My kitchen taps were dripping a month ago. They're two lever type and about 20 years old.
I re-washered them and they're still dripping.
Other than fitting new washers was there something else I should have done?
petefj
The question is, was the seat all lime scaled up perhaps? I do not like taps that only allow a certain amount of turn. Much prefer the ones you can tighten properly in case the seat is rough or slightly damaged. Brian
It's mostly the cold water tap that drips with me. I've found that a smear of silicone grease on everything inside helps stop it (the mating faces of the alumina inserts and the o-ring seals). Paradoxically, the tap still drips when the pressure goes low (as it does twice a day, early mornings and early evenings, in the summer due to high demand by holidaymakers) but stops dripping when the pressure comes back up.
Possibly you will need to "reseat the tap": use a tool with a file-like head to flatten and smooth the valve seat. It is called a "tap reseating tool", unsurprisingly.
A long leak can wear a radial groove in then valve seat, and a new washer will not seal well against the grooved seat.
Thomas Prufer
grind a new seat ? ....
I honestly never knew you could do this to a tap. It shows my level of diy skills doesn't it? Many thanks for all the replies. petefj
In my reply, I assumed your taps were quarter-turn lever types with ceramic disc inserts. I think others have assumed they're conventional taps with rubber washers. Grinding a new seat is fine for the latter, but I don't think you can do it with the former, BIMBW. Which have you got?
Quote "They're two lever type", which I assume means quarter turn.
"I re-washered them and they're still dripping". Hmm. I assumed he meant he'd put new ceramic discs in. If you're saying they're rubber washers, I didn't know lever taps used conventional washers. How does that work, then?
If they are lever type then that means ceramic cartridges which have an O ring to provide a leak-proof seal where the cartridge seats, but the cartridges themselves can wear out.
They can also can get an accumulation of limescale which stops them closing. The O ring should never leak unless a gorilla had previously fitted new inserts.
Maybe remove them, and carefully dismantle and clean. If could be that some grit has come through after a leak was fixed somewhere and has damaged them. Fit new O rings if they are visibly damaged.
'Older style' taps which use washers, rather than the 'modern' 1/4 turn type, do tend to need their seats re-cutting from time to time.
If you peer into the hole where the tap head fits, you should see where the washer 'mates' - a ring about the same size as the washer. If it isn't smooth, then you need to recut the seat. The tool isn't expensive and the process easy and quick. Don't over do it, cut a bit, look, cut a bit more, stop when you get a smooth surface. Let some water flow before turning the tap off to flush out the metal removed etc. In theory, you can cut away too much but it would either need to be an old tap which has be cut several times or bodged. There are videos on YouTube of the process.
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