DancoInc. 80794 Faucet Stem Packing, 3/32 in Dia X 36 in L, PTFE, White

AOK

Makes quick work for repairing faucets leaking at the stem. Simply turn off the water, remove the handle, unscrew the top gland nut and remove the old packing. Put the packing into the void preferably in a clockwise direction. You need to use enough packing that when you install the gland nut it compresses the packing. If you tighten the glandnut too tight the handle will be too hard to turn. Conversely, if you don’t install enough packing or don’t tighten the gland nut enough water will leak around the stem.

I have several old faucets that require periodic packing. I have tried bothgraphite and Teflon packing which are generally considered to be interchangeablefor such an application. However, I have found that some of the faucetspack better with graphite while others do better with Teflon. You may haveto experiment to see which works best for you application. In addition, you canget actual string that is impregnated with graphite, but it is no longer widelyused. I have posted a variation of this review for a couple of similar packingproducts on Amazon.This Danco product is a standard 36" Teflon rope. This is not Teflon tape. Itis approximately the size of thick kite string that can be easily stretchedwithout breaking. (As compared with graphite packing which is an extruded puttythat can pulls apart if stretched.) You wind the string around the stem in thesame rotational direction as you use to tighten the retaining nut. The stringthen fills small gaps as you tighten the nut. This type of packing is best for faucets that have fairly close toleranceswith only small gaps that need to be filled. If you have larger voids andirregularities, graphite packing is probably a better choice.

I had an older faucet leaking from the stem I couldn't find packing rope at my local home centers. Ordered online and arrived in a few days. Worked like a charm.

Year ago, packing rope was made from string that was impregnated with graphite. It worked great. This is what replaced it and it does a great job and is easier to use. Nice replacement to the old stuff.