December 22, 2017
Repairing Your Tap
Compact appliances such as coffee machines, microwaves, waste disposal units and taps are designed to make your life a whole lot easier. But that doesn’t mean they can’t have faults like any other kitchen appliance. We rely on taps to provide us with water for drinking, cooking and even cleaning. When they break, it can really put a dampener on your day. Thankfully, taps are one of the easier appliances to repair yourself. Today we are going to look at the issues that affect taps the most and how you can fix them yourself! Before we begin it’s important to state that if at any point you’re not confident fixing your appliance, we recommend contacting a professional.
How Do You Repair A Dripping Tap?
It is super common for both old and new taps to drip water. Thankfully, dripping taps are very easy to fix. You should start off by turning off the water supply to the tap – this is an important step when fixing any plumbing related issue.
You will need:
- A flathead and/or crosshead screwdriver
- A adjustable spanner
Access the tap body:
- Remove the tap head to reveal the washer. How you do this varies from tap to tap, so consult your tap’s user manual for assistance.
- Store any loose tap parts in a ziplock bag to ensure you don’t lose anything.
- Locate the tap’s washer and check if it is rubber or ceramic (most tap washers are made from rubber).
At this point you will either need to replace a ceramic disc valve or a rubber washer. If you need to replace a ceramic disc valve, follow these instructions:
- Remove the tap handle and handle cap to gain access to the handle screw. This will reveal the top of your valve.
- Remove the valve cover if your tap has one.
- Using an adjustable spanner, grip the valve and turn it anticlockwise to loosen it.
- Once unscrewed, remove the valve and replace it with a new one.
- Reverse the process to resecure your tap.
If it’s a rubber washer that you need to replace, then follow these instructions:
- Remove the handle cap if one is present.
- Unscrew the handle screw.
- Remove the handle.
- If there is a shroud, remove this also. This should reveal the tap valve.
- Unscrew the tap valve with an adjustable spanner.
- Remove the valve from the tap seat.
- Remove the washer and replace with your spare.
- Reverse this process to resecure your tap.
How Do Your Repair A Leaking Tap?
There is nothing more frustrating than discovering your kitchen tap has a leak. While this may sound similar to a dripping tap, leaking taps occur at the base of the tap instead of the sprout. Leaking taps waste water and potentially run the risk of causing damage to your kitchen. As we doubt you’d want this, let’s look at why taps leak and what you can do to resolve this. Leaky taps occur most often with round shaped taps, below is how we recommend you fix them.
If the leak is coming from a broken tap seal (also known as the gland), follow these steps:
- Ensuring the tap stays turned off, remove the screw that secures the tap handle.
- Remove the handle. If your tap doesn’t have a screw, pull the handle off gently.
- Remove the cover from the tap to reveal the gland nut.
- Tighten the gland nut with an adjustable spanner. You can typically only do this by half or quarter of a turn at a time.
- Replace the handle.
- Turn the tap on and off again.
- If the tap continues to leak, turn the nut another half turn and repeat the last 2 steps.
- Once the tap has stopped leaking, reassemble the tap.
If the tap continues to leak after following the above steps, the gland will need to be repacked. This is how you can do this:
- Keeping the tap handle and cover removed, use an adjustable spanner to remove the gland nut.
- Remove the packing using a thin pointed object such as a screwdriver.
- With packing string or PTFE tape that has been pulled to become string thin, replace the packing with the screwdriver.
- Replace the gland nut.
- Reassemble the tap.
- Turn the tap on and off again to check if the leak has been resolved.
In Conclusion...
If you have attempted to fix your tap with these methods but it continues to drip or leak, you can either consult a plumber, or, as a last resort, replace your tap with a new one. To ensure you are using the right method, it is important that you consult your taps user guide or reach out to the manufacturer.
If you are feeling completely out of your depth, you can reach out to a plumber from the get-go to avoid causing any damage to your tap or kitchen.
