Plumbing advice needed

[Danny]

Second plumbing thread of the day....

My bog standard bathroom sink tap has suddenly stopped working. No cold water comes out. They only symptom is that the tap itself is a bit stiff, and cannot be turned round fully. All the other cold taps in the house seem to be working fine, and there are no obvious leaks.

I can just about change a washer on a good day, but otherwise my knowledge of plumbin matters is less than nil.

So I would welcome any ideas on what what the problem could be.

 

[4F]

OK just reread your post doh. You can get the these tap replacement kits which just replace the internal gubbings of the tap with no visible change to the outside of the tap.

Screwdriver and spanner is all you need.

 

[mickle]

*sucks teeth* Oohs the muppet that fitted that? Jeez what a cowboy. Thats gonna cost ya mate. I can fit you in around November, you'll have to wait in all day. And probably the next day too.


That'll be £79.99 please.

 

[Arch]

I think we had this once, it was just the washer sticking under the turny bit. I seem to remember the plumber just turned the water off, unscrewed the tap, bashed the washer to loosen it, put it all back together and turned the water back on.

<All advice offered under the guide of complete domestic uselessness. No responsibility will be taken for any damage caused by taking advice>

 

[4F]

Look here http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/taps/replacing_tap_head_gear.htm

 

[Danny]

I think we had this once, it was just the washer sticking under the turny bit. I seem to remember the plumber just turned the water off, unscrewed the tap, bashed the washer to loosen it, put it all back together and turned the water back on.

<All advice offered under the guide of complete domestic uselessness. No responsibility will be taken for any damage caused by taking advice>

And probably still charged you £79.99!

Unfortunately cheap Polish plumbers don't seem to have migrated as far as York.

 

[Danny]

Look here http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/taps/replacing_tap_head_gear.htm

Thanks - looks simple, but will still probably take me all weekend

 

[4F]

Thanks - looks simple, but will still probably take me all weekend

The key thing is to make sure you hold the tap firmly when loosening / tightning up the nut. I really detest plumbing but not as much as I detest paying someone a small fortune to do an easy job, just remember to turn the water off first and turn the tap on to let the excess water run out

 

[Danny]

...just remember to turn the water off first and turn the tap on to let the excess water run out

Fortunately, that is about the one thing I do know about plumbing

The bad news is that the stop cock for that tap is in a tight and dirty crawl space above a first floor cieling

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

you'll be needing lesbian plumbers then

 

[Night Train]

Yep, sounds like the tap washer is stuck to the valve seat. It can be fairly straight forward and if you can fix your own bike then you can do this job.

You will need at least a spare tap washer. You might need to recut the valve seat to you may need a tool. It will probably be easier to replace the valve body as the link describes.

Have you tried turning the tap full on? Sometimes it manages to unstick the stuck washer but it will still need doing eventually any way.