Stubborn dripping tap

[Peter Chant]

Stubborn dripping bath tap at parents house. It is a traditional 3/4 bath tap of about 1970 vintage. Father replaced the washer when the old one split. It dripped. Reseated it, second new washer, and it still drips.

I'm a bit puzzled on what to try next, three observations:

1. Reseating tool feedscrew seems damaged making it stiff and difficult to adjust over minute increments - however was still able to adjust it in under

1/8 turn increments whilst reseating. Small radial marks are present on seating, but you cannot feel these and they are barely visible. Given the coarseness of the cutter I doubt if a better finish could be acheived without grinding the surface of the seat on an oil stone - which of course is not practical.

Is is perhaps time to replace the reseating tool.

1. Could water be leaking through via the central nut that holds the washer in place? As not all of the central spigot that holds on the washer is threaded if washers have got thinner then perhaps the nut is tightening down on the end of the thread rather than the washer. Should I put a brass washer between the nut and the tap washer?

1. The fibre washer that the tap head beds down on has seen better days. Did not replace it at the time as did not have a spare handy. However, can't see how this could affect a turned off tap, I don't see how a damaged fibre washer would prevent the washer bedding on its seat.

Any thoughts? Don't wish to replace the taps as all the taps at present match - an odd one would stand out. Also it is bound to be fiddly and pipework is quite likely 3/4" rather than 22mm.

Thanks,

Pete

[Rob Graham]

Why not just try a washer under the nut as you suggest? This may be the cure.

Rob Graham

[MuddyMike]

I have found that tap washers come in many qualities and some times thicknesses. You may simply have a supply of thin or poor quality washers. The other possibility is that the tap has been re seated before and the seat is now at the limits of the reach of the action. Try a spacer behind the washer, or a thicker washer.

Mike

[shazzbat]

Does the tap seating look a nice and yellow brassy colour, or does it have a reddish tinge? Dezinctification of the brass is quite likely in a tap of this age, especially if it's in a hard water area.

If you need to change the taps, the nut that screws onto the bottom of the tap will be the same (BSP) thread whether the pipework is 22mm or 3/4". And if parents are 'of an age' it may be best to think about 1/4 turn lever taps, much easier to use if arthritis may be an issue.

Steve

[Mr Pounder]

If you look at the washer very closely you will see that the edges are tapered - one side is ever so very slightly bigger. Turn it the other way around and see what happens.

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[Peter Chant]

Didn't have one handy at the time and it was a bit late to go looking. However, worth a go.

[Peter Chant]

Tried two washers, one before reseating, a second after. Swapped washers as my father was not sure how old the the spare one he put in was, having no recollection of ever changing that orginal washer in 40 odd years...!

Pete

[Peter Chant]

It looked nice and yellow brassy to me. However, it is a hard water area as there is a 1/8" stalagmite on the end of the tap. I'm a bit concerned to be honest with the reseating as the stopcock is not quite holding and I reseated that probably 2 years ago when changing the washer on that. I suspect that stopcock is only about 10 years old.

Of course, there are two common factors there, the tool and the tool using it...

The handbasin cold tap, bought as a set with the bath taps, did have a flaw in the casting in the seat - I don't know if that is any indication of likelihood of dezincification. (an aside: father had had to reseat so often there was no seat left, I ground a groove into the tap body around where the seating once was to make a "new" seat, reseated and it works fine. However, if that had failed tap was for the bin anyway.)

Good to know it has not changed. However, I'd like to change tap as last resort as there'd be an odd one and I'm a little paranoid that the new one would need say 1/4" adjustment to the pipework and I just know there will be no slack...

Fortunately parents don't have any serious issues with respect to arthritus, so for the moment I'd leave the taps as they are - subject to them working.

Thanks for your suggestions.

[Peter Chant]

Had tried two washers. Second washer has 3/4" embossed on it, so put the embossing on the side away from the seating. Will turn it over. However, such embossing seems like a daft idea.

[Mr Pounder]

The chamfering is hard to notice. I *think* the big side goes down.

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[ErikErik]

If it has a cartridge, replace it

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