Stopcock not working

Jeepers_Creepers

https://www.tapmagician.co.uk/NSManufacturersShoppingSelect.aspx?QA53L?Brita?Titanium

Again, please trace where exactly the water is exiting to the outside world. Use paper towel to dry the tap body fully, then run it again to see/feel.

It'll almost certainly either be worn seals on the tap control cartridges, or worn O rings on the spout.

Grizzlebeard

Would suggest lower pipe with brass tap(gate valve?) are cold water feed. Tee through wall is cold feed to hot water tank, and pipe through wall pipe with Tee 6" to left of that is hot water from tank. Before main tap could be removed brass gate valve would need to shut off and hot water drained. (Feeds going left with red and blue stops are for washing machine or dishwasher.)

Having said that, the limescale residue on leaky "brita" tap suggests leak is at the spout junction and if you figure out how to dismantle top piece of chromework on spout you might not need to turn off mains and drain everything in order to replace the "O" ring. Just don't accidentally knock the tap levers open when dismantled.

(Not a plumber, but fixed a couple that look just like you're situation.)

Grizzlebeard

P.S. I can't see any spanner flats on the collar at the base of the spout so there may be a grub screw at the back, facing the wall, that lets the collar slide up to reveal the brasswork and seal.

goodValue

Jeepers_Creepers said:

The water appears or gathers or forms at the base of the tap, but where EXACTLY does it exit - come out?

I somehow missed this post last night.

I did say it came from the base of the tap - but I was wrong.

I haven't been able to put an arrow on the photo - I hope words will suffice.

If you look at the triple junction and then go up vertically, it is the first junction you come to (in fact it's the only junction as others are changes in shape).

Grizzlebeard

Feel on the back (facing the tiles), just above the three levers and just below the leaky spout junction. If there's a screw remove it and the spout will lift out showing the damaged "O" ring. Easy to clean up and find a replacement.

goodValue

I found out how to add an arrow:

goodValue

Grizzlebeard said:

Feel on the back (facing the tiles), just above the three levers and just below the leaky spout junction. If there's a screw remove it and the spout will lift out showing the damaged "O" ring. Easy to clean up and find a replacement.

Would any O ring of the same diameter be ok, or could it be a flat washer seal?

Grizzlebeard

goodValue said:

Grizzlebeard said:

Feel on the back (facing the tiles), just above the three levers and just below the leaky spout junction. If there's a screw remove it and the spout will lift out showing the damaged "O" ring. Easy to clean up and find a replacement.

Would any O ring of the same diameter be ok, or could it be a flat washer seal?

Needs to be a Neoprene O ring same thickness and diameter as original. It sits in a carefully machined groove and has to squeeze evenly on both parts to seal the gap. It allows the spout to rotate over both sinks. In plumbing they do tend to be standard sizes I think but I don't know if some manufacturers use custom sizes. The water pressure is low at this point so the seal's not resisting a lot of water pressure. Plumming merchants sell O ring kits with a selection of standard sizes for a couple of £s

Tell us if you find a grub screw or not. The inside end of the screw would be a plain peg that sits in a groove in the riser so it doesn't stop the spout rotating but simply stops it lifting out. If instead there's a hidden circlip or something else holding it all together I won't know how to get to that.
If you get it sorted tell us here. The info might be just what someone else is looking for and if I got it wrong it'll stop my blather wasting someone else's time.

Grizzlebeard

goodValue said:

Grizzlebeard said:

Feel on the back (facing the tiles), just above the three levers and just below the leaky spout junction. If there's a screw remove it and the spout will lift out showing the damaged "O" ring. Easy to clean up and find a replacement.

Would any O ring of the same diameter be ok, or could it be a flat washer seal?

Another hint.
If you find an new O ring that's slightly smaller thickness so it still dribbles, you can stretch white plummers teflon tape down into the groove to fill up it's depth a bit so the O ring becomes a snug fit. (Works well on low pressure seals like this but not so much reliable on a full head of mains water.)

Jeepers_Creepers

goodValue said:

I somehow missed this post last night.

I did say it came from the base of the tap - but I was wrong.

I haven't been able to put an arrow on the photo - I hope words will suffice.

If you look at the triple junction and then go up vertically, it is the first junction you come to (in fact it's the only junction as others are changes in shape).

Cheers - that's clear.

As grizzle says, it'll be a worn O-ring or two (usually two in there to separate the H&C. So perhaps three in yours!).

Did you try clicking on the link I added above which took you to a 'Tapmagician' cartridge set? You'll see the O-rings included there - that's them.

Three ways that I've come across to remove spouts, but only two could apply to yours since it doesn't have a screw down collar on it. You can do this without turning off any stopcocks as nothing will come out provided the tap itself is off; one is that there's a small grub screw at the very back just below the joint your white arrow pointed to. Found it? Cool.

No?! The other way is that the bottom part of the spout that fits into the tap body (and which carries the O rings) also has a small 'pin' sticking out its side. The receiving hole in the body has a slot down one side of the hole that accepts this pin. When fitting the spout into place, it needs turning so the pin aligns with the slot - I think the spout is usually turned exactly to one side for this. The spout can then be slotted down all the way, and when it's turned round to face the front, the pin is now sitting in a groove for this which prevents it from being pulled out. When you turn the spout back to that exact sideways starting point, the pin will again be sitting in that vertical slot so the spout can be pulled out again.

Anyhoo, see which way yours is. Unless you can find O rings that have this make and model associated with them, you'll need to measure the ones you have. Two dims - the O ring diameter, and the O ring thickness. The latter ideally needs a micrometer.

Oh, and get a tube/tub of silicone grease - and lube the O rings before fitting, and every 6 months or yearly from then on - it'll help preserve them and made it smoother to turn.