Tap washers

I am old enough to remember red hot tap washers,then they just seemed to vanish.

I also remember black cold water washers which were shaped like half a ball and were fitted onto a short spigot.

Does anyone else remember these,or am I just doting ?

Those boxes of washers on Ebay look the same as the ones sold in Aldi/Lidi from time to time,quite cheap,and handy to have.

Yup, they were for 'Holdtite' taps **LINK**

Somewhere I think I have still got a tap seating tool from my younger days. Much like a valve seating tool that used to be used on cars during their periodical 'de-coking' service except the cutting edge was at right angles to the shaft. It was/is an all metal tool with guide carrying the appropriate cutter that screwed into the tap body and with a couple of turns of the handle a fresh seat was cut. I can only assume that we must have been using hard washers as soft ones would have deformed and sealed. It's not a job I have done for donkey's years so whether the body material of taps has improved and doesn't corrode or whether the plastic style washers seal better and stop the seat eroding I don't know.

Another trip down memory lane.

Martin W

Edited By Martin W on 07/03/2018 12:16:49

Without deviating too much from the OP's subject, a pictorial example of Martin's description, part of many 50/60s DIY Plumbing items I inherited long ago-

This is the 3/4" example. I also still have Hemp strands, Frys Plumber Solder Bars,the old Bakers active Flux etc etc.

Regards

At the risk of going even further off at a tangent... I think that is a counterbore, tap re-seating tool usually looks like this:-

John

Not that far off on a tangent. Seats usually require recutting if allowed to leak, particularly at mains pressure. I still use mine (journeyman’s pic) occasionally.

Yes that's the one John, somewhere in a dark and forgotten place mine resides .

Martin W

Thanks for the corrective response. Sure I remember correctly that he used it for Bath Taps?.

I'll relegate/elevate it to my Tooling stock, although the shank is turned down for a hand drill. Fortunately my 58 year old Bath Taps are still good. I'll get some of those Washers though

To Roy Entwistle ... try MKM builders merchants ... I have previously bought washers from them ... the label reads BARKING GROHE tap washers, in a pack of 2 ... they seem to survive well on hot water.

martin

In Australia, for the last umpteen years i have used Hydroseal tap washers exclusively. Not sure if they are available in UK. Uses a face-mounted o-ring style seal held in place by the water pressure. Suitable for hot or cold and wide pressure range. http://www.hydroseal.com.au/taprepair.pdf Work like a charm, but you need to have scrupulously clean seats in your taps.

Regarding different materials for hot and cold water, I would expect that modern materials would cover the whole range of water temperatures.

Any problem, experienced with fitting new washers these days, is almost certainly related to not recutting the seal face when doing only half the job.

Wandering off topic again, has anybody ever dismantled one of the newer ceramic valved taps? Just curious as to how they operate.

Phil

They simply an insert. Remove the old innards and replace with new into the tap. There might be different thread options and certainly longer or shorter stems for the operating knobs/handles. Right and left handed insers for taps with long levers, of course.

If you mean how do the inserts work, they are simply close tolerance ceramic discs which don’t wear out - it is the cages that eventually fail.

Might those ceramic tap inserts be suitable candidates for adapting as steam regulators?

I see loads of tap reseating cutters, usually with a load of spare washers, at car boots, they redefine the expression 'sale proof'! Once saw a guy asking £10 for one!

Martin