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[feeutfo]

all the hot taps in our house are seizing up. Cold are fine. I guess it the hard water in this area seizing up the tap guts?

Any thoughts on un seizing them? i'm thinking turn off the water remove the guts and soak in viacal or some other de scaler, light smear of sylicon grease and re fit... and if thats no good buy new tap guts, but no idea where from. A GOOGLE suggests de scale and grease should do the job.

Anyone had any experience with this?

Cheers

Chris

[Mr Skrunts]

Not a clue.  :-/

[Plomien]

it can also be worth replacing the washers at the same time, depending on severity of the problem it should work fine if not time for new taps

[Marks DTM Calib]

Yeh, disassemble (if possible) and soak in vinegar.....replace washers if you can get them

[Chris_H]

If they're newish taps and not super-fandago-custom-jobbies, then they are likely to have inserts. that can be replaced with basic tools.  That includes the washer.
Always worth turning off the water and having a look though.  It may just be gunge (cleaning chemicals for instance) that can be scraped off.

[feeutfo]

thanks guys, that pic looks spot on although alot more shiny. They are certainly nothing special as taps go, original with the house so about 30 years old i guess. Will give the vinegar a go too.

[stuthespread]

if cleaning up the inserts doesn't work might be just as economical to replace the taps,all the hot taps packing up at the same time would suggest deeper issues.

[cem_devecioglu]

dont know if its related to your problem but here taps generally have blocked filters inside which needs frequent cleaning so they start to leak in time ..

[Varche]

Here we have water full of calcium and the regular maintenance is to unscrew the filter on the spout of the tap and clean that of debris. Internal parts we clean using hydrocloric acid which all the supermarkets sell. It is marvellous stuff. I guess something like Viacal would do the job. 

[KillerWatt]

No point in trying to clean the old inserts Chris, you can buy them in pairs for £5.99 brand new from any plumbing supplies shop (and that includes the likes of B&Q, although they may charge slightly more as they are aimed at the punter rather than the trade).

[Kevin Wood]

No point in trying to clean the old inserts Chris, you can buy them in pairs for £5.99 brand new from any plumbing supplies shop (and that includes the likes of B&Q, although they may charge slightly more as they are aimed at the punter rather than the trade).

Agreed. If they're 30 years old they've done their time. 

Kevin

[MickAP]

Yeh, disassemble (if possible) and soak in vinegar.....replace washers if you can get them

Yeah was going to say the same, or I find the stuff the descales kettles etc is good our £ shop sells it.
Then a little vaseline around the spindles.

Mick

[feeutfo]

 they are 30 rears old at least, so may well be buggered. But on the other hand the one in the bathroom sink has never really been right and packed up just after we moved in.

Fairly certain its just the thread on the inserts gumed up, it unsrews, as if to turn the tap on, but then stops seized solid before the water flows.

The bigger bath tap still flows but its really stiff.

I guess i'll do the sink one first and see how a clean up goes, take some, measurements while its out and if it dont work ill know what i need to buy.

On the other hand she's mumbling about a new bathroom in the summer so no point going mad, we've lived with it this long...

Thanks again

[Kevin Wood]

On the other hand she's mumbling about a new bathroom in the summer so no point going mad, we've lived with it this long...

Ahh. I can help you there. You need to replace the bathroom floor with Marine ply then move on to the next "project" (I suggest "making Chrisgixer's bike go faster"), leaving the bathroom floor unfinished for 3 years. Mrs. Chrisgixer will soon stop requesting any further home improvements.

Kevin

[Jimbo B]

they are 30 rears old at least, so may well be buggered. But on the other hand the one in the bathroom sink has never really been right and packed up just after we moved in.

Fairly certain its just the thread on the inserts gumed up, it unsrews, as if to turn the tap on, but then stops seized solid before the water flows.

The bigger bath tap still flows but its really stiff.

I guess i'll do the sink one first and see how a clean up goes, take some, measurements while its out and if it dont work ill know what i need to buy.

On the other hand she's mumbling about a new bathroom in the summer so no point going mad, we've lived with it this long...

Thanks again

You're gonna have to change em