Ceramic 1/4 Turn Taps

[OhGranny]

Hi Everyone
I fitted new taps about a year ago and the handle on the hot water tap on the sink is a bit loose and wobbles - this was after about 3 months.( It is fixed securely to the sink)
I tried to get the cartridge out to take a look but gave up because it was so tight I couldn't budge it and I don't want to remove the tap unnecessarily or damage it - just thought I'd live with it until it fails.
Anyway - woke up this morning to a bathroom floor swimming with water.
The water is coming out of the top of the Cold bath tap. If it is anything like the sink tap I wont be able to remove the cartridge.
Question
Are the cartridges right hand or left hand thread normally?
I can't believe how the tight the sink tap cartridge is I can normally unscrew most things but the sink tap beat me !!!!!

Thanks
G.

 

[j1mm1nycr1cket]

I don't know if the cartridge in your tap is threaded but I've just had to remove the cartridge in my mono-block mixer tap in the bathroom and discovered that it wasn't threaded at all.
It was seated with two little plastic feet at the base which located into two recesses. I jiggled it and thereby decided that it probably wasn't threaded at all, so I grabbed it with my adjustable wrench and yanked it out vertically. It didn't put up much of a struggle.
Its possible you need to do the same cos actually if its not threaded and you twist it, you might end up leaving one or both of the little plastic feet behind and then you'd have to drill them out and it could be a world of pain.
Try the old jiggle-and-vertical-yank technique. It might just do the trick.