Faucet starts dripping on its own?

My wife and I have separate bathrooms, but she walks by mine on the way out of the bedroom. Every few days, she notices the sink in my bathroom is dripping (or even running at a slow trickle). When this happens, she of course thinks I am being careless about turning the faucet off, and she lets me know it rather enthusiastically. Now, I am the first to admit that I am absent-minded and capable of leaving the faucet on. However, since she scolds me rather severely every time it happens, I am being VERY careful to make sure the faucet is off when I leave the bathroom. I think it's fairly unlikely that I'm leaving it running. But I have to admit, I don't know how it would start by itself, and she doesn't use that sink. Does anybody else have any other explanation, other than that I have to be even more careful?

Depending on the faucet it COULD happen, but we would need a picture of the faucet to see if it could happen to YOURS.

From the valve to the end of the spout, depending on the design, can hold water for awhile (like a finger over a straw), but eventually, it will leak out. That may be what she is seeing. It could also be a defective cartridge in the faucet. It may be totally normal.

Thanks! Here's a picture. Does it help?

There should be no functional reason for that faucet to suddenly turn itself on, but if the internal mechanism is failing, it may NOT turn all the way off every time you lower the handle, (I have one like that I will repair today). AS for the "enthusiastic reminder", I have one like that also. She tells me every time she has to do something, or tells me about it and then leaves if for me to do, but when she leaves a light on, or something, I just turn it off, period.

hj said:

AS for the "enthusiastic reminder", I have one like that also. She tells me every time she has to do something, or tells me about it and then leaves if for me to do, but when she leaves a light on, or something, I just turn it off, period.

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You must be married to my wife's twin sister.

I get sarcastic enthusiastic comments whenever to soft close toilet seat is found in the up position. I explain to her that the dog must have done it after drinking at the well.