Dripping Tap Repair in Penarth: Causes and When to Call

What is actually causing the drip

Where the water appears tells you most of what you need to know. A drip from the spout when the tap is fully off points to the part that seals the water. Water around the base of the handle or the bottom of the spout points to a failed O ring or gland seal.

• Traditional taps that take several turns to close: a worn rubber washer, or a pitted brass seat that the washer presses against.
• Quarter turn taps and most modern mixers: a worn or scaled ceramic cartridge. These either work or they do not, so they are swapped, not repaired.
• Leak at the base of a swivel spout: perished O rings, usually a cheap part but fiddly to reach.
• Drip that worsens at night: mains pressure often rises when demand drops, which exposes a seal that is already tired.

Why Penarth homes have their own quirks

A lot of the housing around the town centre, Plymouth Road and Marine Parade is Victorian or Edwardian. Taps in these houses have often been changed several times, but the pipework and valves behind them may not have been. It is common to find no isolation valve under the basin, or a stopcock that has not been turned in twenty years and has seized. That turns a ten minute washer change into a bigger job, because the water has to be shut off somewhere else first.

Flats around Penarth Marina and newer estates towards Cogan and Lower Penarth tend to have modern monobloc mixers with ceramic cartridges. The problem here is usually identifying the exact cartridge, as there are dozens of sizes and spline counts and many are specific to one brand. In a flat, check whether your supply has its own shut off, as some are in a communal riser cupboard.

What you can safely check yourself

If you are reasonably handy, a washer change on a traditional tap is a fair DIY job. Before you start, make sure you can turn the water off and that it really has stopped.

• Find the isolation valve under the sink or basin (a small valve with a screwdriver slot) or your main stopcock, often under the kitchen sink or in a cupboard by the front door.
• Turn the water off, open the tap and wait for it to run dry before undoing anything.
• Put the plug in so small screws do not vanish down the waste.
• Take the old washer or cartridge to a plumbers' merchant to match it. Guessing rarely works.

When to call a plumber

Stop and get help if the stopcock will not turn or weeps when you move it, if the tap body is corroded and will not come apart without force, or if a new washer has not cured the drip. That last one usually means the seat is damaged and needs re-cutting or the tap needs replacing. Forcing an old tap on a pedestal basin can crack the ceramic, which costs far more than the original repair.

Also call sooner if the drip is from a hot tap on a combi boiler system, if water is getting under a worktop or into a ceiling below, or if you are on a water meter. A tap dripping once a second can waste several thousand litres a year.

What a repair is likely to cost

Prices depend on access, the type of tap and whether parts are to hand. As a rough guide for the Penarth area, a straightforward washer or O ring repair is often in the region of £60 to £100. A ceramic cartridge replacement is more like £80 to £150 including the part, and more if the cartridge is a branded one that has to be ordered. Supplying and fitting a new tap typically runs from £120 to £250 plus the cost of the tap itself.

Extra work such as freeing or replacing a seized stopcock, or fitting isolation valves where there are none, will add to that. It is worth asking for these to be fitted while the plumber is there, as it makes every future repair quicker and cheaper.