New tap slowly leaking - possible causes?

[confused30000]

Wondering if someone might be able to shed some light on what might be happening here, with the caveat that it is a pretty minor issue!

About a week ago, we had a Caple mixer tap fitted as part of a new kitchen fit. All has worked well with it so far. However, this morning I've noticed it is dripping slightly, and I mean slightly. It'll drip a couple of times when it's turned off, then you can see a drip slowly accumulate on the end of the tap until it just stops and hangs there.

A couple of things have happened in the last couple of days, and I just wondered if they might have had an effect:

1) There was a burst pipe near the reservoir that serves our area the day before yesterday. We had poor water pressure, then light brown coloured water for a while after. United Utilities fixed the issue and all returned to normal it seems, although some in the area still have no water or poor pressure.

2) We had two new radiators fitted, and I've noticed the boiler pressure is a little higher than it was before (about 1.4 bar when cold, compared to 1 bar when cold previously).

I wondered if either of these could make any kind of difference? Hoping it's not anything to do with washers, cartridges etc with the tap being so new!

 

[Madrab]

Boiler pressure has nothing to do with it.

Burst mains pipe letting in some dirt/sand into the water system that has then been trapped in the 1/4 turn ceramic valve allowing it to let by ever so slightly - possible.

It could also just be water that is caught in the spout and that is being slowly released, especially if the drip stops - very possible.

 

[confused30000]

Thanks Madrab! Do you know what the fix would be for either of those? Sorry, this isn't my area of expertise!

 

[Madrab]

Depends on the tap type, is it a single lever or dual lever? The valve, either or, may need taken out and flushed clean, that ius if it's grit that's got into it.

If it's just the spout dripping then the aerator may need cleaned out, if it has one. They usually unscrew off the end of the spout but can be fiddly to get back on properly.

 

[confused30000]

Ah, great, thank you! This is the tap - https://www.caple.co.uk/online-shop/taps/dual-lever/ave2-ss/ - it's a dual lever one. I might try the aerator first at that seems easier to get to.

On a separate note, on the local Facebook group someone has just posted saying that since the issues with the mains they have had a dripping kitchen tap that wasn't before, so maybe it's related to all the disruption.