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Dripping delta faucet - Determining if it's the Hot or Cold

Boiler Talk
Boiler Talk Member Posts: 139
in Plumbing
OK. I know this must be a timeless question. I have two delta faucets that drip very slowly. I don't know which side is dripping. I know when I used my faucet I use the hot the most. How can I solve this problem without buy both stems?

Comments

  • Boiler Talk
    Boiler Talk Member Posts: 139
    OK. I know this must be a timeless question. I have two delta faucets that drip very slowly. I don't know which side is dripping. I know when I used my faucet I use the hot the most. How can I solve this problem without buy both stems?
  • SWEI
    SWEI Member Posts: 7,356
    Shut off the angle stop on one side and see if the drip goes away.
    AbracadabraRobG
  • Hilly
    Hilly Member Posts: 428
    Usually the stem doesn't fail... The spring and washer under the stem will cause the drip. Springs and washers are bought as a set of two anyway so change both anyway. If you call the Delta CSR they will send you a set for free. But springs and washers are in the single digits for coat anyway.
  • Boiler Talk
    Boiler Talk Member Posts: 139
    edited December 2014
    So the story ends with happiness. I did need to replace just the washers and springs. It was all pretty simple. I found you don't need to remove all of the nuts under the handles. If you do you are taking apart the stem housing from the faucet itself. I needed to replace a washer in the supply valve too. I did not know Delta would replace washers and springs for free, but they only cost about $2 and what better place to be than in the plumbing store!
    wyo
  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
    edited December 2014
    "" There is a trick.............. ""

    Yes.

    You take a #2 Phillips Screw Driver, slide the "cap" onto the screw driver, slather some SuperLube synthetic grease on the outside of the "Cap", put the spring in the hole, stick the screw driver into the spring, and slide the cap into the hole.

    Its worked for as long as I can remember, and I can't remember the last time I was frustrated.
  • RobG
    RobG Member Posts: 1,850
    I always use a controls Philips screwdriver and slide the washer and spring on, then slide them up to the handle and insert the screwdriver tip into the hole then slide them down as one. Six of one, half dozen of the other.
  • Mark Eatherton
    Mark Eatherton Member Posts: 5,858
    I use a Bic pen...

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
    In other words, some of us have come up with better methods than sticking the washer on your finger and getting it down the bore and over the spring.
  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,502
    I remember building Heathkits back in the 60's, they had a couple of interesting "tools" to get nuts into inaccessible places.

    The first was a plastic tube that could hold a 1/4" nut on one end and a 3/16" on the other. I still have it and use it from time to time. The second was a bent up piece of spring steel that allows you to hold a nut flat so you can tease it into place and catch the thread by turning the screw, I still have one of those as well.

    If you work with mechanical things long enough you develop many ways of doing impossible tasks, all it takes is time in grade.

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
    My favorite old timey tool was a piece of plastic tape with a Philips head screw through it and taped to the side of the Phillips head screw driver to hold the screw in the screw driver until I got the screw started.

    Then, I went to an Eat & Greet, Electrical Trade Show and found one that was rated for 2500 volts and held Phillips Head screws. It works great. The tape works just as good. And if the screw falls out of the tool, you loose the screw. Not so with the tape.

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