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Author:
jksfam (CO)
I'm in the midst of finishing my basement. Added all the plumbing for a bathroom with no issue. Have 1/2" copper roughed in for a sink. Added the faucet today and got a strange leak. When the faucet is off, all is well. Turn the faucet on at low rate and I get small, sporadic amounts of water coming down through the center hole (following along the pop-up pull and dropping to form a puddle). Turn it on at a higher rate and the same sporadic leak is present but the puddle forms quicker.
Almost like the faucet can't handle the flow rate and is leaking extra water inside the faucet which has no where to go but down through that center hole? I don't know enough about how faucets operate to know if that's a plausible explanation.
Thought I had a bad faucet so bought a 2nd one (different brand) with same results.
My next thought is to plug the center faucet hole with silicone but then how will the water exit the faucet?
Have searched the internet for hours and can't find a simliar question anywhere. Am I just missing something simple?
Photo of the faucet and leak area can be found here: [cid-70e2a2bb915782c3.skydrive.live.com]
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Author:
hj (AZ)
Either you are not getting the connection to the center unit tight enough, or you were unlucky enough to get two spouts with a cracked center post. If the water comes out of the hole that the popup rod comes through, then it is cracked. If it comes out around the center, then it either needs to be tightened or you have got it assembled wrong.
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Author:
jksfam (CO)
Thanks for the feedback.
Can you clarify: "Either you are not getting the connection to the center unit tight enough, or you were unlucky enough to get two spouts with a cracked center post."
As far as I can tell there is no center post. There's a hot on the left and cold on the right. All that is down the middle is the pop-up rod. Nothing to tighten as it just passes through that hole in the sink to gain access to the pop-up area on the drain. No leaks where connections are made--just random water dripping from under faucet to under sink.
Don't think it's assembly error as it's a pretty simple faucet. All I had to do was pop it on (fully assembled) and connect to water supplies and drain.
Any other ideas?
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Author:
redwood (CT)
Make sure that the aerator is tight
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Author:
jimmy-o (CA)
After checking that it is not dribbling from around the aerator, then remove both the handles and turn on the water. See if there is any seepage from around the stems.
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Author:
packy (MA)
what kind is that? it sorta looks like a delta but it looks slightly different?
if you don't see any leaking around that red plastic nut, then it is leaking internally and was either damaged during installation or is defective.
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Author:
e-plumber (NY)
Remove the faucet aerator, (at the end of the spout), run the water and see if the leak stops. If reinstalling the aerator properly doesn't stop the leak, I'd suggest putting it back in the box and exchanging it for another one. Might want to get a typical Delta faucet, (with a brass pop-up assembly). On a service call, I'd have to track down replacement parts for that (American Standard?) faucet.
e-plumber
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"The society which scorns excellence in Plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an
exalted activity will have neither good Plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water." -
John William Gardner 10/8/1912 - 2/16/2002
Repair your leaking Plumbing fixtures ASAP [www.theplumber.com]
This slow drip will waste 7+ gallons of water per day.
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Author:
packy (MA)
e-plumber, i think you are right. it does look like (made in mexico) american standard.
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Author:
dlh (TX)
thats it!
i was trying to remember where i had seen that cartridge before
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Author:
redwood (CT)
On customer provided Am. Std. faucets I have experienced a high level of defective units. Hovering at about 50%! That is why I do not provide them and only install customer provided units. I can't afford the high callback rate that comes with using their products. Customer provided means "Yep. I installed it correctly and its defective. Will that be cash, check, or, charge?" This is explained up front with a warning that with that brand there is a lot of defects.
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Since 1995 (3 years before Google started) PlumbingSupply.com has been THE best plumbing supplier on the web. Please visit our sponsor [www.PlumbingSupply.com]
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Author:
e-plumber (NY)
You must have bad luck Redwood with A/S products. I'd say my 'defective rate' is more like 5%, if that - with any name brand fixtures.
e-plumber
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The society which scorns excellence in Plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an
exalted activity will have neither good Plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water." -
John William Gardner 10/8/1912 - 2/16/2002
Repair your leaking Plumbing fixtures ASAP [www.theplumber.com]
This slow drip will waste 7+ gallons of water per day.
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Author:
redwood (CT)
I don't know if it's bad luck or, closer inspection, but, it is about 1/2 junk that I experience. The leak the OP described is the same that I have seen many times on their lav. faucets. I consider Glacier Bay to be better than Am.Std.
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Since 1995 (3 years before Google started) PlumbingSupply.com has been THE best plumbing supplier on the web. Please visit our sponsor [www.PlumbingSupply.com]
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Author:
hj (AZ)
My failure rate approaches zero, because I do not use them except for very special applications. Maybe 5 faucets in the last several years.
Edited 1 times.
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Author:
hj (AZ)
I consider Glacier Bay to be better than Am.Std.
Is that like comparing a Daewoo to a Yugo?
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Author:
redwood (CT)
Yep, one is the worst, and the other is close to being the worst!
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Since 1995 (3 years before Google started) PlumbingSupply.com has been THE best plumbing supplier on the web. Please visit our sponsor [www.PlumbingSupply.com]
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Author:
jksfam (CO)
Thanks all! Problem now solved.
Faucet pictured is an American Standard. As many of you pointed out, it was defective. After opening it up, I found a leak where the plastic spigot tube connected to the brass supply tubes. That unit will be on it's way back to Home Depot shortly.
After giving up on that unit, decided to give the Delta faucet I'd given up on yesterday a 2nd try. Thanks to Redwood's suggestion above I took a closer look at the aerator. While it was on tight, a small stream of water was draining inside the spigot and rolling down the faucet until it emptied under the sink. Added some teflon tape to the threads of the aerator and I'm (finally) in business.
Appreciate all the replies.
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Author:
AntoneSayegh (CA)
I had the same problem with a Glacier Bay faucet which I installed a week ago. When the water is off there is no leakage at all. But after a few days a small amount of water was under the sink. It was driving me crazy. I sealed around the base of the faucet with silicone sealant, but that did not fix it.
I read the comment that it might be a defective faucet, but I did not believe that.
I finally found the problem: The aerator is poorly designed (if designed at all). It lets the water flow in through a very small hole (about a tenth of an inch in diameter). If you have any sedements or scale enter the hole, it makes the problem even worse. The effect of this tiny hole is that water pressure inside the faucet, even when the water is turned on, is high and about the same as in the water line; it should be much less. This high pressure inside is what caused the small leak. This is simple hydraulics which the designer of the aerator ignored.
I threw away the lousy aerator, and voila! The problem was solved!
I am a retired civil engineer and I still remember basic hydraulics.
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Author:
Bkeller433 (OH)
Do it yourselfer here, just bought a glacier bay faucet and had the very same problem. Replaced an old faucet that had a missing aerator, a few days later I noticed water on the floor, the source is the middle faucet hole when water is flowing. Removed the aerator, bingo no water drips. It's bad design to have a faucet that leaks as intended, but at least we have the solution at hand. If I had to do it again, we would go with a different faucet! As the pros here are stating, these things are cheap for a reason, I will avoid glacier bay products in the future.
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Author:
Calman47 (Canada)
Hi folks!
New to these parts and found your forum through a Google Search for leaking from center hole of bathroom faucet!
Anyway, I installed a replacement faucet in our basement bathroom this morning and after all those preliminary checks (tightened nuts, threaded sleeves etc) proceeded to turn the taps on. To my horror, I had a constant trickle of water coming down through the popup assembly hole - at the point where a drip would have been disappointing news!!!
After a quarter turn more on all the obvious nuts, it "appeared" to originate from a loose aerator. Removing the aerator completely stopped the drip and then re-threading and tightening it ... took an hour or two .. but by late afternoon, I couldn't replicate the problem.
Funny thing is, this was my first project where I had to remove the entire drain system, so if anything, expected a leak from that end of things, certainly not a loose aerator which clearly was blasting water back inside the outer area of the faucet (if that makes sense).
So ... to save anyone in a similar position, sitting in front of a bathroom cabinet, legs crossed, scratching head and completely at a loss (for a short time anyway) ... this has been my experience today.
Hopefully ALL remains dry tomorrow *fingers crossed*
All the best,
Cal
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Author:
JonC (FL)
Had the same issue - water leaking from center hole underneath faucet base.
Turns out it was the aerator threads.
Due to the design and quality of these modern low-flow faucets, if the aerator is not threaded tightly enough it will allow water to flow into the faucet stem and back down through the unsealed center hole portion of the faucet base.
I taped the threads and tightened with pliers and no more leaks. (for now)
How hard to tighten can be a fine line, due to the cheap plastic parts and the "hand tighten only" precautions in the instructions, so proceed carefully.
After reading through product reviews and these type of boards, this seems to be a highly prevalent issue. Curious why more suppliers/retailers/professionals are not made aware of the issue.
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