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Why Your Faucet is Leaking

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Melbourne Plumber

While a leaky faucet isn’t a serious threat to your home, it is a serious waste of water and an issue that you should resolve as soon as you can. Fortunately for you, most of the time a leaky faucet is a pretty minor problem to solve, and something that you might even be able to fix yourself. Here’s a breakdown of the most common causes behind a leaky faucet, make sure that you look for the root of the problem in this order.

The O-Ring

An O-ring or rubber gasket is a common culprit in a typical sink leak. If you’re suffering from a minor leak near the end of the faucet or back by the handles it’s likely because the O-ring has failed. Fortunately O-rings are really easy to replace, and they cost almost nothing. If your faucet is leaky, this is the first thing that you should check before you look at any other possible issues.

The Inlet and Outlet Seals

There are two seals that help keep water from surging out of that faucet above your kitchen sink. They are known as the inlet and outlet seals. If either one of these stops working properly, you’ll end up with water coming out where it shouldn’t be, and that can leave your kitchen damp in areas that you don’t want it to be at the most inconvenient of times. Fortunately, this problem is pretty simple to fix and you can have a plumber come in and replace the seals on your fixture no problem, or if you are handy you can probably do the job yourself.

Broken Fixture

With time every water fixture is going to wear out and stop performing properly. If your faucet is leaking heavily and it isn’t due to one of the seals, then it’s probably cracked or just broken in some way. You can probably solve the issue by installing a new fixture in its place, and you’ll enjoy many years of top-notch performance after you do.

Excessive Water Pressure

This is the least common cause of a fixture leak within the home, but it’s possible that your water pressure is simply too high for the fixture that you’re using. If too much pressure builds up in the system, the water could force its way out of parts of the fixture that it isn’t supposed to come out of. If that’s the issue, your best bet is to call in a plumber and have them solve the problem for you by lowering the pressure, or through other means.