# Why would faucet leak when shut off at main supply?



## barbienot (Jan 29, 2012)

Our tub has been leaking for several weeks. It is washerless so the hardware store needs the plastic spout/insert to replace properly. We shut off the water at our main supply on the street to remove this piece, opened all the sinks faucets to drain water. The tub spout is still leaking as before, even with no water on!


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## Hardway (Dec 28, 2011)

barbienot said:


> Our tub has been leaking for several weeks. It is washerless so the hardware store needs the plastic spout/insert to replace properly. We shut off the water at our main supply on the street to remove this piece, opened all the sinks faucets to drain water. The tub spout is still leaking as before, even with no water on!


 
do you have shower? if so the water in dripping down from the shower head supply.


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## barbienot (Jan 29, 2012)

yes we do - diverter etc. it's been leaking for 30 minutes, will it stop? would this cause other leak that we thought was the faucet piece?


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

If someone installed the old style gate or globe type shut off it may just not shut off completly. It needs a ball valve for a positive way of shutting it off.
And no that has nothing to do with a dripping shower valve before you shut the main off.


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## Hardway (Dec 28, 2011)

barbienot said:


> yes we do - diverter etc. it's been leaking for 30 minutes, will it stop? would this cause other leak that we thought was the faucet piece?


open the diverter and an drain it. is this duplex or a ranch?


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## barbienot (Jan 29, 2012)

Thank you all for the replies. This is in a single story house (very old) but the plumbing is fairly new. The shower/tub has Delta washerless system hot / cold / diverter / spout / shower. The spout has been leaking non-stop for several weeks. I thought it was the hot water side because we had to replace the washer & post a few years ago in it. Most of the house has cut-off's on the water lines. Only the shower did not. So we would not have to leave all the water off while replacing the tub pieces we wanted to install cut-offs on the copper lines to the tub. Cut off the water at the street, drained all the water lines, bath - kitchen - etc. The tub spout continued it's leak. Rotating the diverter made no difference. I cut the hot water line & placed a GatorBite ball valve on it. Have not yet done the cold. The leak remains the same no matter what is on or off. I realize the shower will leak to some extent but should stop at some point. A friend who does remodeling told me it could be coming from the hot water tank but this is not so because when I cut the hot water line to install the ball valve there was not leaking there and the tub spout leaked even while this was apart. Will check the same when installing cutoff on cold water but plan to replace the complete tub fixture. I wanted to do this originally but the sales guy told me the glacier bay would not fit where a delta system was installed & I would need to bring it all in to make sure the new set would hook up. Again thank you for your help here. I know this is long but wanted to explain the entire job so you would not think I was disregarding your suggestions.


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## plummen (Jan 10, 2010)

Like joe said it could be the stop box outside thats not completely turning off,does your house have a water meter inside with a valve on each side of it?
If you have globe valves or gate valves on either side of your meter id replace them with full port ball valves myself.
As far as the new tub/shower faucet id check and see if the old style multi handle faucets are allowed for replacements in your area,some areas only allow the single handle anti-scald faucets anymore.
GO MOEN!:laughing:


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