The city responded to a water main break down the block last night. When they shut off the water to repair it, a bathroom faucet started to drip at the spout. It was more like a thin stream/dripping. I opened and closed the faucet; no difference in the stream open or closed. This is a second story faucet. When opening other faucets on that level there was no pressure at all. The water supply is back on now and the faucet is not dripping.
I figure this is an early sign of something. The fixture is about 25 years old. Could you please comment on what could be wrong and what I should do about it.
Thanks for your help.
Faucet dripping only when water main shut off
faucet
Related Solutions
I have an American Standard Cadet 2-handle faucet which does precisely the same thing. And don't feel lonely, I do the same as you too. lol I bet the final pesky dripping has to do with the associated residual layer of water on the inside of the pipes after the handles are turned off. Just like an upended ketchup bottle which is empty enough to no longer squirt, but left inverted will eventually cease dripping once gravity has removed the layer of ketchup from the inside surfaces. I realize this is opinion, however I've pondered the pesky drips while sitting in my tub many, many times over the years. That's pretty personal experience...
Diverting the leak up to the shower head using the diverter valve should not be a problem, but your assumption that fixing it will be "pretty easy" may not prove to be true. You are correct in that hot and cold supply to the tub/shower valve needs to be shut off. Sometimes apartment shower valves have built in shut-off valves called integral stops.
Sometimes apartments are equipped with individual remote shut-offs. Sometimes the whole building will need to be shut down. Removing the valves may require special tools like deep valve sockets.
The repair may be simple washer replacement or may require more complicated cartridge replacement.
I do recommend that you try it but make sure your landlord is cool with it in case something breaks, and have back up shower facilities available in case it ends up being out of service for a while.
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Best Answer
Single handle faucets or washer less actually use the pressure as part of the mechanism to stop the flow, when the pressure is reduced two far some start dripping. I usually have standard rubber washers and several sizes of O-rings for washerless faucets to replace when they start dripping, if after the pressure is restored the drip has stopped I would not worry until it starts dripping with normal pressure. Usually once a washerless starts dripping you have months to repair.