Help ! changed bath tap washers and now no water

[JWH]

Hi, i replaced both hot and cold bath tap washers. both hot and cold sides feed into the one bath tap exit nozzle. it is the standard u.k. set up. i.e. boiler outside downstairs at the back of a two storey terraced house and electric immersion heater tank in the bedroom next to the bathroom and a cold water tank in the roof of the house. i guess this system is 15 to 20 years old, i.e. the potterton heating boiler is that kind of age.

the turn off supply stop taps to the bathroom taps and the toilet in the bathroom are in the bedroom. but even turned fully off they do not completely stop the gentle rise of water out of the bath tap holes once the washers are removed. to prevent flooding i find if just keep the sink taps running slowly that are downstairs in the kitchen it does stop this gentle flow upstairs, whilst i change the washers.

i had new washers ready to go and the change over only took fifteen minutes or so. great. but now no water comes out of the bath taps. (yes i did turn on the turn off supply taps in the bedroom again :) water will now come out of the bathroom 'basin' taps ok, but only the occasional drip i.e. next to nothing from the bath taps. grateful for any advice, thanks.

[professorpaul]

Are the stems coming out (up) as you twist the tap? Did you get the right sized washers?

The slow drip was just water pressure bleeding down. In a job like that, you shut off main valve, then drain the system down at the lowest point, then change washers whereever...

[JWH]

Many thanks professorpaul. Actually the washers were a bit on the big side (i.e. in diameter). the ones i ideally want are 24mm in dia but the only ones i could find here in north London, Finchley area are a few mm bigger in diameter. So i forced them down over the brass threads (pushed down a bit hard). But since the diameter in the hole ( around where the washer seats down) was wider below the threads, i was thinking this would be o.k.? Since the washers don't actually come up into the brass threads because they mesh with the brass housing i tighten in with the ring spanner.

Do hope this makes some sense as i dont have the technical terms for all this, and am not so good at explaining.

[John]

You are taking the p**s right? Or you are a troll!

Cheers

John

[professorpaul]

I'd make it a point to get the right size. Take the old ones with you when you go to the hardware store (ironmonger???). Also a good plumbing supply house should have what you need. No idea how easy/common such things are over there.

[Phil Anthropist]

Sounds like the washers are the wrong size. The only other explanation I know of is that the taps are the rising spindle type and you removed the small metal clip (looks like the Omega symbol) that sits in the spindle groove and didn't replace it in the correct groove, and when you re-fitted the taps the spindle and washers were in the down/water off position. If that happened then the tap handles will turn clockwise and anticlockwise but the spindle and washer don't actually rise and fall in relation to the tap seat. If you didn't remove the small metal clips then it's back to the wrong size washers. I think you have asked about this before. If so, I recommended that you take the internal tap assembly to a plumbers merchant to get new washers to match the old.

Omega symbol:

[JWH]

Many thanks to all, (except John). Since the washers were only a tad oversized i assumed that wasn't going to be a problem and it was something complicated like an air lock. I got a scapel blade and shaved carefully all around the washer to get it to the original size and bingo, it all works fine. we novices do suffer you know. thanks for your kind patience.

[Phil Anthropist]

Well done, you can't get more DIY than that!

[Mike]

Cutting the washers out of old tyre inner tube.

Mike