Constant Running Kitchen Tap, Tap Replacement & Earthing

[luca T]

I have a kitchen tap (at least 15yrs old maybe even older) which always used to drip but suddenly has started to flow constantly at a low pace in the attached picture. It would seem the tap has not been closed property allowing this, but in fact both cold & hot water taps have been shut fully. Does anyone know why this is the case? The tap has always leaked from the centre unit as well.

From the pictures attached would seem there are 2 bronze coloured rods leading into the tap unit underneath the kitchen sink. Those rods are attached to 2 grey flexi hoses connected to a ball valve for cold & hot water supplies. There is earthing attached to the 2 bronze coloured rods with are the green & yellow wiring seen in the picture.

How easy is for a DIY guy to change the tap unit over? Any advice please? If one needs a plumber what’s the likely cost? Which kitchen taps are the best ones to buy with my kitchen sink unit already in situ? Does the whole kitchen sink need to come out or can a plumber just insert a new tap under the kitchen sink per the pictures attached? Can a plumber re-attach the earthing or does an electrician need to do so?

I changed the tap in my bathroom sink which was easy but there was no earthing nor 2 bronze coloured rods. Just flexi hoses to be attached to the sink piping.

Let me know & thanks.

 

[luca T]

Can someone please assist me here kindly. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[ShaunCorbs]

New tap time

I would say time to get a plumber in as it’s not an easy change

 

[steadyon]

1. The tap will leak because one or both the ceramic 1/4 turn cartridge (hot and / or cold) have partly failed and is / are letting water pass through when closed.
2. If the tap also leaks from the swivel point of the spout, the seals between spout and body have failed.
3. As ShaunCorbs says, multiple faults point to tap replacement.
4. As ShaunCorbs also says, it's not a straightforward job and you might be well advised to get a plumber to do it. The point where the hot connects isn't obvious and might require taking the back of the cupboard out. The new tap may well have flexi connections, which would require the existing rigid pipework to be extended. Minimum 1 hour, maximum probably 3 hours, so say 2 hours. Depending where you are in the country could be anything from £40 to £300 for labour (plus VAT, plus taps).
5. That's the most pointless bit of earthing I've seen in a long time. It achieves nothing unless there is continuity through the flexible pipes. Personally I'd either leave it out if new taps have rigid tails (as the current one have). If extending pipework (and its copper), I'd bond on that new pipework.
6. A plumber can do that earthing.
7. Most unlikely the whole sink would have to come out. Its why plumbers have extra flexible bodies!
8. If you buy a decent make of taps (Bristan, Franke, Grohe, HandGrohe, various others) you should be able to get spares for a good few years afterwards. If you go for an unknown make, the taps may not be maintainable. You would have to pay for any "guarantee" replacements to be installed.

 

[luca T]

Thanks all for your kind replies. I took your advice & bought a Bristan tap from the easy fit range which mounts from the top. This is the link which shows instructions & kit included: Bristan PCN EFSNK C Pecan Easyfit Kitchen Sink Mixer Tap with Swivel Spout, Chrome: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00PW3LGU8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Before arranging a plumber visit I turned off the isolation valves under the kitchen sink of which there are 2. First Isolation Valve Pic located closest to the tap (on 1st kitchen cupboard shelf) seems to control the flow of water to the kitchen tap. The Second Isolation Valve Pic (on the 2nd kitchen cupboard shelf) located further away from the tap didn’t do anything. This should shut off the water completely however, there is still water coming out after waiting 10 mins like in the 3rd pic of the running water out of the tap shown. My question is has the water been shut off completely for the plumber to do so his work once all the piping has been removed OR is the water still trickling out after turning off the isolation valves because the seals & ceramic cartridges have already failed at tap source? I don’t want to call a plumber out which results in him not being able to carry out his work with water running everywhere. I live in one of these old council flat buildings circa 1979 & perhaps some other isolation valve in the building needing to be shut off? Let me know. Thanks once again.

 

[steadyon]

A plumber will know how to turn the water off. Its part and parcel of the job. It would help him or her however if you can identify the main cold water incoming stopcock. It will most likely look like Stopcock 15mm - https://www.NoLinkingToThis/p/stopcock-15mm/31490 and not like the isolation valves in your photographs.
It would be advisable to let the plumber know in advance that you can't turn the water to the tap off using the isolation valves.

 

[luca T]

Thanks all for your kind replies. I took your advice & bought a Bristan tap from the easy fit range which mounts from the top. This is the link which shows instructions & kit included: Bristan PCN EFSNK C Pecan Easyfit Kitchen Sink Mixer Tap with Swivel Spout, Chrome: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00PW3LGU8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Before arranging a plumber visit I turned off the isolation valves under the kitchen sink of which there are 2. First Isolation Valve Pic located closest to the tap (on 1st kitchen cupboard shelf) seems to control the flow of water to the kitchen tap. The Second Isolation Valve Pic (on the 2nd kitchen cupboard shelf) located further away from the tap didn’t do anything. This should shut off the water completely however, there is still water coming out after waiting 10 mins like in the 3rd pic of the running water out of the tap shown. My question is has the water been shut off completely for the plumber to do so his work once all the piping has been removed OR is the water still trickling out after turning off the isolation valves because the seals & ceramic cartridges have already failed at tap source? I don’t want to call a plumber out which results in him not being able to carry out his work with water running everywhere. I live in one of these old council flat buildings circa 1979 & perhaps some other isolation valve in the building needing to be shut off? Let me know. Thanks once again.

A plumber will know how to turn the water off. Its part and parcel of the job. It would help him or her however if you can identify the main cold water incoming stopcock. It will most likely look like Stopcock 15mm - https://www.NoLinkingToThis/p/stopcock-15mm/31490 and not like the isolation valves in your photographs.
It would be advisable to let the plumber know in advance that you can't turn the water to the tap off using the isolation valves.

A plumber will know how to turn the water off. Its part and parcel of the job. It would help him or her however if you can identify the main cold water incoming stopcock. It will most likely look like Stopcock 15mm - https://www.NoLinkingToThis/p/stopcock-15mm/31490 and not like the isolation valves in your photographs.
It would be advisable to let the plumber know in advance that you can't turn the water to the tap off using the isolation valves.

A plumber will know how to turn the water off. Its part and parcel of the job. It would help him or her however if you can identify the main cold water incoming stopcock. It will most likely look like Stopcock 15mm - https://www.NoLinkingToThis/p/stopcock-15mm/31490 and not like the isolation valves in your photographs.
It would be advisable to let the plumber know in advance that you can't turn the water to the tap off using the isolation valves.

Thankyou so much user steadyon!

I found this picture saved to my PC attached (could only upload as pdf) & called: Hot Water Isolation Tap with Green Tag (inside bathroom wall). Is this the Stopcock 15mm you mention? I didn’t touch this. Its location is partially inside a wall cavity situated upstairs in my bathroom. There is a green circular tag on the tap. Does the green indicate a cold water source as opposed to hot water (a red colour)? Is this a plumbing colour code convention? A council heating engineer told me this tap is for “Hot Water Isolation” but one cannot always rely on council advice.

When I did turn off the isolation valves at the kitchen tap it seemed to me that the “hot water” had been shut off completely but still a constant trickle of “cold water” coming out steadily from the kitchen tap.

Is it plausible that my isolation valves are broken internally resulting in water still coming out of the kitchen tap after being turned off? Isolation at any source I would have thought should shut permanently the hot & cold water supplies despite having a tap with broken cartridges/seals?

Do you think some other isolation valve in my building needs to be shut off in the council flat building I live in circa 1979? When I moved into my property Thames Water came to my flat & said “because you are served by a shared water supply that does not split until it enters the property, have shared water storage or communal hot water supply (which I do) & that inside your flat the stop valve was boxed in we are not able to fit a water meter”

Any support or advice someone can give would be most appreciated. Thanks once again.

 

[luca T]

1. The tap will leak because one or both the ceramic 1/4 turn cartridge (hot and / or cold) have partly failed and is / are letting water pass through when closed.
2. If the tap also leaks from the swivel point of the spout, the seals between spout and body have failed.
3. As ShaunCorbs says, multiple faults point to tap replacement.
4. As ShaunCorbs also says, it's not a straightforward job and you might be well advised to get a plumber to do it. The point where the hot connects isn't obvious and might require taking the back of the cupboard out. The new tap may well have flexi connections, which would require the existing rigid pipework to be extended. Minimum 1 hour, maximum probably 3 hours, so say 2 hours. Depending where you are in the country could be anything from £40 to £300 for labour (plus VAT, plus taps).
5. That's the most pointless bit of earthing I've seen in a long time. It achieves nothing unless there is continuity through the flexible pipes. Personally I'd either leave it out if new taps have rigid tails (as the current one have). If extending pipework (and its copper), I'd bond on that new pipework.
6. A plumber can do that earthing.
7. Most unlikely the whole sink would have to come out. Its why plumbers have extra flexible bodies!
8. If you buy a decent make of taps (Bristan, Franke, Grohe, HandGrohe, various others) you should be able to get spares for a good few years afterwards. If you go for an unknown make, the taps may not be maintainable. You would have to pay for any "guarantee" replacements to be installed.

Hello Steady on

Thanks steady on for all your support & advice. Your very knowledgeable. I found the stopcock you mentioned & was able to close of the cold water supply.

A plumber removed the old kitchen tap & replace it with a new one. The old tap & its old earthing is shown in the attached pics A & E.

Pics of the new flexi hoses & isolation valves shown in the attached pics B & C.

I would like to ask you about your point 5 above re earthing.

There was a joined earthing connection attached to the hot & cold water copper pipes directly underneath part of the kitchen sink tap. The plumber removed them & said they were not needed as the connection was not achieving anything between 1 hot water copper pipe & the other 1 cold water copper pipe. He said this bit of earthing did not need to be attached again to any copper pipping under my kitchen sink plus I already have a pre existing earthing connected in pic labelled D which the wiring feeds into the meter box. Is this a correct statement & does my current earthing in Pic D under the kitchen sink tap suffice as a proper bonding connection? Best to check.

Any advice & help would be appreciated.

Many thanks luca

 

[steadyon]

The earthing (its called "equipotential bonding" now) look s OK to me, provided it does go back to the earthing block at the consumer unit. Its what I would do, but I'm not an electrician.

 

[moonlight]

Don't people know how to use copper? Would of been a far neater job. Hope you don't have gravity hot water? the isolation valves are also check valves which reduce the flow even more. Bi flow mixer tap would have been better.