Tap washer advice please

[Chris Hogg]

We have a quarter-turn kitchen tap that's started a slow drip. In days of old, before quarter-turn taps were invented, changing the washer was a simple procedure. You just bought (or dug out of the plumbing bits box) a standard washer that fitted all taps of that size. But with quarter-turn taps I'm not so sure. I have this feeling that the washers aren't yet standardised, and you have to have a washer specific to that make/design of tap, in which case I'll have to take the tap apart twice, once to find out what washer is needed, and the second time to fit it.

Is it really that complicated, or are the washers standardised? It's a

15mm fitting, BTW.

[GB]

You can usually replace the quarter turn gubbins with an old fashioned tap head. One of these:

It's often worth doing that whilst you source a replacement ceramic valve, because as you say these are all different. And yes, it's all a PITA.

[Tim+]

There is no washer in a quarter turn tap. They have a ceramic disc cartridge and you just replace the whole cartridge. Very straightforward once you've found the right replacement.

I find the easiest way to do that is to pull it out and then do a Google image search to identify it. Bazillions cheaply available on eBay.

Tim

[Roger Hayter]

They also do quarter-turn washer taps that simply have a very wide pitch thread on the taphead. In my very limited experience some of them use standard 1/2" tap washers of the old-fashioned kind. I expect some don't thought.

[Tim+]

Didn't know that. You live and learn... Ta.

Tim

[Alan Dawes]

Before buying a new cartridge, dunk the old one in some warm citric acid or vinegar or descaler and open and close it a few times. That will dissolve the limescale that often forms on the disc and stops it from fully closing.

Alan

[Harry Bloomfield]

Chris Hogg formulated the question :

They don't use washers. They use a ceramic seal and usually they become choked up with lime scale build up, then fail to seal. Take the tap module out, set it to open and leave it to soak in lime scale remover for a while. Maybe open and close it in the liquid whilst soaking. Then refit.

[Chris Hogg]

Thanks Harry, but see my replies to Tim+ and Alan.

[Chris Hogg]

Thanks, I'll try that, although I'm not very hopeful, as we don't live in a hard water area. But they add so much to water supplies these days, including lime/chalk to raise the pH to assist clarification and reduce corrosion of concrete tanks and pipes, so who knows...

[Chris Hogg]

Yes , I realise that. I was using the term loosely!

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OK, I'll try!

[newshound]

+1 about trying descaler.

Also, isn't there an online supplier of spares that others have posted very positively about?

[Harry Bloomfield]

[e-mail] has brought this to us :

Whilst true, it is not unkown for copper to give when subjected to such loads, but the point was - stress on internal pipework will be much higher than the stress placed on the street water mains from a sudden turn off.

[Roger Mills]

One important difference between cartridges is the number of splines on the shaft. If you get that wrong, the knobs/handles won't fit. You'll have to count those - I doubt whether a Google image search would differentiate.

I've bought several replacements for various taps from tap-magician on Ebay, and they have all been ok.

[DerbyBorn]

Yes - I fitted some quite a few years ago for a feeble relative.

[Capitol]

I have them. No problems so far.

[Mark]

may not apple to all ceramic taps but has to every one that I have had apart below the ceramic disc is a washer of sorts, this presses on the disc?s and holds them tight together when they wear the washer is not pressing as hard to hold the disc tightly shut so the tap drips fit an O ring between washer and disc, no more drips

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[Chris Hogg]

Thank you! That sounds like a plan!

[Mark]

apple? So I have predictive txt, now I need a poof reader

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[Scott M]

From piddling around with various random ceramic washers over the years, there seems to be a fairly limited number of discs used. For slow drips, pulling it all apart and putting it all back together again often helps.

There is a rubber bung at the bottom of the assembly which seems to be there to push the two ceramic discs together and I suspect that this can lose its "plumpness" and lets them weep a tiny amount. Alternatively it could be infintesimal amounts of gack between the discs.

Either way, stripping them gives you the chance to measure the discs as well as possibly stopping them dripping.

[Roger Hayter]

I think the rubber bung stops water going straight from the inflow tract of the tap to the output without going past the ceramic disk. It plays the same role as an always-closed tap washer with a hole in it.