Leaky shut-off one season after new washer

[Chris Branson]

Hi everyone,

Last year I went to turn off the water to my outdoor spigot using the shut-off in the basement and found that there was still water dripping outside. Thanks to the help of many great posts, pictures and videos on the web I was able to replace the washer on the shut-off valve and the leak at the spigot stopped - the spigot was bone dry. I opened the valve for the summer and this year, when I turned off the shut-off, again there's a drip outside.

The pipe from the inside shut-off to the spigot outside is probably about 6 feet. Could this take days to drain, or is it likely actually leaking again? And I'm assuming the washer should last longer than just one season, so any thoughts on what else might be going on?

Thanks!

 

[Jadnashua]

If the valve seat is worn, a new washer can get torn up, so yes, it could be bad again.

To see if it's leaking, or it's just a drainage issue (assuming it won't freeze yet), close the hose bib and leave it. Depending on how fast it's leaking, eventually, it will pressurize the line, so when you open it, you'll have a short burst of pressure. If it's just the line draining, you won't notice any pressure buildup. To speed up the detection process, if you have a screw-on pressure gauge, open the valve with the gauge in place, and see if, over some time, the pressure rises...if it doesn't, there's no leak at your internal shutoff.

My preference for a shutoff would be a 1/4-turn, ball valve...Don't know how hard that might be to replace, but if it's leaking again, I'd probably do that.

On some valves, the valve seat is replaceable. You will need a special tool to get the old one out and screw in a new one, and that should resolve the problem for longer with a new washer.

Have you pulled the stem and looked at the washer?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Chris Branson]

Thanks for the reply Jim. On a whim I went down and tried to give the shutoff a more solid snugging and it had another easy quarter turn left. I was pretty surprised since I'm a chronic over-tightener. I'm not sure if it's something to do with the temperature change, or maybe I was too cautions on the first try, but either way, it was bone dry a day later when I looked at it. I could feel a bit of moisture a bit further inside the pipe but I'll attribute that to just drying out. There was certainly no dripping. Maybe I'll try to turn off the outside spigot and give it a couple of days as a pressure test as you suggested for peace of mind as well, but I think we're probably good for the winter. I agree, come spring when the weather stabilizes, I'm probably going to switch it out to a nice 1/4 turn ball valve AND a frost-free hose bib and stop the (self-inflicted) insanity.