How to fix a dripping tap
Most drips are a worn washer or a tired cartridge. Here is how to tell which you have, and how to swap it in about half an hour.
A tap that drips once a second wastes about 5,000 litres a year. It is also one of the easiest repairs in the house, as long as you turn the water off first.
First, find out what kind of tap you have
Turn the handle. If it takes several full turns to go from off to fully on, it is a compression tap with a rubber washer inside. If it goes from off to on in a quarter or half turn, it is a ceramic disc tap with a cartridge. Mixer taps with a single lever have a cartridge too.
Turn the water off
Look under the sink for a small valve on the pipe to the tap, with a slot for a screwdriver. Turn the slot a quarter turn so it sits across the pipe. If there is no valve, turn the water off at the stopcock, usually under the kitchen sink. Then open the tap to drain what is left in it, and put the plug in so nothing small disappears down the drain.
Take the tap apart
- Prise off the cap on the top of the handle with the flat-head screwdriver. There is a screw underneath.
- Undo the screw and pull the handle off.
- Wrap the towel round the body of the tap to protect the chrome, and undo the large nut underneath with the spanner. Turn anticlockwise.
Swap the part
On a compression tap, the washer is on the bottom of the part you just took out, held on by a small nut or simply pressed on. Pull it off and press the new one on. On a ceramic tap, the whole cartridge comes out. Take it to the plumbers’ merchant so you can match it: there are left-handed and right-handed ones, and the number of splines on the spindle matters.
Put it back together
Reassemble in reverse, nut first, handle last. Do not overtighten the nut; firm is enough. Turn the isolating valve back so the slot runs along the pipe, and run the tap.
When to call someone
If the tap still drips with a new washer, the brass seat underneath it is worn and needs re-cutting. If water is coming from the base of the tap rather than the spout, it is the O-ring, which is a different job. And if the isolating valve will not turn, leave it: a seized valve can snap. Any of those, put a dripping tap in the job basket and we will sort it.
