So the kitchen sink at my mom's place has been dripping for about a month now. I've finally gotten some time to take a look at it and I'm a bit stumped.

I assumed that maybe a washer in the faucet had gone bad or the like, so I decided to take it apart and see if I couldn't find something obvious.

Upon shutting off the water valves beneath the sink prior to this, I noticed something. The hot water line seems fine, but even with the cold water valve closed tightly, the drip persists.

I tried leaving them both closed for some time, thinking maybe some water trapped in the line was what I saw dripping afterward, but even after a few hours, it still kept right on coming at the same pace.

Worse, now the frequency of the dripping has increased and the water pressure from the cold side seems to have dropped somewhat.

Money is extremely tight for her right now and not much better for me, so if at all possible, I would love to be able to do this myself and save us both some cash. I'm just not sure what to do in this case. I have no idea what might be wrong with the valve or what I can do to fix the problem.

Once the faucet was stripped down, the little chamber at the very base where the hot and cold lines connect was constantly flooded by the bit coming in from the cold line. Even when I used paper towels to soak up what water was in there, it just filled right back up again.

Anyone have a clue why the cold line might be able to continue running even when the valve is closed?

Those cut-off valves under the sink can go bad. You can shut off water to the entire house with the main cut-off and then work on the faucet. Since money is tight, I'd forgo replacing the leaking cold water cut-off valve. Just buy a seal kit to replace the sink faucet parts and you should be okay.

Best of luck,
WallyH

Hi lidon and welcome to The Plumbing Page at AskMeHelpDesk.com
Wally gave you good advice but you have two issues here. I think they both can be fixed on the cheap.
The angle stop. (see image ) sounds like a bad washer, As Wally said, shut the water off at the house shut off and remove the stem and washer assembly by unthreading the chrome compression nut under the handle, Take the stem into a plumbing store and pick up a washer. So much for the angle stop.

I'm going to need information of the sink faucet. One handle or two knobs?
What's the brand name> How old?
Let's get the cold water supply fixed and we'll move on 6to the sink. Let me know if have more questions. Good luck, Tom

Wow, that was some good advice from the both of you, and very quick to boot. I appreciate that quite a bit.

As for the faucet, I honestly have no idea who made the thing. I've looked all over the thing for some sort of identifying mark and can find nothing. Not so much as even a logo.

It's a single lever design though, swing to left for hot, right for cold, down for off. I don't know if that helps you at all.

I'm definitely going to have a look at that stem washer. My mom picked up some sort of do-it-yourself plumbing kit awhile back and it has about a million and one washers in it, so if I can get that stem out and have a look, we might already have a replacement on hand. If not, a quick trip to the store.

Two more questions. What is the 'seal kit' that was mentioned? Also, how do I shut off the water to the house myself? I understood that as something you had to call the utility people to take care of. Is there a way that I can take care of that on my own?

Thank you again for the prompt responses and all of the help. If this were a computer or electronics, I'd be right at home, but I'm at a total loss when it comes to this sort of thing. I'm sure you can understand wanting to help one's mom out though and I really appreciate you guys helping to make this possible for me.

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Two more questions. What is the 'seal kit' that was mentioned? Also, how do I shut off the water to the house myself? I understood that as something you had to call the utility people to take care of. Is there a way that I can take care of that on my own?

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"Seal kit" Isn't a term used in my area, Wally could have meant a cartridge and "O" rings foe your faucet, Perhaps he'll pop back in and explain.
No matter if you have a pump or are on city water EVERY house has a shut off where the water enters the house. If you can't locate the house shut off 5the meter has a shut off its own. About that drippy faucet. I can give you general instructions on the repair.
Once you get the angle stop fixed shut the water off to the faucet and remove the handle and any plate covering the stem. There should be a nut on the stem. Remove it and pull the cartridge. Check the inlet ports for any trash. Now p-lace an pan over the faucet and turn the water back on for a few seconds to flush out the supplies. (This is important) reassemble and test. Drip all gone. Tom

I spent some time wandering around her house today in search of some sort of meter or obvious water inlet, but couldn't find anything. I found the meters for the gas and the electricity, the phone box, a couple of cable boxes, but nothing that seemed to be for water.

Any sort of clues as to what I should be looking for out there?

(EDIT: Sorry, I should have specified earlier. She's on city water, if that matters.)

There's a water meter on the street side of your property line, Do you have a basement or is this a slab house? Let me know, Tom

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Originally Posted by speedball1

There's a water meter on the street side of your property line, Do you have a basement or is this a slab house? Let me know, Tom

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Slab house. I'm heading over there now. She called and said the leak suddenly got worse, so I'm going to have to try and repair right away.

If anyone could post a tip on how to find that water shutoff outside while I'm in transit, it would be greatly appreciated.

If you can locate the water meter the house shut off should be in line with it at the house. Good luck, Tom

The water meter turned out to be in a very strange place, in that it almost seemed to not be on her property at all. It was just over the fence line of the neighbor's yard, with both her meter and their meter right against each other in that corner.

Anyhow, long story short, the problem is fixed for now. I think I reassembled the faucet improperly, as the centered 'off' position for the lever is now slightly to the left, but I'll worry about that the next time I go over there.

Which will be soon, as now there's another plumbing problem she's needing fixed. I'll open a new thread for that one. Thank you guys so much for the help! It was invaluable for an initiate plumber like myself.

And we thank you for the update and will be waiting with bated breath for Moms next plumbing problem. Good luck, Tom