Stopping taps leaking
Although taps are in frequent use, they rarely need maintenance. But if one starts to leak don’t ignore it. Leaking taps are not only annoying and wasteful, but also, if they are hot taps, expensive, you’ve paid to heat the water going down the drain.
A basin, kitchen, garden, tap is a device for controlling the flow of water at an outlet point, plumbing, and is opened and closed by turning a handle. This may be a ‘tee’ or ‘capstan’ type (so called because of the shape) fitted onto a spindle rising from the body of the tap. Or it may be a ‘shrouded head’, covering all of the upper part of the tap.
Turning the handle clockwise forces a jumper unit down onto a valve seating in the waterway of the tap and stops the flow of water. Because metal against metal doesn’t make a very tight seal, a synthetic rubber disc — a washer — is attached to the base of the jumper so that it beds firmly onto the seating. Turning the handle anti-clockwise raises the jumper from the seating and allows water to flow.
An exception to this is the Supatap where the nozzle is rotated to control the flow. When you open a tap water pressure will also force water round the jumper unit and, unless there is some way of preventing it, this would escape from round the spindle. To get round this problem some taps have ‘ 0 ‘ ring seals fitted to the spindle while older taps have greased wool packed tightly in a gland around the spindle. More modern taps have rubber tube for packing. Mixers work in exactly the same way as ordinary taps except that they have only one spout that combines the flow of water from the hot and cold supplies.
On kitchen mixers particularly this spout can be swivelled so that it can be pushed to one side to give better access to the sink or can supply a double sink. When a tap starts to leak, there’s a strong temptation either to ignore it or to try to stop it by closing it as tightly as you can. Such action is invariably ineffective and could lead to the valve seating being permanently damaged.
Where leaks occur
Basically there are three places a tap can leak: at the spout, in which case the washer and perhaps the seating will need looking at; at the spindle when the tap is turned on, which means either the packing in the gland or the ‘O’ ring has failed; or at the swivel point at the spout of a mixer tap, which means that the lO’ ring is at fault. All these repairs are easy to deal with. But first you must know the type of tap and the terminology related to it.
How washers are replaced
Conventional pillar tap
This is the basic type of tap design and provides a good example of the procedure to follow when replacing a washer. These taps are commonly used for the hot and cold water supply over the kitchen sink and in this position they are probably the most frequently used taps in the house. It’s quite likely that sooner or later the washers will need replacing. To do this you’ll first have to turn off the water supply either at the mains or, if you’re lucky, at isolating stop-valves under the sink which when shut cut off the supply either to the hot or cold tap without affecting the res of the system.
Turn on the tap fullv so it is drained before you start work. Usually with a pillar tap the spindle rises out of a dome-like easy-clean cover, which you should be able to unscrew by hand. If this proves too difficult, you can use e wrench, but pad the jaws thoroughly with rag to avoid damaging the finish on plated taps With the tap turned on fully you can then raise the cover sufficiently to slip the jaws of a wrench under it to grip the ‘flats’ of the headgear — the main body of the tap which has a nut-shaped section to it.
If you can’t do this you’ll need to take off the tap handle and easy-clean cover. First you’ll have tc remove the tiny grub-screw in the side of the handle which can then be lifted off. If this proves difficult a good tip is to open the tap fully, unscrew, then raise the easy-clean cover and place pieces of wood (a springloaded clothes peg will do) between the bottom of the easy-clean cover and the body of the tap.
By turning the tap handle as if you were trying to close it the upward pressure on the easy-clean cover, will force it off the spindle. However, you then have to replace it over the spindle just sufficiently to enable you to turn the tap on. When this is done take it off again and remove the easy-clean cover. While you are doing all this make sure you hold the tap steady. If the headgear is stiff and the entire tap turns you could damage the part of the sink into which the tap fits. You can now put the headgear to one side.
You should be able to see the jumper, with the washer attached, resting on the valve seating within the body of the tap (though sometimes it gets stuck and lifts out with the headgear). Often the washer is held in position on the jumper by a tiny nut which has to be undone with pliers before the washer can be replaced. This may be easier said than done, and rather than waste time attempting the all-but-impossible, it’s probably better to fit a new washer and jumper complete rather than just renewing the washer.
Tap with shrouded head
This is a pillar tap where the spindle is totally enclosed by an easy-clean cover that also acts as a handle to turn the tap on and off. Some shrouded heads are made of plastic and care is therefore needed when using wrenches. But the mystery of this tap is how to get to the inside — and methods vary with the make of tap. Some shrouded heads can simply be pulled off, perhaps after opening the tap fully and then giving another half turn.
Some are secured by atiny grub-screw in the side. But the commonest method of attaching the head is by a screw beneath the plastic ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ indicator. Prise the plastic bit off with a small screwdriver to reveal the retaining screw (normally a cross-headed screw). When the shrouded head has been removed you’ll find that you can unscrew the headgear to reach the interior of the tap in the same way as with an ordinary pillar tap. Rewashering can then be done in the same way.
If the jumper is not resting on the valve seating in the body of the tap, but is’pegged’ into the headgear so that it can be turned round and round but can’t be withdrawn, it’s slightly more of a problem to remove the washer-retaining nut. The easiest way is to fasten the jumper plate in a vice (although pliers will do) and turn the nut with a spanner. Some penetrating oil will help to free the thread. If after this you still can’t loosen the nut, a good tip is to slip the blade of a screwdriver between the plate of the jumper and the tap headgear and lever it to break the pegging.
A new jumper and washer can then be fitted complete, although the stem should be ‘burred’ or roughened with afile to give an ‘interference fit’ when it is slipped into the headgear.
Bib taps
These taps are treated in exactly the same way as a conventional pillar tap. You might find with a garden tap that there’s no easy-clean cover, so the headgear is already exposed.