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Is there anything better than Vaseline? (for lubricating a tap!)

Monsoon merchant

By Monsoon merchant
in Boat Equipment

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Monsoon merchant Collaborator

Monsoon merchant

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Hi

 

We have a kitchen mixer tap where the spout is a separate part and has two rubber o rings on it which then sits in a smooth metal barrel in the main tap unit.

 

It has been stiff to rotate since new and had to be replaced as the original o rings wore away. The replacement is also stiff to rotate. I recently asked at a plumbers merchants about suitable lubricants, and was told that Vaseline was as good as anything, and not to waste my money!

 

I tried this - great initially, but the effect soon wore off. Is there really nothing better/longer lasting??

 

Thanks for your help.

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Alan Saunders Rising Star

Alan Saunders

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I have never found a need to rotate my cheap mixer spout as it only feeds a single sink. Guests sometimes rotated it and after twenty years service it was still easy to turn but leaked onto the draining-board leaving annoying hard water deposits.

 

'O' ring seals, are effective to very high pressures if the fit is perfect; e.g. the disastrous Space Shuttle launch failure. Too loose it will leak, too tight and the 'O' ring will be forced into the square shape of the recess and fail.

 

As above vaseline is OK to lubricate neoprene 'O' rings to facilitate installation but silicone grease has a higher melting point (viscosity) and is, I believe, less soluble in water so a better long term lubricant. I have also used it to successfully to seal the distributor cap on older vehicle petrol engines when the rise of a 'Winterbourne' required driving twice a day, a mile or so, through a few inches of water and fording deeper water under a rail bridge.

 

A little goes a Iong way. I have about an inch left of a tube of Dow Corning MS44 left over from employment as a field computer engineer until 1989; it is possibly 45 years old. It may also be non-inflammable and thus suitable for gas and compressed air applications.

 

There was a time when my local hardware or farm supplies shop would supply 'O' rings for pennies a piece. If you have frequent need for 'O' rings you can buy sets of the most common sizes, seperately Metric and Imperial, for perhaps £10-£20 for each. After other essential oils and greases, Duct, Insulating and Self Amalgamating tape, Epoxy Resin, 'Jubilee' hose clips, cable ties, spare rope and 'cordage' plus an adequate tool-kit will temporarily solve most problems.

 

Alan

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  • 2 weeks later...
lydfordcastle Community Regular

lydfordcastle

Posted
Posted

Hi

 

We have a kitchen mixer tap where the spout is a separate part and has two rubber o rings on it which then sits in a smooth metal barrel in the main tap unit.

 

It has been stiff to rotate since new and had to be replaced as the original o rings wore away. The replacement is also stiff to rotate. I recently asked at a plumbers merchants about suitable lubricants, and was told that Vaseline was as good as anything, and not to waste my money!

 

I tried this - great initially, but the effect soon wore off. Is there really nothing better/longer lasting??

 

Thanks for your help.

 

K-Y Jelly is good. You can get from an Ann Summers shop.

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