Dripping tap

[blackrose]

My kitchen sink tap has just developed an annoying drip. I only fitted it a couple of years ago but can't see any way of taking the levers of to tighten or replace washers inside. Does anyone know if this kind of tap is serviceable?

[frahkn]

I have a similar tap (only one "handle", which tips as well swivels) and found that, with a little persuasion, the cap and rod slide off to give access to the interior.

 

[blackrose]

14 minutes ago, frahkn said:

I have a similar tap (only one "handle", which tips as well swivels) and found that, with a little persuasion, the cap and rod slide off to give access to the interior.

 

 

Ok thanks, I'll give it a go.

 

I wondered if there were any downsides to this style of tap when I bought it cheaply from ebay as a replacement to the original 12+ year old tap. Now I know! 

 

Edit: I've realised the lever unscrews and then there's an allen key stud that also unscrews. But I still can't get the tap off. I tried putting a flat screwdriver between the tap body and end cap, but it's not moving.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2021 by blackrose

[nicknorman]

Probably just rusted on a bit. You’ll need to lever symmetrically (ie 2 screwdrivers on opposite side of the knob). But these 90 degree action taps work on ceramic discs, there isn’t really anything to tighten up. Your only hope so that there might be a tiny bit of grit stuck between the discs and flushing that out might fix it, otherwise a new tap is probably required.

[Slim]

Try a squirt of WD40 and leave it a while. Pound to a penny that it's on a spline. Same bet that underneath you'll find a ceramic disc type valve. You may be able to stripndown the assembly and clean the limescale off the faces or track down replacement valves. Are you in a hard water area? It's not just cheap taps that suffer. Years ago we bought top of the range Franke taps (before China was discovered) and I used strip them down every couple of years. I always kept a couple of new valves 'in stock'    

[frangar]

If you can get the tap handle off to get access to the cartridge I can thoroughly recommend this company for replacement cartridges 

 

https://tapmagician.co.uk

 

They can also offer advice via email etc....they were really helpful when it turned out that Franke had put the wrong part number in the manual for my kitchen tap!

[Tracy D'arth]

On the bottom of the ceramic valve insert is a rubber seal. Often a drip is due to this seal, not the ceramics.