Leaky Water Spigot??

[hqueen13]

So I get to my boss's barn this morning to take care of his horses while he's away until Sunday, and find the water spigot with a bucket hanging off of it, trickling, despite the handle being down.
He's got a spigot basically like this one:

And it has a constant trickle of water coming out of it.

Any ideas on what to do to fix it? I know that there is a vertical piece that goes up and down that has something to do with how much water comes out, but I don't really understand how the spigot functions in order to know how to fix it. I'd rather not leave the water to sit there and trickle for 4 days, that's just NOT cool in my book, especially when it is going to be in the high 90's with no rain in sight for at least a week and this water comes from a well that went dry 2 weeks ago (admittedly the family filled their freaking pool, but STILL!).

 

[so lucky]

We have such hard water here that sometimes it appears that a tiny granule of calcium has grown in a crucial spot, and it makes the faucet leak. If we turn the water on full force for a couple of seconds it pushes the granule out. That's the only thing I know to suggest if you are not wanting to tear into the plumbing. Good luck.

 

[Denim Deb]

I think but I'm not sure that there's an adjustment that can be made if it's leaking. Bad thing is, depending on the water that you have, it may have corroded parts of it and the only way to fix it may be to replace it.

 

[hqueen13]

That is exactly what makes me nervous, Deb. Parts of his are rusty, I'm afraid if I mess with it and do something wrong I might end up with a geyser! But 4 days of trickling water is a LOT of water to waste!!

 

[Mr.Andersson]

I was in Lowe's today, and spotted repair kits for these. Believe it or not, other than that, i'm of no help on this "water" issue.

 

[Rebbetzin]

Yikes, if the well goes dry I hope you have another source for water.

If you can fix it to the point where there is just a small leak... Plant mint at the base and leave it at that!

My grandfather always planted mint where he had leaky faucets.

 

[the_whingnut]

you can just cap the end of the fixture with a twist nozzle from a hose. use the nozzle to vent pressure when you need to use it. the little brass twist nozzles are cheap and effective for things like that. (also keep you from getting sprayed in the face by the rusty spigot of doom).

 

[~gd]

you can just cap the end of the fixture with a twist nozzle from a hose. use the nozzle to vent pressure when you need to use it. the little brass twist nozzles are cheap and effective for things like that. (also keep you from getting sprayed in the face by the rusty spigot of doom).

You beat me to that answer! Or a hose to take the water where it is needed.
Seeing that the well had gone dry recently it may have sucked up dirt or grit which is preventing a proper seal If it were mine I would open full blast and flush the line as well as the valve. Whoever left the bucket knew about the drip so I would be a nice guy and cap the pipe to prevent water loss. The repair can be complex let the owner do it!~gd

 

[hqueen13]

Thanks, Guys! I'll see what happens when I get over there today. I left a nifty siphon set up, so we'll see if it worked, sometimes my end isn't low enough to create the suction out of the bucket, so it doesn't work once I leave, LOL. Its fun to play with though

 

[hqueen13]

gd you must have had the answer, I fixed it by accident this afternoon. It must have been dirt or some sort of buildup. I had a funky bucket setup rigged with 3 buckets that should have each taken the overflow from the other (I am almost disappointed I didn't get to see this in action! I was curious to know how many gallons it was leaking from the time I leave in the evening at 5 and the time I return in the morning at 8! LOL). But then I decided to try to connect the short bit of hose that had the sprayer nozzle stuck on it to see if the nozzle would cap the flow off since I didn't have anything to cap the spigot directly. I was messing with it and realized it would have taken quite a while (longer than I wanted to stand there and wait!) to fill the hose to enough pressure to make it leak if it was going to. So I turned the pump on, and at first didn't get enough pressure, but then finally turned the handle all the way up, and discovered that the sprayer was going to leak anyway, so there was no point in leaving it on. So I turned the water off, released the pressure in the hose and then unhooked the hose, and voila, no leak!
We'll see if it is still that way tomorrow morning when I get there...
Who knows how long the thing has been dripping... and all it took was turning it on and off again!