Replacing Faucet Packing

A drip occurs when the faucet is turned off; a faucet leak occurs when the water is running. If you see water coming out around the handle, you have a faucet leak. The first thing to do is make sure the faucet's packing nut is tight, but be careful not to scratch the nut with pliers or a wrench.

Step 3: Install new packing. If you use stringlike packing material, wrap a few turns around stem. Packing that resembles soft wire is wrapped around stem only once. Before you finish reassembling faucet, smear light coat of petroleum jelly on threads of stem and on threads of packing nut.If you suspect your faucet's O-ring is the culprit for your leaky faucet, see the tips in the next section.

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