Mixer tap inserts

Mark M · 31 Jul 2018 at 23:16

My kitchen tap is dripping and reading online suggests it’s the ceramic inserts that need changing. I have isolator values on the hot and cold so hopefully should be a straight forward job but where do I buy the replacements from? I saw that Screwfix have some stocked but other websites list hundreds of different types it seems. The tap doesn’t have a brand on it so can’t narrow it down that way.

Any help much appreciated thanks.

bremen1874 · 1 Aug 2018 at 11:41

You’ll need to isolate the tap and dismantle it to get the size. Getting the tap apart is usually the biggest challenge.

Mark M · 1 Aug 2018 at 20:20

I’ve managed to get the tap apart but not taken the insert out yet. Will give it a go at the weekend and see if I’m lucky and Screwfix have the right ones for the tap.

bremen1874 · 1 Aug 2018 at 20:23

There aren’t that many common sizes.

Mark M · 1 Aug 2018 at 20:58

Not sure if I’m reading your reply correctly but are you saying there are a lot more uncommon sizes? Therefore I’m screwed

jpaul · 1 Aug 2018 at 21:19

as was commented to me in an earlier thread you can just replace the ceramic insert, w/o doing the whole brass cartridge by removing circlip.

Mark M · 1 Aug 2018 at 21:29

Yeah that was my plan. Know it’s more expensive but much easier.

jpaul · 3 Aug 2018 at 08:45

Did you decide where to buy them ?
mine were bought from original manufacturer, and had wondered whether ebay one might compromise quality
(ebay ceramic alone would have been ~£3 versus £9 for full manufacturer cartridge)

rubberduck · 5 Aug 2018 at 12:32

Sometimes less faff and also cheaper to just change the whole tap... Obviously not if your have a posh tap though !

Squark · 5 Aug 2018 at 19:00

Had to change my hot tap one recently, it was a strange size 'mini' cartridge than none of the usual diy places stocked.

Took it apart, made several measurement and looked it up online, eventually bought one from ebay as it was the same price as other specialist plumbing sites £13 for 1!

The number of teeth on the top spigot is one of the main identifiers.

Iron-man · 5 Aug 2018 at 19:27

take it apart and head over to match it up

divuk83 · 5 Aug 2018 at 19:51

If it's a cheap tap, just replace the whole thing. I went on ebay and got one the appeared to be almost exactly the same size and fit (dimensions and teeth) but it wasn't a great fit and the handle sat slightly proud of the tap and slipped on the teeth making it hard to turn off. Wasteful as it seems new taps is just easier.

Dave

jpaul · 5 Aug 2018 at 20:51

Iron-man said:
take it apart and head over to match it up

could not find a decent web site to buy from ?

tapmagician
seem to be market leader but although they list tap types do not give the dam dimensions of the cartridge for that tap, so you can confirm the measurements - had to email them

divuk83 said:
I went on ebay and got one the appeared to be almost exactly the same size and fit

if you look at above link that shows variety of spline/top lengths ~60 versions
am about to buy one with 26mm length on visible side for £6, genuine one £16 is 28mm ,but I rekon I have 5mm to play with.

divuk83 · 5 Aug 2018 at 22:12

That's who I used, but the closest one to what I needed wasn't perfect so I just bought some new taps from Screwfix.

Dave

Iron-man · 6 Aug 2018 at 17:24

jpaul said:
could not find a decent web site to buy from ?

tapmagician
seem to be market leader but although they list tap types do not give the dam dimensions of the cartridge for that tap, so you can confirm the measurements - had to email them

if you look at above link that shows variety of spline/top lengths ~60 versions
am about to buy one with 26mm length on visible side for £6, genuine one £16 is 28mm ,but I rekon I have 5mm to play with.

That's a bit of a pain, as others have said above maybe better changing the taps as you could spend ages and money buying ones that don't fit,ordering and waiting type of thing.

jpaul · 7 Aug 2018 at 11:28

new Franke zurich tap would have been >£100, plus difficult of switching it out

brought from tapmagician ebay £6, (their pattern match was £14+pp) replacement left, original right,
the important dimension turned out to be matching bottom of spline that sits against handle to to base that screws in,
and making sure handle had space to accomodate additional bulk/depth of upper thread/nut,
and new one had a different size handle/top bolt - why - started driving the old one.