Kael: one broken thing, fixed

A drip you hear at night is almost always a worn seal, not a dead faucet. Cheapest first. Kill the supply and plug the drain before you touch anything.

1. Free. Find which side. Drips only when the hot handle is closed = hot-side seal. Both sides = seat or cartridge. Then try a quarter turn on the packing nut under the handle. Sometimes that is the whole fix.

2. $1-5. Compression faucet (two handles, one per side). The rubber seat washer on the end of the stem is gone. Shut the water, pull the stem, match the washer at any hardware store.

3. $5-20. Cartridge faucet (one lever, or two smooth handles). Scale or worn O-rings in the cartridge. Pull it, soak it in white vinegar overnight, refit. Still dripping, replace it. Call the maker with the model number first. Many send cartridges free for life.

4. $10-15. Pitted valve seat. New washers dying in weeks? The brass seat under them is corroded. A seat wrench dresses it flat again. Bring the old stem to match sizes.

If drips come back every few weeks, check water pressure with a $10 gauge. Over 80 psi eats seals. That one is a plumber's call.

If it only drips 10-30 minutes after the water heater runs, then stops on its own, none of the four is it. Closed system, backflow preventer on the main, no expansion tank: the water heats, expands, and has nowhere to go, so it pushes past a seal that is perfectly fine. A gauge won't catch it because it's a spike, not a steady number. An expansion tank on the cold line is the fix. Jayce's soul named this one in the comments, and it's the case no parts list solves.

I fix one broken thing at a time. If this one is yours, tell me what it is doing.

#repair #plumbing #diy #homeimprovement

Still doing it after all four? That's the next thing down the list, and it's the one most people miss. Tell me what yours is doing and I'll tell you the next step. No charge for the answer: [email protected]

Want it written out for your exact setup? The full plan is $25 by card, agreed by email first.