My outdoor faucet is leaking. I was trying to remove the handle so I could replace the washers. I could not get the screw to budge. Now I have stripped the stuck screw. What do I do?
Stuck screw now stripped when trying to remove outdoor faucet handle
screws
Related Solutions
A left handed drill bit a little smaller than the thread size. Be sure to run the drill the correct direction for a left handed drill bit. The idea is to drill it out with a drill turning the direction that will tend to unthread it. If it is stubborn and does not unthread during drilling, use a screw extractor on it (the straight-splined versions (a) generally seem to be a better bet than the twist versions (b).)
It looks like a tamper-resistant hex screw. There are specific wrenches for these.
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Best Answer
You could drill a small hole straight into the screw from above and use a screw extractor (or "ez-out"), it can be a difficult operation with varying degrees of success depending on experience and skill.
Or you could break off the handle, you could then get a grip on the protruding screw with pliers to remove it. The problem is you may or may not be able to procure a replacement handle.
You should probably start looking at replacing the entire faucet just in case your efforts to remove the screw are unsuccessful.