In detail: DIY grohe faucet cartridge repair from a real master for my.housecope.com.
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Regular use of plumbing equipment both in the kitchen and in the bathroom requires manufacturers to improve the quality and expand the functionality of their products. From a number of offers on the sanitary equipment market, Grohe bathroom faucets stand out, for which repairs are required very rarely, due to the excellent quality and reliability of the units. However, a sufficiently long improper operation and high water hardness can damage these devices. You can repair Grohe faucets yourself at home. However, this is a rather laborious procedure that requires patience and perseverance. Faucets can be repaired with the usual set of tools that are in every home.
Faucets of the Grohe brand can be subject to various types of malfunctions:
Unit leakage
Water flows weakly from the tap
Malfunctions associated with the mixer in the "bath-shower" mode
Poorly secured switch
Repair of a single-lever mixer is slightly different from that of a two-valve device. But the main reasons for malfunctioning of Grohe mixers in these cases can be:
Small debris plugged switch. This is possible if the running water is dirty.
High water hardness
Natural wear and tear of structural parts
Experts strongly recommend using water filters with openings of no more than 100 microns to prevent the ingress of abrasive particles into the mixers.
Video (click to play).
Depending on the type of malfunction, appropriate manipulations are performed:
Solve cartridge problems
As a rule, small abrasive particles contained in running water get stuck inside the ceramic disc of a single-lever instrument. This can lead to a leak in the mixer. To restore the normal functioning of the unit, it is necessary to completely replace the entire valve. How to do it:
Remove the plug from the front of the unit (there are blue and red decorative markings there)
Remove the screw that holds the lever
Remove the unit from the housing
Remove the defective filter (cartridge) and replace it with a new one
Install the lever in its place, following the reverse sequence of actions. This principle will fit almost any mixer model, not just the Grohe brand.
Kitchen faucets are also being repaired in the same way.
Small tap water pressure
Grohe faucets are equipped with the SpeadCleen system. It involves inserting silicone pads into the filter. If the cartridge is clogged with limescale, simply slide your finger over the insert and the water pressure will be restored.
Old faucets include metal mesh. In this case, you need to do the following:
Remove the metal mesh
Rinse thoroughly under running water
Install the part back
Restoring the function of the "bath-shower" mode switch
It happens that water begins to pour immediately from the tap and shower head. In such a situation, experts talk about the wear of the spool gasket. Faucets can be repaired in the following sequence:
Screw on all water levers
Remove the hose from the shower head
Remove adapter and drain
Unscrew the main screw securing the control arm
Remove eccentric
Remove the spool seal from the body, remove the silicone rings. You may need an awl or flathead screwdriver to do this.
Install new rings and moisten them slightly
Put on the spool gasket and restore the structure in the opposite order.
Usually new Grohe faucets come with gaskets. You can repair the faucets by making your own rubber rings. To do this, you need a piece of material at least three to four cm thick. Of course, they are short-lived, but they can help out in an emergency. Faucets can also help out with linen thread or thin copper spacers wrapped around old rings. This will slightly extend the life of the rings. However, after a while, the mixers will still have to be disassembled.
Clean the mixer and / or replace the aerator and cartridge
The noise most often comes from debris and dirt trapped in the mixer. Clean the mixer and / or replace the aerator and cartridge
All GROHE line must be replaced by yourself or at a service center
All GROHE line must be replaced by yourself or at a service center
Check that the hot and cold water connections are correct. With most GROHE thermostats, hot water (DHW) should only be supplied from the left. If the hot water is connected to the right, then make the correct hot water supply or replace the thermocouple for re-connection.
Replace in the service with a rod of the required length
No. All serviceability is eliminated through the inspection window under the button
Replace flush valve seals or complete valve
Replace the membrane of the filling mechanism or the entire mechanism
Also in the service you can get answers to all popular queries, such as:
The kitchen faucet is one of the most commonly used plumbing fixtures in an apartment or house, so it comes as no surprise that it often fails.
In this case, a rotary one-hand valve needs preventive repair with the replacement of units, sometimes the malfunction cannot be eliminated and the plumbing fixture has to be changed completely.
These home jobs can be done by almost every homeowner without calling a paid plumber. To do this, you need to know how to disassemble a kitchen faucet with one handle and have a simple construction tool available.
Single Lever Kitchen Mixer
In modern kitchens, the main type of taps are one-hand types, which have practically replaced the inconvenient two-valve designs and are more practical than touch devices.
The device of a single-lever kitchen mixer is not complicated, the main units are the body (it has an ebb, seats for installation in a sink and water supply) and a built-in adjustment unit.
In case of failure, the repair of a single-lever mixer in most situations consists in a simple change of the unified switching unit or its parts.
The manufacturer supplies the market with single-lever models for mixing liquids with only two types of control units: ball and plate ceramic cartridges.
It can be noted that ceramic cartridges, due to their high technical characteristics and performance, have practically ousted ball models from the market.
A high-quality ceramic block can regulate the water supply for up to 10 years without losing its operational properties; low-cost Chinese crafts can fail the next day and need to be replaced much more often.
Appearance of structural elements of ceramic cartridges
The ceramic cartridge is a prefabricated connection of parts installed in a plastic cylindrical body, at the top of which a lever is installed, on which a rotary knob is attached. In its lower part there are three holes: water enters two of them, and from the third the mixed liquid is directed to the low tide and flows out.
The main components of the cartridge are two slotted ceramic plates that fit tightly together.When one of them rotates around its axis, the inlet holes through which cold and hot water flows overlap to a different extent - thus, the temperature regime is regulated.
If the movable plate is displaced along its axis, the simultaneous overlap of both inlets occurs - this is how the pressure is regulated.
The main advantage of equipping a kitchen mixer with a cartridge is its ease of replacement and high maintainability - its cylindrical body can be easily disassembled.
How the ceramic block works
Ball control assemblies consist of one main part - a metal ball with three water holes and a stem for installing a rotary knob. During operation, the ball rotates in a spherical body seat that has three holes: two for water inlet and one for pouring out the mixed fluid.
Adjustment of temperature and pressure is similar to moving the handle in ceramic models; for sealing, spring-loaded rubber rings are inserted into the area of the inlet openings.
The advantage of one-armed ball valves is simplicity of design, long service life and excellent maintainability - the metal ball itself cannot theoretically fail, therefore, repairing the mixing device consists only in installing new gaskets.
Features of the device of ball joints
To avoid risks when buying and operating, it is better to purchase sanitary equipment from manufacturers that have proven themselves in the market - this guarantees that it will serve for a long time without breakdowns and malfunctions.
Usually, the control unit is already installed in the plumbing fixture upon purchase, and given that all their models are unified, the right decision would be to purchase exactly such a device at once. This will allow, in the event of a breakdown of the old unit, to immediately replace it with a new one, and if the situation repeats, to assemble from two faulty devices working with the further use of the repaired one.
When using a kitchen faucet, in most cases, water is supplied using flexible reinforced hoses, which are not always of high quality. To avoid flooding of the premises in case of damage to the water supply hoses, you can install an Aquastop valve at the outlet of the pipes.
It should be borne in mind that the principle of the valve is to shut off the water flow at high pressure, that is, it is effective if the water hose falls off the mixing body or pipe. In other situations, in the event of a leak, the apartment can be successfully flooded with the Aquastop protection.
To carry out repair work, you will have to disassemble the faucet without removing it from the sink, sometimes it may be necessary to repair the kitchen spout, which in one-hand models can be carried out without disassembly operations.
When dismantling the crane, you have to remove the handle, unscrew the fixing nuts and hoses - this requires the right tools, consumables and accessories.
Tools and supplies for plumbing repairs
To carry out repair work, you will need the following tool:
An adjustable wrench for unscrewing the nut from the mixer body and dismantling the flexible hoses.
Socket wrench or flat wrench for attaching and removing bolts from the mounting studs.
Phillips screwdriver or Allen key to remove the handle.
When removing the mixing body from the kitchen sink, removing the underwater hoses, one often encounters difficulties associated with the contamination of the dismantled parts with limescale or their corrosion. Before carrying out work, it is better to treat their surface with household chemicals to remove rust and limescale - this will simplify the dismantling and further installation of the equipment.
The presence of gaskets in the underwater hoses and mixing body excludes the use of various types of additional seals in the form of synthetic and linen bands, rubber rings.
During repair work, it is often necessary to change underwater hoses that have become unusable; for replacement, it is better to purchase types with a stainless braid and a union nut with fittings made of non-ferrous metals (copper, brass).
Interior of the Single Lever Cartridge Mixer
Repairing a mixer with a built-in cartridge, depending on its malfunction, requires a different approach. If water does not close well or is constantly flowing in the tap, in most cases the cartridge needs to be replaced. When the casing or ebb is damaged, you will have to remove the mixing device and purchase a new valve with subsequent installation.
The main components that most often fail during operation are the adjustment unit and the spout. The regulating unit can be damaged as a result of prolonged operation with poor-quality performance or from contaminated water with sand getting into the water supply system. The main reason for its malfunction is the breakdown of the built-in plastic parts and the stem on which the handle is attached.
The ebb most often fails as a result of clogging of the filter nozzles at its outlet - in this case, the water pressure breaks its thin-walled tube and a leak forms.
When carrying out repair work, it is often necessary to disassemble a single-lever mixer, the process consists of the following steps:
Using a knife or flat screwdriver, remove the plastic plug in the side of the handle; the fixing screw can have a Phillips screwdriver head or a hex key. Unscrew the fastening screw with a suitable tool; before carrying out work, it may need to be pretreated with household chemicals against limescale and rust.
After removing the handle, unscrew the decorative attachment. It is designed for manual removal, but in the course of long work, water gets into the thread and plaque prevents it from twisting. To facilitate removal, you can use an adjustable wrench, after placing a soft cloth under its jaws to prevent scratches on the chrome-plated surface. When carrying out work on dismantling the hood, avoid excessive forces - this can lead to deformation of the thin-walled cover.
Under the cap there is a clamping nut with a hexagon ring in the upper part - it is simply unscrewed with an adjustable wrench counterclockwise. Removing the cartridge is easy - it is removed from the installation slot with your fingers on the lever.
Disassembly of the ceramic cartridge valve
Before changing the cartridge in the mixer, the internal parts of the mixer body are cleaned of plaque and dirt using a rag and household chemicals. Replacing the cartridge with a new one is quite simple - during installation, the body projections are aligned with the grooves in the installation slot.
It often happens that after a seemingly correct assembly, the cartridge does not work correctly. This is due to the fact that the protruding rubber gasket in the lower part, during installation, prevents the two fixing protrusions on its body from getting precisely into the seats. The crane will have to be completely dismantled again, the block must be installed in the correct position and pressed down more by hand when tightening the clamping nut.
During installation, it is important not to pinch the clamping nut - this can lead to a tight movement of the joystick and compression of the body shell, causing rapid wear of internal parts and, in extreme cases, their cracking - if the joystick moves tightly, you should immediately release the clamp.
How to disassemble a ball-type kitchen faucet
The main repair of a ball mixer in the kitchen with your own hands is the replacement of gaskets; in case of significant damage to the ebb or the body shell, leading to leaks, the plumbing will have to be changed.
Before repairing the ball valve, prepare conventional tools and consumables in the form of rubber cylindrical gaskets and a dome washer. Household chemicals may be needed for the preliminary treatment of coated and corroded parts.
The main malfunctions of ball types include:
wear on the top dome gasket;
defects of a hollow metal ball;
abrasion of saddle valves;
loosening of springs.
If we repair the mixer with our own hands, then, unlike cartridge types, to accurately determine the faulty part, its preliminary disassembly is required.
Disassembling a single-lever ball-type mixer perform the following operations:
Remove the decorative overlay on the handle, completely unscrew the fixing screw and remove the handle.
Unscrew the upper cap with an adjustable wrench, placing it in the outer slots.
Remove the plastic washer with a domed rubber ring and the ball from the body, take out the saddle gaskets with springs with a screwdriver.
How to disassemble a ball mixer - replacing seals
In self-repair, instructions for connecting the crane can help, after studying which it will be much easier to fix it.
But even in its absence, the repair is not particularly difficult, mainly the following operations are performed:
Most often, valve seats are changed. To do this, they are inserted into the housing recesses together with the springs.
If the ball is damaged, any ball repair is ineffective - it is replaced with a new one.
The wear of the upper dome washer is very rare, and it needs to be replaced if abraded.
To speed up the repair time without carrying out a preliminary examination of the ball valve with its disassembly, it is better to purchase a standard repair kit in advance in the retail network.
Before installing the ball, it is helpful to use a silicone lubricant that is applied to the surface of the ball to better seal and reduce abrasion of the rubber parts.
Do-it-yourself repair of single-lever kitchen faucet models is a fairly simple task, even for an untrained homeowner. The main types of valves - ball and cartridge valves, have similar disassembly and assembly processes using the same plumbing and household tools.
