Garden Tap leaking, how to stop it?

blackstar

Hello all,

I have a leaking garden tap, its leaking from the bottom, where the water it suppose to come out of.

I have changed the tap washer inside of the yellow part on the picture of the tap, didn't solve the problem.
I took off the top part of the tap above the yellow part to see if there was a tap washer inside there I could replace and water started to come out a quite a pace! So put it back on. I had ofcourse turned off the water at the mains before doing that.

(Quite strange as when I turn off the water all the water in the house stops, other than in the kitchen, the water coming from the kitchen tap keeps coming out, at a slower pace though. Not sure if thats relevant)

I dont know what else to do to stop the outside tap leaking? Anyone any ideas?

Please see the pictures of my outside tap and the inside pipes etc.

Thanks in advance

http://2imgs.com/66291c36e5





http://2imgs.com/77380d27f4



http://2imgs.com/440b3e14c7

http://2imgs.com/551a2f05d6

jblack_2

When you turn the water off open the kitchen tap. The water will run for a while because that tap is the lowest in the house so it might just be water in the pipework draining. Are you sure you only have one stopcock? Some houses I work in have them in strange locations.

Undo the big nut on the top of the tap and remove the spindle. You can then change the washer. If that sorts it, great. If not then a new bib tap is only a few £ and easy to fit. Just turn the whole tap anti-clockwise out of the wall plate, wrap the thread of the new tap with PTFE tape and screw it on.

blackstar

When I turned the water off at the mains, all the water in the house stopped running totally. The kitchen tap, which is above where I turn the water off at the mains was running when I turned off the water at the mains and reduced the pressue of the water. I kept the water off at the mains for about 15 mins and the tap in the kitchen sink kept running still??? The I turned the water on at the mains and the water became really strong from the kitchen tap.

I dont think I have more than one mains for the water, not that I know of? Where could it be if I do have one?

I hear what you say about to undo the big nut on the top of the tap and remove the spindle and then changing the washer, I was going to do that but as I was taking the big nut off the top of the tap water started to come out really fast, even though the water had been off at the mains for 15 mins??? Maybe there is another mains for the kitchen sink tap and the garden tap? I dont know? I dont know where I would look for it? I have enclosed the pictures of all the pipes under my kitchen sink.
Could I not put something inside of the yellow part of the outside tap to stop the water dripping? Or would the water then mount up inside the outside tap and end up coming out some place else and cause another problem?

Ruski

1: The yellow part is not part of your tap, it is part of your hose system so has nothing to do with dripping tap washers.


2: You are getting water out because you have not fully closed the stopcock - from your pictures this looks to be quite difficult to get at, so my money is on that.


3: If you can't remove the shelf to get batter access to the stopcock, do you have stopcock outside the front of your house in the pavement that you can use?


4: The outside tap itself is a bodge installation, it should have an isolator, one-way valve and a drainoff, if fitted correctly you wouldn't be having these problems and would be able to isolate the outside tap independently of the whole house



5: Then follow Jblacks advice - either new washer or new tap - both just as easy to fit

Either way you need to get better access to the stopcock under the sink in order to fully close it.
(Do not feel you are the only person in the world with this problem - it is quite common)


HTH


Russ

blackstar

Ruski wrote: »

1: The yellow part is not part of your tap, it is part of your hose system so has nothing to do with dripping tap washers.




2: You are getting water out because you have not fully closed the stopcock - from your pictures this looks to be quite difficult to get at, so my money is on that.


3: If you can't remove the shelf to get batter access to the stopcock, do you have stopcock outside the front of your house in the pavement that you can use?


4: The outside tap itself is a bodge installation, it should have an isolator, one-way valve and a drainoff, if fitted correctly you wouldn't be having these problems and would be able to isolate the outside tap independently of the whole house



5: Then follow Jblacks advice - either new washer or new tap - both just as easy to fit

Either way you need to get better access to the stopcock under the sink in order to fully close it.
(Do not feel you are the only person in the world with this problem - it is quite common)


HTH


Russ

Thanks so much for that, really helpful.

1) OK thats what that is then.

2) I turned the mains off as far as it would go? Maybe I should have tried to turn it even harder?

3) Looks like there are two of them


http://2imgs.com/b5f4c1eb38

Not the best picture. One has a letter W on it? Or an M, not sure which is the right way around?

How do I know it wont turn off my neighbours water?

4) Im renting this property, so disappointed to hear that. I dont even need this tap, can I not just turn it off altogether? Can I not just put something inside the tap to stop the water leaking?

jblack_2

If you don't want to use the tap you could take the plastic nozzle off the tap, remove the washer and put a 1p piece in it before replacing the washer and refixing to the tap. Not too expensive, should cost about 1p .

blackstar

Are you sure the water wouldn't then get clogged up inside the tap and then flood the kitchen or something if I did that?

I don't want to use the tap and never use it, wish it wasn't there.

jblack_2

Don't worry, it won't.

blackstar

OK thanks, hope it doesn't. But where will all that water go that is dripping out of the tap now once I put the penny inside?

tonyh66

blackstar wrote: »

OK thanks, hope it doesn't. But where will all that water go that is dripping out of the tap now once I put the penny inside?

Errmm it will stay in the pipes..................

blackstar

tonyh66 wrote: »

Errmm it will stay in the pipes..................

What about what the pipes get full?