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My house is a little over 20 yrs old (relatively new). I've had to change the rubber seat in the faucets several times already (one faucet at least 10 times in the last 10 yrs) in all the bathroom sinks. This means I had to remove the set screw from the faucet handle to access the cartridge, rubber seat, etc.

They have always come off even when they seemed frozen. Recently, for some reason, 4/6 screws were stuck really good and I guess I used too much elbow grease and stripped the screw b/c now my allen wrench doesn't catch and turn the screw anymore.

My question is how often do set screws get frozen such that they get stripped when we try to remove them? How do I prevent this in the future? Should I apply silicone grease on set screws or something? Are set screws something that needs to be replaced every like 5 yrs to prevent something like this happening? My parents home is like 70 yrs old but I don't remember a set screw ever getting frozen or stripped when it was getting repaired.

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    one faucet at least 10 times in the last 10 yrs That sounds like a LOT. Which means either something in your water is messing things up or you have a really poor quality faucet. Fixing it every year is crazy - unless it is a gold-plated work of art, just replace it with a higher-quality faucet. Commented Mar 24 at 18:32
  • Use anti-seize compound on the screw; put a plug in the set screw hole so water does not seep in; Fill the hole with silicone grease as suggested. Commented Mar 24 at 18:34
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    how often you ask = NEVER Commented Mar 24 at 19:49

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There are varying quality of both set screws and allen wrenches. The lower quality ones are made of softer metal and are more prone to stripping. It has been my experience that set screws are usually hard material whilst allen wrenches may be a softer metal, especially cheap ones that are shipped with the likes of faucet kits.

You may want to inspect your allen wrench. If the corners of the hex on the end have been rounded off this may be what is preventing you from removing the set screws. This would particularly apply if you have been using the same tool repeatedly over years. Try using a new allen wrench that is made of hard heat treated metal.

Try to inspect the set screw if possible. If the hex slot is so stripped that a decent quality allen wrench cannot get a bite in the slot then this is an indicator that the screw is probably a soft metal one.

Here are some possible alternatives you could try to remove the stripped out set screw. I've used these techniques various times over the years.

  1. Get an allen wrench that is one size up from the nominal size of the slot in the set screw. Grind off the flats on the end of the wrench at a slight angle to taper the end so the very end approaches the slot size in the screw. Then force the wrench into the screw and hold it in tight while trying to turn it. The new bite may be all it takes to remove the set screw.

  2. Use a small flat blade screw driver that has a hardened tip. Grind or file off the edges of the blade to a taper that would just fit into the slot of the set screw. It may also be necessary to thin the blade some depending on the screw driver you started with. Then jam the tip into the set screw slot and turn to try to loosen the screw.

Note with both of these techniques it is necessary that the corners of the modified tool are sharp so they can bite into the set screw slot. It will be more effective on a softer metal set screw. If you do manage to get the set screws out then make sure to plan replacing them with new ones.

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