Indoor plumbing

Plumbing Tips: "Ceramic disks in quarter turn taps will have to be replaced if they drip.  You’ll need to know the manufacturer as there’s no guarantee that another make of disc will fit your tap.   The tap handles of different manufactures have different dimensions, the ceramic disc fits the tap but the handle won’t fit the disc."

I know I'm not alone in finding no pleasure in DIY jobs. And if DIY is purgatory, then plumbing is hell. Even people I know who can do DIY, who enjoy it, hate plumbing.

We've got a bad kitchen. Designed by someone who doesn't cook, badly put together, not big enough -- all the usual British problems. One of the worst parts of a bad job is the sink area. There's a sink, and a waste disposal unit, and a draining board. Underneath the sink, there's hardly any room to arrange the plumbing for the dishwasher and washing machine, and the outlet pipes for both have been a problem. The compromise is, you can't use the sink, or the cupboard underneath floods. Or, you can't drain the dishwasher.

So we don't use the sink. Water has to run down the waste disposal bit in the middle, and any large quantities of water have to be emptied down there.

The sink and mixer tap are a tasteful beige colour, the height of fashion, surely, never. Our plan is to rip the crap out and do it our way, but first we have to solve the basic problems of space and layout without embarking on major building works.

Anyway, the tap has been dripping. Last year, the same thing happened, and a more competent neighbour took it apart and tried to fix it. But it turns out you can't get bits for a tap unless you know the manufacturer, and we don't. It's one of the quarter turn types, ceramic washer kind of thing. But our neighbour cleaned out the little bits of grit, put it back together, and cured the drip.

Only now it's dripping again. So, in the absence of neighbourly assistance, I tried to do what he did. Turned off the water, took it apart, cleaned out the grit (there was grit, which it's nice to know you're drinking on a daily basis), put it back together, and lo.

Not dripping any more, but running.

Rinse and repeat, 3 or 4 times, and I managed to get it to a state of drippage that was no worse than before. And I purchased a replacement tap, beige (hence cheap), as a temporary fix until we can afford to destroy the kitchen. I can't fit it, of course, so we'll have to get someone to do that.