Thread: Washing machine tap woes!

Hi Guys,

All the ones we now have are Italian made and were very low cost compared to the ones in that link ! In fact I bought spares whilst we were in Italy.

The bathroom sink tap cost 6.99 Euro and the kitchen one 20 Euro, the one in the shower is a double ended one and cost 16 Euro. Even the expensive one that I put in the camper only cost 25 Euro.

Installing the shower mixer tap was easy just two holes through a 50 mm studding wall with two very large plated washer nuts on the inside. All the sink taps came with flexible pipes that screw into the tap base, the tap is actually secured by a single M8 brass nut and formed rubber and steel washers. The only issue I had with fitting was the kitchen sink one, which is a stainless steel one. I had to buy a hole punch to take 4 mm off the diameter.

The punch was dearer than than one of the taps !

The ridiculous prices that are charged here in the UK are anything up to 20 times what they cost in Europe and it seems that they price gouge in AU as well.

Originally Posted by BaronJ

Hi Guys,

All the ones we now have are Italian made and were very low cost compared to the ones in that link ! In fact I bought spares whilst we were in Italy.

One of the blokes I worked with at Uni was Russian and he bought half a dozen ceramic valve taps back from a trip to Russia around the early 2000's where he said he paid less than $1 each for them. Then when he went back a few years later he bought more - this time there had been a massive price increase, now they cost $2 ea. He's been back several times since and bought taps back and has now outfitted his familie's houses with these taps.

Is there a problem with replacing a tap washer once every 6 - 12 months? Takes me just a few minutes.

I see Bunnings has some O-ring tap washers as well. You can NOT over-tighten these. Well, I suppose you could, but you would have to strip the thread to do so. The solution for that is to fit a very small diameter tap handle

But I will have to take a lok at these 'ceramic' tap inserts. Can I assume they are simply a redesigned ball valve, to suit a standard tap fitting?

Cheers
Roger

Originally Posted by rcaffin

Is there a problem with replacing a tap washer once every 6 - 12 months? Takes me just a few minutes.

When a pipe breaks in our street it lets enough grit into the pipes so that washer replacement (grit gets embedded in the washer) becomes more like every 6-12 weeks until the stuff finally gets flushed through and that's for every tap plus he washing machine mains water filter. Our toilet cisterns still have half a cm of grit in the bottom of them. If the water authority flushes the street pipes after repair this helps but they don't always do this so the problem can dribble on for many months. The water authority blames the council street trees and the council blames teh age of the pipes. The council have finally removed the Cape Lilacs which they said were the cause of the leaks but from what I can see its the old Peppermints that are the main problem so I doubt the problem will go away.

When a pipe breaks in our street it lets enough grit into the pipes so that washer replacement (grit gets embedded in the washer) becomes more like every 6-12 weeks until the stuff finally gets flushed through
Lose/lose situation with the Council & Water Board.

Find the incoming pipe and put a disk filter inline. I use Arkal filters on our dam and our house. Clean out every year or so. Clean, not replace. You will need a ball valve upstream for the cleaning process.

Cheers
Roger

Yeah thought of the filter idea, I even bought one and a ball valve and their still sitting in my plumbing bits box because ever since I swapped to ceramic seat taps the problem has not come up on my radar.

It just never ends.
I followed through and found the recommended washers- thanks guys.

Replaced them and laundry sink taps work as they were made to.

Next I replaced all the washers in the bathroom sink and shower taps.
The cold water tap seat was chewed and I had to use a reseating tool to get a seal.

My reward for all that, was that the shower head flow reduced substantially.
No wurry's, I'll just hit it with some CLR cleaner.

No way ,it was crudded up tight with scale that I snapped a bolt while undoing one of the wing nuts.

Good job, I suppose as the water reduction and filter was chocka with pebble like sediment and scale and filter did not appear to be consumer removable.

I went to the plumbing supplies, not bunnings and asked for the best top quality shower head.
Fifty six bucks late ,the shower head and taps operated as they should.

I still feel like the other shoe has yet to drop.

Grahame