Leaking Tap

[dk1uk]

Hi - I have this mixer tap with a shower head.

It’s dripping. When I turn the hot water supply off, it drips less and the same when I turn the cold water supply off.

I can’t remove the piece that controls whether water goes to the taps or the shower head. It turns a bit and I’ve applied some force but it won’t come off and I don’t want to break it.

Having removed the taps, I can’t tell whether the silicon washers are worn or not. What do you think? Shall I replace them?

Or could the problem be behind the taps/shower piece that I can’t remove?

Many thanks.

 

[oldbuffer]

1. The red and blue silicone rubber washers are not strictly speaking what open or shut the water flow. This is effected by two ceramic discs. These discs have two openings at 180 degrees from each other. The two discs are mounted on a swivel so that they can be at 90 degrees to the other set (valve closed), or in line with the holes in the other set - valve open. The silicone washers have two functions:
1.1 They seal water from going round the outside of the ceramic washers.
1.2 They exert some pressure to keep the ceramic discs in close contact.
2. Replacing the washers is unlikely to stop the leak, which is usually caused by wear on the ceramic discs. You would need to replace both the hot and cold "cartridges" to fix the leak for sure.
3. You could try soaking the old cartridges in limescale remover, something like "Kilrock". Sometimes works.
4. Provided the tap / shower diverter works, I'd leave it alone. Otherwise it looks as if the chrome piece with two flat on it unscrews.
5. If all else fails, measure the pipe centres of the two upright pillars going into the back of the tap body. The centre distance will be the distance between the outside of these parts where they go into the big nut less the diameter of one of them. See if you can get a similar tap with the same pipe centres. Might even be cheaper than repairing.

 

[Madrab]

2 new 3/4" chrome spindled ceramic valves needed. Count the number of splines and spindle length to match. If you know the make of tap even better.