Coincidentally, I am now going to have to undo the pipework etc in the guest bathroom, fortunately to the sink as the hot tap will barely open and the water only trickles through.

(Never come across this before, every day is a school day.) but I feel your pain. Bath tap stuff is a nightmare to get to.
You can still replace the washer type cartridges with ceramic ones if you can get the right spline, the tap will have seized up often lack of use and worrying them back and forth can free them up or hydro locked where water gets past the o ring seal in to the threaded parts again take it apart clean new o ring if possible re grease and reassemble.
 
You can still replace the washer type cartridges with ceramic ones if you can get the right spline, the tap will have seized up often lack of use and worrying them back and forth can free them up or hydro locked where water gets past the o ring seal in to the threaded parts again take it apart clean new o ring if possible re grease and reassemble.
My local plumbing place has a wide selection of replacement valves, you take your one in, they stick it in a tin sheet that has cut-outs matching the spline count and then they just measure the length and grab the correct one out of a parts bin. Really slick. :)
 
My local plumbing place has a wide selection of replacement valves, you take your one in, they stick it in a tin sheet that has cut-outs matching the spline count and then they just measure the length and grab the correct one out of a parts bin. Really slick. :)
That sounds good.
My kitchen and utility room taps are Perrin & Rowe - Etruscan - and the cold water ones are almost constantly having to be replaced because the mains pressure coming into the house is 8 ?? (Don't remember the pressure letters) and the 'proper' ones make it a frequent expense!! As far as I can see it is just a rubber washer that shreds!!
 
You can still replace the washer type cartridges with ceramic ones if you can get the right spline, the tap will have seized up often lack of use and worrying them back and forth can free them up or hydro locked where water gets past the o ring seal in to the threaded parts again take it apart clean new o ring if possible re grease and reassemble.
Thanks mate!
I think it may be the hydro lock as it worked fine then suddenly got worse and harder to open. It wouldn't make the needed number of turns until it got to the point where it wouldn't let enough water out at all. Working it back and forth made no difference. It isn't lack of use, I don't think, it has become "my" bathroom but yes for a long time it was the guest bathroom and didn't get much use at all. So maybe this caused it to eventually leak. I'll have to get two new O rings.
I totally couldn't understand it at all. but I did notice that the bit that winds up on the anticlockwise thread, into the body of the cartridge didn't seem that keen to go back in. I realised I had to line up the hexes and I had to ensure the O ring was entering the hole cleanly. (I also initially put the circlip back in the wrong place! duuuh!) But once sorted and replaced it worked brilliantly.
So, one point, what grease would you suggest as I don't have any plumbers grease at all.
Secondly I did wonder if it was at all possible to replace it with a ceramic one. it has 20 splines, it also has a screw down cap thing to cover the "works". It's 1/2" BSP (obvs I suppose).
I took 12 different measurements with my caliper last night and sent them off to a company, Tap-cartridges.com, because none of the ones they had on their internet site looked like they would fit. They emailed me today to say they had none that would be any use. They put me on to "bathroomspareparts.com", who also don't have one that matches and seem to be flipping expensive.
Does not a ceramic one need to be screwed down pretty hard? I did manage to swop out one in France, kitchen mixer tap. and it was screwed down like FLIP! (The local diy store had just one and miracle of miracles it fitted.) If it can just sit in the water away from a seat, then I could understand how it might work. Then the problem would be the splines and the dimensions where the cap screws down.

Nice to have some homework to do! At least I have already done the measuring! But you have given me hope in case the jury-rigged repair I intend to make doesn't hold.

And in case anyone reading this is still awake, no, removing and replacing it was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. There were no flexis fitted by the bloke who fitted it, and the rods to work the waste didn't help! If he screwed in the two multi-width pipes to the bottom of the tap hand tight, he must have had hands like a gorilla. Much swearing was involved!
 
My local plumbing place has a wide selection of replacement valves, you take your one in, they stick it in a tin sheet that has cut-outs matching the spline count and then they just measure the length and grab the correct one out of a parts bin. Really slick. :)
Wish I lived near you then!
I have been to one place who were hopeless then Screwfix who were the same. (I'd already looked on their website so supected this.
I'll have to get onto t'internet again and seek out more plumber supplies nearby.
Today I have been slowed down by a very long phone call from a mate who has had a complex op. Basically a urethra replacement!
He has staples under his....... I won't go on, your eyes are watering enough all ready!:eek::eek::eek::eek:
 
That sounds good.
My kitchen and utility room taps are Perrin & Rowe - Etruscan - and the cold water ones are almost constantly having to be replaced because the mains pressure coming into the house is 8 ?? (Don't remember the pressure letters) and the 'proper' ones make it a frequent expense!! As far as I can see it is just a rubber washer that shreds!!
This happens in France, and is seen as totally normal, so people have pressure reducers fitted. That also, I am told makes your (Brit) white goods last longer!:):)
Has no plumber ever suggested you doing this? The cost of doing it once you would recoup through fewer visits to change or mend your cold water taps! ;)
 
So, it is a three horse plumbering race.
@Stanleysteamer
@kevstar
and .....@Wimblowdryer!!!! 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

sorry, predictive text! @Wimblowdriver
Place your bets please Ladies and gentlemen.
My odds would be:
@Wimblowdriver 4 to 5 on (as he only has to swop his out under warranty)
@kevstar 30 to 1 (as he may have to modify his loft hatch, his ceiling or his roof)
@Stanleysteamer 10000 to 1 as (he'll have to stop hitting his thumb with a hammer and do some very careful filing, orrrrrr...... find the pot of plumbing supplies at the end of the rainbow)!!!

So put your dosh on me folks!!!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Job jobbed here. Dottir went to scroofix while I took the faulty tap out, she returned with a new tap and I fitted it. The faulty one will be going back to wix for a refund. All done by lunchtime :cool:
20231214_125929.jpg
 
I remember you talking about that.
I did live in Oban for about 11 years, its great in the summer when the weather is good but quite frankly there is **** all to do in the winter when the weather is pish which is pretty much for 6 months, unless you are an alkie in which case you would fit right in with the locals. (who are all from Yorkshire and Lancashire so all moaning gits)
 

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