Reply With QuoteGummed in with scale? What do the YTs show?
Taps dripping from the handle junction.
Watched a few YouTube videos and it all seems easy.
But for the life of me I cant remove the handle.
I found a grub screw at the bottom of the handle e.g. where the Allen key in the picture sits. Have undone it and removed it, but the handle doesn't budge.
Any ideas?
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Gummed in with scale? What do the YTs show?
^^^As per above. Looks easy on YouTube. Mine was rock solid with scale after 12 years of use.
I had to make a contraption so I could soak the whole cartridge in vinegar and bicarbonate soda for an hour.
Don’t even consider it until you have melted the scale away with household chemicals, otherwise it is futile and the whole tap will be as difficult if it was superglued together.
Try taking out the allen key, them pouring neat descaler down the handle, wait an hour or so and then apply heat e.g. hairdryer to the area below the handle.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Did my kitchen ones a few weeks ago. The grub screw was underneath in that one. Any of these match? If you can identify the brand that might give you what you need in terms of making sure it is the right approach.
you could always ask this guy
IIRC I put a shallow plastic tray under the lever and cartridge and soaked tissue roll in vinegar and bicarbonate and let it fizz away the scale. Just keep wetting the tissue and soaking the lever/cartridge.
Eventually enough scale will be removed so you can force the components off.
Had the same. Bought a new cartridge, got the handle off but couldn’t shift the cartridge. Got a plumber out and after an hour he couldn’t shift the cartridge either, so bought a whole new tap and sawed the old one off.
The tap was about 20 years old so probably for the best.
Had the same and ended up with a new tap.
Called our plumber out to fix our kitchen tap and he said he carried two or three styles of new tap in his van. Simpler and quicker and was relatively easily done.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Depends on the tap. Ours was a Franke Olympus that cost £200 for like for like replacement. Two cartridges were £10 total and once the scale was dissolved away, the cartridge replacement was a doddle.Originally Posted by oldoakknives
You can’t pay for a plumber for 3 hours while you are waiting for the scale to soften with household chemicals. That is uneconomic, and probably why the easiest and cheapest route (when you take plumbers hourly rate into account) is for the plumber to replace the tap, even if it is a couple of hundred quid.
Folk who call out plumbers for leaking taps of parts stuck by scale need their heads feeling.
Just required a bit of troubleshooting and perseverance. I did it and I barely have any DIY skills.
Fair point if you have such expensive taps. I can’t remember what make of tap ours was or is now. To me it’s just a chrome mixer tap. I did look at the replacement cartridge but when it didn’t move couldn’t be bothered playing with it and not having the tap working. Was rather less than £200 as well. I fitted and plumbed the kitchens in our previous two houses but took the easy route.
Having said that I’m laying a few porcelain slabs to add to the ones we had laid earlier in the year at the moment, so perhaps I do need my ‘head feeling’. :-)
Last edited by oldoakknives; 21st November 2023 at 09:34.
I've found Kilrock to be a pretty good descaler for things like this. My bath tap cartridge took 2 days of descaling before I could get it out.
Also if the grub is out you can carefully use a screwdriver to help pry the tap head off. Some tape can help prevent scratches.
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My tap was dripping last week and for the life of me I could not remove the grub screws as they were rusted in, I ended up fitting a new tap but I replaced the grub screws with stainless M5 cap heads which means if I have to service the new one in the future the Allen key with be beefier than the one used for the grub screw.
Every day is a school day :)
It would help if parts were greased with silicone grease during assembly, but this doesn’t seem to enter the heads of most plumbers when fitting taps.
Our kitchen tap cost a fortune and was a pain to fit so I change the cartridges before the tap.
Deal with the scale.
If your car develops a small oil leak, I recommend replacing the car
I see your point if you’re trying to nurse an older vehicle along.If your car develops a small oil leak, I recommend replacing the car
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Are you sure that is the hex key you need?
I would have expected it to be under the tap body itself to remove the cartridge?
I was just pondering this, just checked ours and the quooker in the kitchen and a franke Olympus in the utility and both are underneath.
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