OT: Faucet Washers

[Ralph_P]

I don't know if it's the public water supply or the faucet washer material but they only last a short time. I'm going to try making my own. What would be a good plastic type material that wont deteriorate so quickly? Polyurethane, nylon etc?

 

[esearfoss]

Teflon - used in food industry in water and steam exposure.

 

[rons]

I just finished a job with faucet washer replacement.

I had a 1" diameter Teflon bar about 16" long. Now it's a little shorter but I'm not sorry.
The way I did it:

1. Use collet in lathe and extend about 1.5"
2. Drill the center hole.
3. Turn to diameter and part off. I use a chopstick inserted into the hole to keep the piece from flopping around as it comes off.
4. Then I use a wooden dowel and turn down a post on the end. Press on the washer to clean the sides if needed.

What can screw you up is rusted pieces of iron pipe up stream. Particles can travel and in-bed into your new Teflon washers.
A nice SS ball valve and SS connections will fix that.

 

[FredC]

You did not mention what the seat looked like.
I am not even sure if the local hardware stores have washers and seats anymore. The seats used to get cut with the water flowing past them and needed to be replaced occasionally. I do have a tool for refacing seats in the faucet, but any machinist could pull a replaceable seat out and chuck it in the lathe and do the same. One that is cast in place would need the tool to rework it.

 

[Bill D]

In my limited experience only shower valves have replacable seats. Normally the seat wrench is square not hex.
No garden faucets use replaceable seats. I suppose you could source just the lower half of the two piece garden faucets and get a new seat that way? Those two piece faucets flow much better then the one piece designs.
BilLD

 

[gustafson]

step one
remove faucet
step two
smash it with a hammer
step three
buy a new[IE less than 50 year old] washerless faucet
step four
never think about it again

Not everything newer is better, but all modern faucets last 10x longer than faucets with a washer and a seat

 

[eKretz]

Yeah modern stuff has ceramic valves. They don't wear out but the rubber seals on the end of mine gave way after a while and compressed/lost tension. Then they drip. I've tried shimming a couple times but didn't work very well. They did last probably 20 years though. Could buy replacement valve cartridges but the damnable faucet company went out of business.

 

[gustafson]

The cheap landlord installed faucet on my tub sink at work is the only faucet I can remember dripping, like ever.
It is 20 years old

 

[Ralph_P]

Thanks for the replys. The washers are for the water stop (shut off) under the sinks. The black store bought washers last about a month on the hot side and about 3 months on the cold. I'm tired of relpacing them every time I have to replace the washers in the Delta washerless fausets. I made one from brass but couldn't get it to completely seal.

https://yardandgardenguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Flat-Faucet-Washers.jpg

 

[john.k]

I went right thru my house and replaced all the washers with expensive stainless steel seats (reamer needed) and special lifetime guarantee plastic washers ...........problems within six months,and proved to be bulk coarse sand had come thru the town water ,and embedded in the soft plastic.....asked around,and sand is bedding sand used to lay pipes ,careless work by the utility in repair jobs.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

The cheap landlord installed faucet on my tub sink at work is the only faucet I can remember dripping, like ever.
It is 20 years old

War story: In the late 1970s, some young women I knew lived in an apartment where the kitchen faucet leaked a stream. Requests for the landlord's property management agent to send a plumber had no effect. I heard about this when at the apartment for dinner. So I put a one gallon jug under the faucet and timed how long it took to fill the jug with hot water - eight minutes. Told the young women to call the property management agency and again report the leak, mentioning that it filled a 1gal jug with hot water in 8 minutes. A plumber appeared the next day.

 

[Vecair]

I don't know if it's the public water supply or the faucet washer material but they only last a short time. I'm going to try making my own. What would be a good plastic type material that wont deteriorate so quickly? Polyurethane, nylon etc?

GC here. The rubber washers you are buying today are crap, literally. I have a contractors box of various sizes that is 40 years old (USA). They will last about 2 years on my utility sink (hot side) which is used all day long. Replacing with harder material washers is going to wear out the faucet seats (which are most likely brass) much faster. There are seat cutters which is probably some of your problem, your seats are degraded wearing the washers out faster. I would replace your entire faucet with a new ceramic type to complete eliminate the problem now and forever.

 

[snowshooze]

I just finished a job with faucet washer replacement.

I had a 1" diameter Teflon bar about 16" long. Now it's a little shorter but I'm not sorry.
The way I did it:

1. Use collet in lathe and extend about 1.5"
2. Drill the center hole.
3. Turn to diameter and part off. I use a chopstick inserted into the hole to keep the piece from flopping around as it comes off.
4. Then I use a wooden dowel and turn down a post on the end. Press on the washer to clean the sides if needed.

What can screw you up is rusted pieces of iron pipe up stream. Particles can travel and in-bed into your new Teflon washers.
A nice SS ball valve and SS connections will fix that.

The trouble with the new one is that they are restricted. You can hardly get any water out of them.
The Laundry faucets still work though.

 

[true temper]

Op is not having problems with his faucet, its the angle stop under sink. Very best option it to throw it into the trash and install a quarter turn valve. https://www.homedepot.com/p/BrassCr...tlet-1-4-Turn-Angle-Valve-G2R17X-C1/202047053

 

[rons]

The trouble with the new one is that they are restricted. You can hardly get any water out of them.
The Laundry faucets still work though.

New one what? You mean the new shutoff valve that is under a sink?

 

[eKretz]

Op is not having problems with his faucet, its the angle stop under sink. Very best option it to throw it into the trash and install a quarter turn valve. https://www.homedepot.com/p/BrassCr...tlet-1-4-Turn-Angle-Valve-G2R17X-C1/202047053

Huh? I must be missing something. OP said faucet washers. You're saying he means shut-offs?

 

[john.k]

One thing Ive found with replacement soft washers ..is wimmin.......wimmin seem to see a tap washer as a power challenge,and whatever you do ,dont "mansplain" how a tap should be turned off properly

 

[rons]

Huh? I must be missing something. OP said faucet washers. You're saying he means shut-offs?

Usually the washers are the same size. In a shower the washers might be slightly larger in diameter.
In my trails I have only noticed that there are two sizes. At my place the faucet washers and the under sink
shutoff valve washers are the same size. I must have made about 20 Teflon washers in a small size and 2 as a little larger.

From my experience with working with Teflon, it's not for your everyday do-it-yourself or house wife.
On the valve stems that have SS screws for a washer, that is perfect. But, with the stems that have a little stub on the end. That is the problem.
If the Teflon is not pushed onto that little hat on the end of the stem perfectly, the Teflon will stretch and after a second attempt the washer will
be stretched out. The hole is too big and it won't fit right. That is the good thing about a rubber washer. Gives you that nice warm feeling that you
good a snug fit and I won't be having a problem here any more. Then you have a beer. Little do you know that the rubber POS will get hard and brittle
on the hot line, or soft and chalky on the cold side.

 

[gustafson]

I did not allow the plumber to install anything but ball valves in my house when we redid it 14 years ago.
No leaks
DId have a supply hose rot off at the fitting in the kitchen.
That was exciting

 

[akajun]

I went right thru my house and replaced all the washers with expensive stainless steel seats (reamer needed) and special lifetime guarantee plastic washers ...........problems within six months,and proved to be bulk coarse sand had come thru the town water ,and embedded in the soft plastic.....asked around,and sand is bedding sand used to lay pipes ,careless work by the utility in repair jobs.

Im pretty sure thats whats happening in my town. My neighbor installed a $100 filtration system from Home Depot, the same one I use at my camp to filter our cistern water. One 5 micron filter and two charcoal. He hasn't replaced an o ring or faucet cartridge since.