About 3 times in the past two weeks we have incurred a large amount of water puddling on the counter top, which can only be coming from the sink. We have a hose sprayer, and the faucet with two handles. There is not a drip, and the sink will stay dry for hours. The pipes under the sink are not leaking, and the only water that has accumulated under the sink is what has leached through a seam in the laminate counter top under the dish mat. I try to wipe it down completely after using the sink to see where water might be coming from the base of the fixture, but just can't pin-point it.

The kitchen will be clean and dry when I go to bed, but then 3 times I have woken up in the morning and have discovered a huge puddle of water collecting in the corner of the counter where it is slightly slanted. The mat under the dish drainer will be soaked through, the water having passed through it and made its way to the other end of the counter.

When it happened this morning, I noticed that all around the fixture was dry. It seems that in the middle of the night, water will surge from the faucet or hose, move to the counter, then be dry around the fixture by the time I wake up.

How can I determine what is making this is happen?

sometimes a leak as you describe come from the "O" ring that seals the spout.
i would remove the spout and replace the "O" ring.
if you can't figure out how, post a picture of the faucet.

If you do not turn on the faucet there is no way it can leak during the night. From your description there is no way for us to diagnose what is happening.

Do you have a bathroom above the kitchen?

I bet your dish drainer is the culprit. It could have a crack in it, and needs to overhang into the sink and it needs to be tilted slightly downhill. If you have a sink with a high lip edge, you need to rig a way to tilt it . I use a small block of wood under mine.

Most "dish drainers" are a simple wire rack which cannot get a "crack in it".

I believe FixitAngel was referring to the pan in which the actual rack sits:

notice the 'open' (right as you are viewing) side of the pan for drainage of the water

another example of 'pan':


D'OH

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



Edited 2 times.

We put ours in the sink.

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638