Pressure tank faucet leaking.

museic · Dec 8, 2010

Hi, I don't know too much about plumbing and I'm looking for a little help!

This should be a pretty easy fix I think.

First of all I'm not sure of the exact terminology here, but the faucet immediately following the pressure tank in our utility room is leaking. Does this faucet have a special name? The faucet I'm talking about looks something like this from this website... Well head & pressure tank pictures / illustrations

Anyway this faucet has probably never been used, but I happened to try it out, and it was leaking out of the shaft part when I turned it on. Quite a bit of water I might add. So anyone know if I need to replace the whole faucet or a simple way to determine the part that needs to be replaced?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

majakdragon · Dec 8, 2010

On the stem (shaft), just below the handle, is a nut. Open the valve and tighten the nut a half turn or so. This nut has packing material under it and since the valve was not used for a long period, the packing probably dried out.

museic · Dec 8, 2010

Ok. Thanks! I'll give it a shot. So does this faucet have a special name? I understand it is before the shutoff for the rest of the house. The "emergency faucet" or something?

museic · Dec 8, 2010

Fixed! Easy enough, thanks again! So when I tightened the nut, the valve became harder to open. I'm guessing there is just a happy medium between leaking and too tight? Anyway thanks!

majakdragon · Dec 9, 2010

Some people call this valve a faucet since it can be used as an outside spigot. I have always called them boiler drains since that is where I have used them the most. Glad you got your problem fixed. The reason the valve got tighter was that the packing is putting resistance on the stem, while it seals the leak. This is why I stated to tighten the nut 1/2 turn.

SlowDrip · Dec 9, 2010

majakdragon said:
Some people call this valve a faucet since it can be used as an outside spigot. I have always called them boiler drains since that is where I have used them the most.

Ugh, try working retail. I get 50 people a day looking for a "faucet" which don't actually want a faucet at all. Usually it is a boiler drain, or a shutoff or even a frost-free sillcock.