How To Fix a Water Leak Behind the Handle of an Outdoor Faucet

Hey guys , Scott here with everyday home repairs .

We are addressing a water leak that , uh , that we have in an outdoor spigot or outdoor faucet .

And , uh , the water is leaking from behind the handle if you , uh , have a water leak at your faucet and you feel like it's coming out this top part , which is called the , uh , anti siphon valve .

There is actually , you can check out this video .

Uh , we'll walk you through how to repair that .

That's a really quick and easy , uh , repair and that will address that top anti Siphon valve today .

Uh We had that leak , but also we have the leak that is actually behind the handle and that's the one we're addressing , uh , with checking it out and seeing if we just need to tighten the nut or maybe there's some , uh , some of the o rings or gaskets are worn down and need to be replaced .

So stay tuned and we'll jump into it .

So we'll start with taking the small bolt here which actually secures the handle to the stem that's behind it .

This one and possibly years two was really rusty .

So what we , what I had done is taken some W D 40 and kind of spray it on that to try to penetrate the rust , sprayed some on there .

Waited a few minutes , sprayed some more of that type of thing .

So usually you can use a flathead screwdriver and that will get it .

This one was pretty tight .

So I actually got a socket out .

This is a 38 socket which will fit this bolt and I was able to use that and loosen up , holding the handle loosen up that bolt and now it's nice and loose .

I can just use the screwdriver , holding the handle .

I do not have the water off .

In this instance , you might want to turn the water off .

What I'm trying to do is just not turn the stem so that water will not come through this outdoor , especially while we're just kind of addressing the initial issue .

All right , that is a nice and Russ Steb .

This one's probably been in say 20 years , 20 years hasn't had any service done .

Ok .

So here , here's the nut .

This is a right hand tighten nut .

So when you turn it right , it tightens , there are also left hand and I think those are usually tan .

So you might see a white one which is a right hand tighten or a tan one which would be a left hand tighten .

This one at least was ham loose .

That alone can be your source .

So you could tighten this down and see if that stops your leak by putting the handle back on , screwing it back down , turning the stem , see if that stops your leak .

I'm going to actually remove this , which you can remove with a pair of pliers .

Or this is actually if you already have your socket set out 78 , so a 78 socket fits the , I take it out .

What I'm looking for is the O ring and gasket .

I want to see the condition of those .

If those look bad , that's probably going to be the BS U .

Ok .

Here's the L ring .

Don't look too bad .

Now , there's the gasket that already looks a little dried out .

Let me try to take it out of there .

Yeah .

Ok .

You see it's , it's got cracks in it , chunks missing , broken .

So that is definitely not going to make a good seal .

Um And that's most likely the source of our or a problem .

I did grab a repair kit here that has all the parts we need to go and make .

It actually has many of the parts for the kind of tan one .

There is the left hand titan nut .

We have the white one .

So that's the right hand tighten net and many other components you can actually rebuild , you can remove this entire stem and then there's some additional gaskets in there that you can rebuild .

We're just going to do this nut and see if that works for us .

All right .

So I grab those components out .

All right .

So really in the kit , I'm taking the white nut , the O ring that's gonna go on there .

All right .

So now we got the O ring on and then this right hand gasket there .

Don't worry , the gasket that you took off had a concave shape .

This one just has a cylindrical shape .

That's OK .

That's still going to work .

So you can either put it in here or you can actually put it on the stem itself and push it down and then , and then push this new , not on there .

And when that tightens down , it's gonna conform to the shape of that , that uh cone that's on the , the nut .

All right .

Tighten this guy down again whenever you're dealing with plastic parts .

Be a little careful .

Don't , don't over tighten them , you're going to get yourself in a situation where you're going to break the components and then you got to start over , go get another kit .

All right .

That's pretty darn tight .

Um Again , my handle actually , I , I did notice when I brought that handle off , it's cracked .

I don't know if you can see that .

Let me see the crack right there .

Um So I did there .

You can also , as you can kind of tell all these are replacement parts , right .

So I got a little handle kit .

Um Nice hands that comes to the bolt .

My bolt was really rusty .

So I can just swap that guy out , open that up .

Put that new handle on , match up the square here .

10 .

Be careful not to cross thread .

So make sure you got the bolt lined up .

Tighten that down .

All right .

Now , go ahead and turn that on .

Ok .

We got water out 10 and we are water tight on the sun .

Nice .

So I fixed it .

So that's it .

So now throughout two videos , this video , we swapped out the nut inside and then also the gasket and the O ring which fixed our water leak behind the handle and don't forget there .

I do have another video out there for any water leaks or any issues you're having with the anti siphon valve .

So those are kind of the two most common and I actually had both those areas leaking on this outdoor spigot .

So if you like these type of videos to help you kind of repair and maintain your house , don't forget to subscribe to our channel and then uh if this helps you out , go ahead and give us a like and we appreciate you joining us here on everyday home repairs .

Take care .