On 25/05/2011 17:35, Ret. wrote:
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Ian Jackson has brought this to us :
In message , Ret.
writes
My son has a standard kitchen tap with separate hot and cold valves
on either side of the tap. I took a look at it today because it has
developed a steady drip.

The valves are ceramic disc with a quarter turn to full off/full on.

I removed each 'cartridge' and took it apart. I could not see any
problem at all with the ceramic discs they did not appear to be
scratched or damaged, nor was there any grit present. The various
seals were in good condition. After cleaning and rinsing all
components, I put them all back
together, replaced them in the tap and............. drip drip drip!

Anyone any suggestions?

Yes.

I had trouble with a mixer tap, like this:
http://www.google.co.uk/products/cat...ceramic&hl=en&

prmd=ivns&resnum=2&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie= UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=5156

296188300295797&sa=X&ei=AhrdTZajF9Kr8AOygLEB&ved=0 CGsQ8gIwAA&biw=1280&bih

=835#

Do you know which insert is the culprit? Hot or cold? If you can,
try and work out which it is. [Possibly turn off the incoming cold
water, turn cold tap on to drain residual water in pipes, then turn
cold tap off?] #1: Remove and immerse the insert(s) in Killrock K for
(say) half an
hour (occasionally rotating the 'works'. This will get rid of any
scale which is preventing a perfect seal.
#2: Buy replacement inserts (if you can find correct type!).

My tap responded to treatment for a few months, but started to drip
again. Fortunately, Homebase (where I had originally bought the tap)
had exactly the right replacement inserts - although I did have to
file about 3mm off the end of the splined spindle.

We have now reverted back to normal washers, but the above was the
cause/fix for ours when it dripped. I fixed then by simply scratching
the disk free of scale with a thumb nail.

So far as I can see, there is no scale present at all. We live in mid
Cheshire which is a very soft water area. I'm really baffled as to why
the 'drip' is occurring.

Can you stop the dripping by turning the tap a bit more?

I ask as our kitchen tap has a similar problem, but it seems to turn off
fine, but then, if you've been running hot water, things cool and
contract and it starts to drip and will stop with a bit more of a turn.
A design fault or a faulty insert?

SteveW