Delta 2 handled kitchen faucet eating seats

[Watson524]

Hi all,

I'm a DIYer but I consider myself in the above average of handy category. An older friend of mine had a 2 handle kitchen faucet that was constantly dripping and the same in her bathroom faucet. She asked if I could help her out and said that she had someone in the past (several years ago) replace the seats and springs and he told her cartridges would be next. I told her generally if it's leaking out the faucet it's the seats and springs and it's only the cartridge when it's coming out under the handles but she wanted to start fresh. I replaced cartridges, seats and springs in all 4 handles. Bathroom has had no issue (tho you could tell things were old when they came out), things came out, new things went in, no more dripping. Kitchen is a different story.

Replaced cartridges and seats/springs and all was fine, no more dripping. Cold has been fine since (about 6 weeks). About 3 weeks after initial replacement, the hot side started REALLY dripping again. I went down and took it apart and the seat on the hot side had a grove in the top of it. Thinking I didn't have something seated right, I replaced that seat again. Was good for about 3 weeks, no issues at all, all of a sudden starts dripping bad again tonite. I haven't seen it live yet but I'm going to suspect the same thing. Any idea what the heck could be going wrong? She does have somewhat hard water and when I initial did the cartridges I had to clean out some scale to get the spring to go down on its own without being forced down and get the seat to sit flat on it etc. I suspected maybe a spec of calcium got in there and grooved the new seat but that's just a guess on my part.

Since I'm assuming I'm going to find the same groove in the top of the seat where it contacts the cartridge, any ideas what would cause this or how to fix it? Faulty cartridge or something possibly?

thanks in advance!

 

[hj]

I have seen something like that happen when NON-oem seats were used.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Dj2]

I would replace the faucet.
Why? Because it's cheaper, faster and even looks nicer.

The days of repairing old faucets are just about over. Anyone who values his time and efforts would agree.

 

[hj]

I suppose you also trade in your car when the ashtray gets full. I repair faucets all the time and SELDOM have to replace them. If you are using $19.95 "blue light specials" then I can see them as a "throw away instead of repair" item.

 

[Dj2]

I suppose you also trade in your car when the ashtray gets full. I repair faucets all the time and SELDOM have to replace them. If you are using $19.95 "blue light specials" then I can see them as a "throw away instead of repair" item.

I don't smoke, never have and never will. My ashtray is full of receipts not cigarette butts. We also don't have a Kmart or blue light specials here no more. It took awhile, but Kmart is finally gone. Sears is next.

Look, this guy had 2 or 3 callbacks already, and he is still struggling with a drip. My suggestion is valid, that is what I would have done. And BTW, I use Delta products.

 

[Smooky]

HJ may be on to something about the seat quality. About 17 years ago I had this same problem with a delta faucet at the house. After I had changed the seats for the third time in a year I went to the store and got a Danco pro-value-pak of 50 seats and springs. I put a set in the faucet and put the pak in the drawer. I still got the other 48 in the drawer. There must have been some difference in the individual packs of seats that I had bought vs the bulk pak. I’m glad I did not throw the faucet away.

 

[Watson524]

I called Delta to get their opinion and they said that the big box stores don't turn over inventory and they suspect the seats had been sitting around and dried out (I disagree but...) Anyway, they're sending a set of seats and springs and cartridges to my friend. In the meantime, I wanted to get her dripping stopped so I tracked down true Delta parts vs the Danco stuff. When I went down and took out the seats and springs and looked at what came out, same groove in the rubber seat. Looks like it's being created from underneath and pushing up on the rubber. So I took the Danco spring and put it on the counter next to the Delta spring, it was slightly higher. To the tune of about 1/16 - 1/8". The Delta spring and seat dropped in much easier so I suspect that perhaps the Danco tollerances aren't what they should be and it was just too compressed and chewing up the rubber over time. The cold side (which has been fine but had a spring from the same Danco set) had a spring that was the same height as the Delta. To be safe, I replaced them both with the Delta parts and hope I don't have to talk about it again