Kitchen mixer tap leak

shiraz99

I've an ongoing issue with my kitchen mixer tap leaking. It first started a couple of years back so I switched out the cartridge but that didn't really fix it so I decided to swap out the cartridge again and give all the insides a good clean down but again it still doesn't stop the leak. The weird thing is it only leaks when the tap is on and water is coming up from within or around the cartridge (see the attached pic) but once the tap is closed it's fine. I'm not sure how, if the seal on the bottom of the cartridge isn't sealing flush, then how does it prevent water coming out when the tap is closed. It's not a cheap tap either, it's a Franke Pro Top Lever and was working fine for many years until it first started to go wrong.

Any ideas?

Bigphil1474

Just some random thoughts.
Is the cartridge on as far as possible?
Does the lever push the seal down which is why it doesn't leak when turned off?
Could you fit a secondary O ring on the tap before putting the cartridge in?
Would it be easier to replace the tap?

As you may have guessed, I'm no plumber.

shiraz99

I had a spare set of O-rings for this particular tap so I took it apart again, cleaned and replaced the main o-ring below the cartridge where the spout sits. At the moment this seems to be holding, touch wood. It may be that the water was coming up from the spout area over the old o-ring.