- Hello, and welcome to this
Plumberparts.co.uk video. Today I'm gonna show you
how to change a tap washer to stop this tap from leaking. It's gonna be mental. Right, to achieve
success you're gonna need a tap washer repair kit, a phillips-head or a
cross-headed screwdriver, an adjustable spanner, a set of grips and a small slotted screwdriver there. Right, first thing we find out where we have to off set the tap from. That means turn it off. Fortunately this one is right near the cold water main. So we just turn that one off, and it should all be OK. First you remove this top cap here with our slotted screwdriver. Put that to one side. Then we remove the head using our phillips-head screwdriver. Now that opens up the
valve mechanism body. OK, this bit here is the
bit we have to remove. For this bit, we need to
grip this part of the tap; the spout part, with our grips. And then use our adjustables to remove the actual valve mechanism. Now, to stop any damage to the tap itself, I always try to get a small bit of cloth or something like that
just to protect the tap from the grip teeth. Otherwise it will damage it or score it. There we go. As you can see, they
can sometimes be really difficult to get off. There we go. There's the washer here
that needs changing. Now we get our small slotted screwdriver. Pop that under the seat here like that. And try and prise it out. And out it comes. So, looking at the old tap washer, we can actually see the
rubber's quite hard. And that means that's
probably why it was leaking. Sometimes you'll find
there'll be a small slit or something like that. Well, sometimes the rubber washer will be completely destroyed. Whatever happens, definitely recommend changing this one, and that's what we're gonna do now. Now is when we need to
use our spare tap washers. Make sure that the replacement
tap washer you choose is roughly the same size and has roughly the same hole size in it, so it sits on the spindle and doesn't slip off when you're using it. We pop this new one back on. That sits nice and comfortably on the valve mechanism. Now we put that back in the tap, and test for operation. Put this back in here. Get our grips again. Snip that up nice and tight. And then reassemble in reverse order. Now I go back under the sink and turn the water back on. And test for operation. So there we have it.
Fixed. Everything's working
absolutely spiffingly. No leaks whatsoever. It's really good. Sometimes you'll find with the mechanism they can actually rip themselves to pieces inside, and they just won't work anymore. If that's the case, pop
it out, take it down to your local wholesalers
or plumbers merchant, and they'll be able to
find you a replacement. They're usually very, very common and quite easy to find. I hope you found today's video helpful. If you need any more
help, or you think we've missed something out
or anything like that, tell us on this video or visit our website at Plumberparts.co.uk
and, as ever, subscribe. Thanks very much, guys. See ya laters. Plumberparts.co.uk. Honest reviews and advice.