plumberists – fix or buy bath taps?

had a drip drip drippy bath tap for a while so time to sort it.  took it apart and this is the ‘gland’ cartridge (edited, thanks @Sharkbait) i think its called, its a quarter turn opening.  no washer, it looks to just rely on 2 ceramic discs closing the hole.

surprisingly (to me anyway) nobody seems to do a replacement, theyre all 15mm diameters in the stores, this seems to be 22mm.  tried B&Q, screwfix, toolstation, local plumbing merchants, they all say “sorry we dont stock them, you might be able to find a replacement online.”  why oh why can you not just buy a replacement tap washer these days for 50p 😀

bearing in mind id probably buy 2 (just in case the other one goes) am i just better off buying replacement taps now?  theyre quite old anyway now so probably due a replacenment but i like to get value from things 😀

and if buying new, then measuring up it looks like the gap between my taps is around 185mm and i have what appear to be called ‘bath filler taps’.  2 ‘stalks’ that join in the middle rather than 2 separate taps.

are they all much of a muchness?  any recommendations?  or any to avoid? should i buy a matching basin tap at same time?  will they come with all the gubbins needed to connect underneath?  this is what they look like on t’other side….

thanks

took it apart and this is the ‘gland’ i think its called

It’s the cartridge.

Do you know what make the taps are? If you can find the manufacturer then you can get new cartridges.

A quick Google for 22mm cartridge throws up lots of results.

It’s a pain in the arse to track down the right size.

Do you know the make of the taps – that helps you get started.

As a temp fix strip it down and grease the ceramic plates – it’ll stop the dripping for a few weeks.

I’ve found replacements for mine on this website…

https://tapmagician.co.uk/NSShowerValveMaker.aspx

If you fancy new taps anyway, Bristan are decent…

https://www.bristan.com/products/bathroom-taps

thanks both

no idea on the make, cant see anything on the taps themselves.

so just blob a bit of universal grease in there and open/close a few times to stop the drip yes?

cheers

EDIT:  that looks a useful website.  ive put it back together now but i’ll strip it again, grease it and have a measure.

thanks

Tap Magician are great loads of info and you’ll be able to find your part no doubt.  It’s been a while since I’ve needed to use them as we’ve moved and have conventional taps in teh new house but when I did have the evil ceramic disc things I had quite  a lot from them.

My local independent plumbers merchant has a big case full of ceramic cartridges and you always get an eye roll when you turn up with one you want to match. There are dozens of them.

wot they said a bleedin nitemare to get the right one.. I replace one, only to be unable to locate the details to replace the 2nd later… that said they don’t have to be exactly the same, just the very simialr or so I found. Test you can get the other cartridge out before buying two replacement, as there buggers for welding themselves into place

well its been out for measuring and (lithium) greasing, and now back in again.  still dripping 🙁

My local independent plumbers merchant has a big case full of ceramic cartridges and you always get an eye roll when you turn up with one you want to match. There are dozens of them.

tried there earlier and they never volunteered any offer to have a rummage.

Tap Magician are great loads of info and you’ll be able to find your part no doubt.

just had a look and it seems you can just buy the ceramic plates.  now if i could get these out id have a good go at measuring and replacing, but i couldnt even get the ‘cap’ off to count the splines, well and truly seized on.  took the little screw off the top, and the circlip but no amount of prising and tapping could get the top off.

looking more and more like new ones needed.  ill have a look at that bristan site.

thanks

EDIT:  ooh pricey.  initial search of <£100 produced zero results.  had to go higher to find any at all.  ill look elsewhere methinks 😀

well its been out for measuring and (lithium) greasing, and now back in again. still dripping

Lithium grease isn’t really the stuff to use. A WRAS silicone grease would be better for a temporary repair

As to the thread title; buy new. If you have a combi boiler and a mixer tap, either get a good quality replacement or cheaper, individual H&C taps.

Leaky mixers can lower hot water output temps from a combi

yeah id have preferred the smooth brown grease that you get in a can, im sure ive got some somewhere but i cant find it so just used what i could find.

and yep, pretty sure ill need to buy new.

thanks

Clean the cartridge in white vinegar or viakal

Can  be caco3 on the seals

EDIT: ooh pricey. initial search of <£100 produced zero results. had to go higher to find any at all. ill look elsewhere methinks ?

Cheap taps generally seem to be a massive false economy as they often either unrepairable or disproportionately expensive to repair.  I’ve just replaced a thermostatic bar shower valve.

Fitted by a developer in a new build.  Aqualisa brand. Screwfix sell a complete shower from them – including rail, hose and head – for £125.  The manufacturer quoted £195 (presumably plus delivery) for a replacement thermostatic cartridge.  £111 from ‘national shower spares’

I picked up a new bar part, Ideal Standard, better built than the original for £70 on eBay (and their cartridges seem to be a lot more reasonable)

I have had some success soaking the cartridge overnight in white vinegar too, you can get some repair cartridges that use a traditional washer but a 1/4 turn arrangement, it can be a pain finding one with the correct number of splines though.

tap magician got some for my blanco tap but the best part is – they have the cartridge finder tools working off dimensions so in theory you should be able to find what you need with some time and a ruler.

firing unknown non WRAS grease into water taps isnt a great idea…..

https://tapmagician.co.uk/NSShowerValveMaker.aspx

Came here to recommend Tap Magician, but that’s been done. There are literally hundreds of different cartridges, but you should be able to measure all the important dimensions.

now if i could get these out

If you remove the red washer on the end the ceramic discs will come out. Soak them and the whole cartridge in descaler for an hour or two and reassemble. It might stop dripping, but only ‘might’.

thanks, ill look at what we’ve got in the cupboard, any white vinegar or descaler.

and yes, i measured up using that diagram on tapmagician but by even putting in just one dimension it would always reset to show none available.  tried putting in a mm or two either side and still no results.  i couldnt get the top off to measure splines, but figured that if by putting in the first figure and getting no results, then its not too important to measure splines to fine tune the search.  (i tried the dimensions for A, B and C separately, no joy for any)

I’d have replaced them by now. If nothing else, at least if they go tits up in five years you’ll know what brand they are.

There are times when I think “I’m in the wrong job.” Then I try my hand at DIY plumbing and invariably wind up thinking “Well, I could’ve made a worse career choice.” I replaced the flush on my mum’s toilet a year or two back, it was like someone had gone “one inch and 25mm, they’re the same thing, right?” Everything I picked up almost-but-not-quite fitted with everything else.

Hold my beer…. have a Bristain shower, cartridge went, replacement cost £169.00 it’s made of plastic…. whole new replacement shower £229…..  got trade discount 10% £200…

I’d try some other plumbers merchants.

They found me one that  fixed a tap and mostly fits.

£10?

I got some plausible-looking replacements for some of mine from tap-cartridges.com. I was told by my plumbers they were definitely not available. I haven’t yet tried them as the descaling job was good enough for now. I would have the mixer replaced, but that bathroom is living on borrowed time already.

just trying the white vinegar as i type (with the ceramic plates in the closed position for most surface contact, i assume thats right?).  thought id try taking out the ceramic plates by removing the red rubber washer and of course you can guess what happened, it ripped a bit off.  not sure how disastrous thatll be til i put it back together, but it may mean that the tap will have to be isolated til i buy new ones.  and of course, the isolation valve has been put in a really hard to reach place which twists my dicky shoulder each time i try and squeeze my arm into the gap.

ill see how the white vinegar goes, and ill maybe try a few more plumbers merchants but gut feeling now is that ill just buy new.

thanks

well in the end the white vinegar was moot, put it back together, turned water on and water p1sses out, almost certainly due to the broken red rubber washer id say.

she’s already looking at new taps now, had enough of my fruitless tinkering, so it looks like thats where we’re headed 😀

ive swapped hot and cold cartridges around and isolated the cold/broken tap so we can still run a bath with just hot water for now, as thats what we pretty much do usually.  start filling with the hot tap from scratch so it starts off with cold, then let it run when the hot comes through until right temp.  itll get us by for a couple of days, hopefully ill manage to change to new ones with no hiccups.

thanks for your help, i may be back on here for advice on the new ones 😀