Leaking kitchen faucet!!! And disposal question...

Beth777

When I turn on the water, water streams out onto the sink top!

It's probably about 25 years old, a very simple Moen style. It has one lever on top that lifts and rotates to control water flow, and a separate veggie sprayer that comes out of a separate sinktop hole.

Can we take this apart and replace seals inside to repair leak?

Or do we need to install a whole new faucet?

Also, the garbage disposal is also the original, about 25 years old. It still works fine, but when I look down into it, I can see that it's rusty inside. Is it likely getting ready to leak also, or do those things last a long time despite their inner appearance?

buletbob

yes you can get a rebuilding kit for the faucet. and no i don.t think you will have to worry about the disposer leaking yet. those are the blades you are seeing. BOB

Beth777

Could you please advise a good source for a faucet rebuilding kit? It would be great to be able to repair it!

Beth777

I hope you're right about the disposal lasting longer, but I can see the blades...the part that's under them looks really rusty. And the rubber pieces that fit in the sink drain are starting to get brittle and break off...not necessarily signs of longevity maybe.

I thought if we have to get help with this, I maybe should have both things replaced at the same time while we're paying for a house call.

But ideally if we can repair the faucet by ourselves with just only the purchase of parts and a plumbers's basin wrench, we will let that disposal just last as long as it possibly can...and put our home improvement dollars into something more pressing!

Can you advise best place to go for faucet repair parts?

buletbob

the faucet can be done by most anybody with little skills. any big box store has a section that deals with faucet repair.does the disposal not work? is it acting up? does it leak? if your answer is no then take my advice. If its not broken don't fix it.If I had to replace everything that looked rusted I would be broke. I hope everything works out for you.

Beth777

Moen sent a replacement cartridge, already. And there are online instructions for the process. Says all I need is a screwdriver and a pair of pliers! (and maybe a little courage!)

Just when I thought I'd be getting a nice, fancy new faucet, here we are fixing the old one!

Termite

If you end up deciding to replace the disposer, you should know that it is not a difficult job at all. If it comes to that, we can easily walk you through making the plumbing and electrical connections. There aren't really any specialty tools required.

Beth777

Thanks, in case it comes down to a disposal replacement!

The faucet is FIXED!!! Success!!! Took a lot more time and effort than anticipated to get the stuck old cartridge to come loose. Trial and error to figure out how to not only turn the water on but also turn it OFF, lol! Also, it matters how you position the new cartridge...that determines which direction you turn the handle to get hot or cold water...surprise!

In retrospect, it would be nice to have directions in words, with relevent advice, instead of just miniature generic grey pictures! Like, if your model doesn 't have the little ring for the next step, it's okay it doesn't need one you can just go on without it. And when you are removing the top cap of the faucet, yours might be a big helmet-like covering...the little tiny piece that the directions show being removed from the tippy-top is only an artistic rendition not in any way related to what you actually need to remove......
And, the 90-degree turn to the right is not a precise exact 90-degree turn...rather it's a vague minumum turn.....actually lots more turning, with wiggling, is better for stuck cartridges. And vinegar water might help dissolve old mineral deposits but never use WD40. And the pliers that they say you need to use to pull out the old cartridge might actually need to be something heavy-duty wrapped in a hand-protecting towel and applied with super-human strength for long periods of time! Or you might need to go out and buy a cartridge-puller tool because it might *never* come loose with only pliers! (?)

Where do we go to petition manufacturers to give people instruction sheets with actual words and sentences written on them, and to make the miniature grey pictures big enough to read without use of a magnifying glass?! How much more could it cost to use a little bit bigger piece of paper with a little more room for words and pictures??!!!

I and my 11-year-old really know how to replace faucet cartridges now! We are stoked on this DIY stuff now, ready.......for something easier next time! My husband was thrilled and impressed to come home late from work, exhausted, to discover that the faucet WORKS again! Yay!

Trying to save $ towards that nice storm door I want...and wondering if we should try to install it ourselves or not!

concretemasonry

Good luck on getting the manufacturers to supply something in more detail with written instructions.

In case you do not know it, we are just a part of an international market, so the pictures work well for the basic things. If not your written instructions would have many times more pages written upside down and backwards on the pare sheets.

Some markets buy many times more of a product than the U.S. unless it is a product that only applies to U.S. practices, codes and dimensions.

Congratulations on your repairs!!! The next ones will be easier because of what you learned, whether or not you realize how much you did learn through experience.

Beth777

So I have to share my faucet replacement pieces and miniature instruction sheet with the rest of the world. Okay. We'll deal with that!

Thanks! It's nice that the 11-year-old did about 1/2 of the work himself, so now he knows how faucets work, and how to decipher little miniature instructions, and he shares in the satisfaction of the success! A little DIY'er in the making!