole with a rag to avoid losing
small parts down the drain.
The only tricky part of this repair is
first locating and then loosening the
Allen setscrew (see Photo 1) that
anchors the handle to the stem. The
screw is typically hidden under the
decorative cover. If the faucet is old,
you'll have to use some force with the
Allen wrench to loosen the screw.
Your repair kit may include two different
versions of the same part, one
for newer and one for older-model
faucets. Our advice is to use the same
version as the existing parts and discard
the other versions when you have
the option. Most repair kits come with
a hollow stainless steel ball. This will
work well and last longer than the
original plastic ball you might find if
yours is an older faucet. If your faucet
uses an older-style, two-part cam—the
plastic cam and a separate cam seal—and your kit comes with only the
newer combined version (see Photo 2),
go ahead and use the combined version.
Just make sure to discard the
existing adjusting ring located in the
cap of your faucet or the handle won't
fit correctly when you reassemble it.
Figure A: Ball-Type Faucet
Here are all of the parts of this type of faucet.
