Thought I could fix my leaky kitchen faucet with a rubber band and a zip tie

The cold water handle on my Moen faucet had a slow drip, so I watched a video saying to wrap a thick rubber band around the cartridge stem and secure it with a zip tie. It stopped the drip for about two hours, then the pressure built up and blew the handle clean off, spraying water all over my cabinets in Portland. Has anyone actually had a good result with a hardware hack like this, or should I have just bought the $15 replacement part from the start?

3 comments

3 Comments

jordang321mo ago

Did we just invent a new kind of water feature?

hugo_bennett1mo ago

Oh man, @jordang32, that looks like a total plumbing disaster. Really feel for you right now.

michaelchen23d ago

Did we just invent a new kind of water feature?" lol yeah, a really expensive one that you didn't sign up for. My buddy Dave had something similar happen last winter, pipe burst in his basement while he was at work. Came home to find his gaming setup floating in like 2 inches of water, his PC was toast. Took him a solid week to dry everything out and fix the drywall, not to mention the mold he found behind the baseboards later. Hopefully your insurance covers it better than his did.