Moen Faucet Install Leak - It Is Junk?

artinall

Spent better part of the day buying a Moen, single lever for a bath vanity sink and trying to get it to work. Sink is the older 'cultured marble'

Bought (1) Moen and started to install when I discovered there were several missing pieces (under sink mounts that cinch the faucet down).

So I made another trip back to Home Depot, spread the parts out on the counter proving the missing pieces, got the exchange and spread its pieces out and verified all were present with the sales assistant.

Then installed the second one, before testing.

Everything was okay with the drain plugged shut. Lines and all. Then released the drain. All appeared okay. A few minutes passed and I noticed below the bowl, a trickle between the drain pipe threads and the retainer nut used to exert pressure up on the seal (coming not from the plumbers putty seal through the drain above)

Apparantly this leak bypasses the lower seal. Noticeably thinner than the replacement, and of course, the retainer nut and pipe and everything down below are now all lets-see-if-we-can-wring-a-few-more-cents-a-unit plastic that flex and don't exert the same constant pressure as did the steel ones with thicker, rubber gaskets. Important when you're sealing onto poured marble sinks having slightly irregular outlets.

How to stop the leak?

KillerToiletSpider

Your first mistake was buying a faucet from Home Despair.

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buildenterprise

Buy a drain that doesn't have the overflow slots, that's where the water's coming from.

KillerToiletSpider

That is not good advice.

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Ron The Plumber

Use pipe dope, how, sorry if this was a DIY forum I'd tell you.

Did you not know your not suppose to use putty on cultured marble.

neolitic

If I'm reading you right, I had the same
problem (albeit it was a brass pop-up)
not long ago.
I buttered the rubber gasket with
teflon dope, and it sucked right in
the bottom of the bowl.
Sealed like a champ.

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(Sorry....it seems there really are dumb questions)

Teetorbilt

If you're installing the cheap, plastic Moen's there is no way to tighten them enough without pulling the flange off. The 'rubber' donut will not seal the threads.

What I do is run a bead of silicone caulk (the same stuff that you'll use around the sink rim) ahead of the donut/gasket and then tighten everything up. It will seal the threads until the gasket takes a set.

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stp57

Thanks Teetorbilt,
I had the same problem lately & putty didn't do jack. I'll use silicone next time.
Steve

artinall

Teetorbilt - Between the gasket and the threads? Will it ever dry down there?

I know not to use putty on cultured marble for discoloration, but prosper its okay for sealing the drain. It's common.

How about a gasket upgrade? Thicker and more compliant? won't that pipe dope crumble and the silicone wash out?

22rifle

You are at a DIY level with this project. Either hire a plumber or go ask at the DIY forums. This forum is for pros.

Ron The Plumber

Common? Hack Job

Better hire a plumber.

artinall

22rrifle, ron the PLumber,

Obviously you want to call yourselves pros, and engage in promotions. If you don't want to give input, that's fine. It's not that hard of a question.

I can't help but see that machine gun cat. Rather telling.

Ron The Plumber

Read the directions for use of plumbers putty, then do a research on the use and effects of it's use on cultured marble.

Obviously you don't read to well.

When you learn about it then you will know. We gave you the correct answers. Bet your not even a licensed plumber, and doing work illegally is wrong.

We Fix Houses

I've had the same problem. Escalated the fix with pipe dope and putty under the drain rim as describes above. Still didn't work.

I then added a second rubber donut washer where you tighten them up to the bottom of the sink. Fixed the problem.

You will snap off the drain if you tighten the nut too much. The donut washer just doesn't seal up into the drain enough with plastic parts. I now get a couple of addl donut washers when I install.


Steve

Ron The Plumber

I will tell you, if a GC from Oregon comes in here and mentions there doing plumbing work and there not a licensed plumber and don't use plumbers, I'll hunt you down and turn you in to the Contractors Board.

3Kings Plumbing

Here where I live our Board SUCKS!!!! Called in on a plumbing company usuing 22 non license plumbers as subs. That company took the inspector and his wife out to dinner and gave him some pocket money!!! Called in about them again and said everyone was good. (BULLSH*T) I know for a fact that they had illegals working for them.( I used to work for that shady company one of the reasons I left) Half of the GC's in my area think they can do plumbing their selfs. I seen a Handy Man advertising plumbing on the side of his truck with NO PC number. Board said they can't do anything unless the catch them therselves. Bunch of Lazy Azz's

Sorry it's been building up for some time now!

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skyhook

Man, some of you guys are less informed about GCs than the general public. GC and handyman are not synominis. So go ahead, bite the hand that feeds you. But when you run out of work, don't come crying to me.

btw, Moen is a good product imo.

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Herk

Since the movement is to plastic basin drains, I've had to learn to use them. I always prefer brass, and I'm not talking about the junk brass they're putting in the box now, either.

Putting two "donut" washers is not a solution - it's hackwork. And it's called a "mack" washer, not a donut.

As already iterated by previous folks in the know: you never - that's NEVER - use plumber's putty on cultured marble. It will destroy it. It is an oil-based compound and the oil will dissolve and deteriorate the plastic resulting in cracks and discoloration around the drain (or around the faucet if you use it beneath that.)

Will silicone dry on the threads? Yes. Acrylic will not. That's because silicone uses acetic acid to cure, not an air-drying process. I prefer to limit the use of silicone to the drain flange and use a pipe dope that will not dissolve rubber on the threads around the mack washer.

Sometimes, the bottom of the sink bowl is deformed enough as to make sealing difficult. That's compounded by the cheap china and plastic sinks now on the market. The missing quality makes plumbing more difficult, but hey, look how cheap the parts are.

If the plumbing in Taiwan is as bad as the junk they send to the U.S., I'm surprised the whole place hasn't slid off into the ocean by now.

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KillerToiletSpider

They make putty that is safe to use on marble.

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22rifle

Ah yes. I do. That would be because I am a pro. So what's your problem?


That doesn't even make sense.

Then quit your whining.

So? If you had asked that at one of the DIY forums I frequent I would have answered you in depth. But this is not a DIY board. It is for plumbers to hang out and talk. You are intruding. Get out.