What causes kitchen sink leakage – 6 common reasons

28th November 2020

Are you the judicious sort of person who doesn’t go things without digging the root cause of the problem? If yes, you are a thousand times better from others who just temporarily nip the issue and again stuck with bigger problems.

This is the same with kitchen sink leakage problems that remain unnoticed and silently kill the sink. We just try a handy technique to deal with this all rather than uprooting its cause. If your kitchen sink also keeps you in trouble despite a repair, research deep and get what are the causes of kitchen sink leakage and troubleshoot accordingly.

When you find out what’s wrong with your sink, you should get a kitchen splashback from Simply Plastics to give the area a fresh new look. With that in mind, here are the 6 most common causes that are spoiling your sink.

Kitchen sink leakage – 6 common causes with reasons

Leaky Faucet

Faucet, the heart of the kitchen sink may prove problematic and cause leakage. Your expensive kitchen sinks ruthlessly get stuck with the faucet leakage and have to pay off.

The leakage may come in the faucet for improperly screwed washers. When nuts and washers are loose, the faucet fails to build pressure and continuously drips water. To deal with this leaking faucet, you have to reestablish water connections tightly or if it is beyond fix, go for a replacement that will be a permanent solution, too.

Faulty drain

The sink drain is the prime suspect of the leakage and most of the time it is the drain that causes water spillage. There could be the two possible causes of leakage from this spot, one the weaken putty and second the loose screws of the mounting assembly.

Plumber’s putty act as a sealant for the sink drain and prevents water to escape from the bowel but when it gets weaken, either due to excessive use or dried. In both of the cases, the sink drain assembly gets exposed to the water and it finds a way to spill. On the other hand, if the screwed assembly beneath the sink is not properly mounted, water will leak from the spaces. In this case, you have to consider the reinstalment of flange or gasket with tightened screws. If there is a need for the putty, place it to secure the seal.

Loose water connections

Most commonly, there are two water connections of the kitchen sink, but if there is a separate sprayer, there must be three connections. Each of these supply lines is prone to cause leakage.

As these connections are beyond the sight and may run for months being unnoticed. If your sink is also having a leakage problem from this point, means the gasket is corroded and failed to make the connection successful. You have to replace the gasket to stop this leakage and also tighten the screws holding the connectors.

Clogged drain line or P-trap

P-trap is the curved pipe under the sink that prevents the foul smells from seeping through the drain. In most of the cases, food debris and larger food chunks gather in the pipe and block the flow. This blockage hinders the smooth flow of water and pressure build-up on the pipe that causes leakage.

Another cause of this leakage could be the corrosion that may block the drain pipe.

Dented washer                 

The washers are the most common causes of sink leakage especially linked to the faucet. Whenever you use the faucet, the washer faces friction with the valve seat and is pressed. This pressure results in wearing out of the washers and they start losing strength.

Corroded valve seat and O-ring

The valve seat is the connection between the faucet and spout. When you open the faucet, the washer is set on the seat and allows water to drain. In this process, the washer is most susceptible to sit in accumulated water and get corroded. This area around the spout starts leaking and causing trouble.

A stem screw helps in the placement of the faucet at the sink that is further fixed with a disc-shaped ring, called O-ring. This ring assures that faucet is tightly fixed and no water comes out of it. When you use the faucet, this ring is displaced and can wear out especially, if you open it up jerkily. This loose ring deprives to seal the water cause leakage of the faucet near the handle.

The best advice to deal with an old worn ring is don’t try to fix an old one. It is better to replace it with a new O-ring for a functional faucet and enjoy a leakage-free sink.