Replaced kitchen tap washer and now tap is slow to turn off

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My kitchen mixer tap (quarter turn, approx 5-6 years old) had a dripping cold tap so I've replaced the cartridge with a new one from Screwfix:

Two issues...firstly, when the tap is fully off, the handle is now no longer vertical - it's either slightly less or slightly more, depending on which groove I use on the spline. Birds eye view here showing misaligned taps: https://ibb.co/wcK9VXy

Is there any way of fine tuning this?

Secondly, when turning the tap off, the old cartridge was instant...as soon as you turned it fully off, the water flow stopped immediately. With this one, there's a 1-2 second delay where the flow reduces before coming to a stop, as shown here:

Is this fixable? Or just the way the cartridge works? Or is there a better cartridge available?

Thanks
 
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You are nit picking. Apart from yourself, no one else will be able to tell the misalignment. I couldn't. If it really bothers you, you have to learn to analyse and do mods. Work out the reason for the misalignment and then apply the modification. The modification could be grinding down material, or adding material - maybe a washer shim to take up any slack. If the splines are loose fitting, maybe jam in a thin sheet of plastic or teflon tape to tighten it up.

It's impossible for the water to stop instantly because the water already in tap has to come out owing to momentum and gravity. It is possible there is more water coming out compared to previously because the new valve is more efficient and letting more water through while the valve is closing.
 
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OK, I can see the misalignment now. This is affected by the turns of the valve when you fit it. You can tighten or loosen the valve to modify the position of the handle. Use tefflon tape on the threads. That will seal the threads when you loosen the valve slightly to get the right position.
 
Thanks for the info (y)

Re the tap alignment...I'm under a bit of pressure to get them to line up, if you catch my drift! ;) (You never know, once it's been like this for a few days, it might get overlooked!). Good suggestion re the tape though - I'll give it a try if a fix is demanded requested!
 
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1/4 turn valves should be instant off, there shouldn't be any 'delay' from the valve, unless it's just the water emptying out of the spout.

As far as using PTFE tape to seal the threads to get the lever to line up is quite frankly 'mad mental' IMO. No tape should ever be needed to seal a tap valve just to get the position right, that's the rubber seal's job. It may take another little nip on the valve itself but nothing else.

Count the splines on the old valve and compare to the new, you may find the number of splines is different.
 
1/4 turn valves should be instant off, there shouldn't be any 'delay' from the valve, unless it's just the water emptying out of the spout.

As far as using PTFE tape to seal the threads to get the lever to line up is quite frankly 'mad mental' IMO. No tape should ever be needed to seal a tap valve just to get the position right, that's the rubber seal's job. It may take another little nip on the valve itself but nothing else.

Count the splines on the old valve and compare to the new, you may find the number of splines is different.
Both old and new valves have 20 spines, so it's kinda weird that they sit differently.

D'you think it looks slow to turn off in the vid? Or is that normal? It's definitely slower than the old one
 
Yes it does seem slow but if the water does stop completely then it can only be the water in the spout. A ceramic valve doesn't have a dampened mechanism so it does turn off immediately.

Try taking the aerator off the spout and see if it still does it, it may need cleaned.
 
Well, bizarrely enough, the tap is now stopping quickly like it used to. I didn't actually do anything...it's just sorted itself out!

Maybe just needed some time to bed in...?!
 

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