Do-it-yourself cork faucet repair

In detail: do-it-yourself cork faucet repair from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

How does a cone (plug) faucet work? Where are these products used? What, for example, is the plug valve 11B6BK DU50 used for? How good are these elements of valves in water supply and heating systems against the background of alternatives? Let's try to answer these questions.

This is the name of a closing or regulating device, the main element of which - a cork - has the shape of a full or truncated cone with a through channel and is in contact with the body with all side surfaces. Impermeability to water, air, gas or other medium transported by the pipeline is ensured by the absence of a gap between the walls of the housing and the plug.

The design of a plug valve implies a large friction area and, as a result, a large hardening required for turning. Of course, with a huge pipeline diameter, it will become unacceptably huge; in addition: sticking surfaces will further increase the resistance.

Just on the basis of this, corrosion-resistant materials with a low coefficient of friction - brass and cast iron - are traditionally used for the manufacture of plug valves.

Please note: due to the design highlights and the low mechanical strength of the metals used, the diameter of plug valves rarely exceeds 100 mm, and the working pressure is 16 atmospheres.

There are no rules without exceptions: if you are thirsty, it is possible to find a plug valve with a diameter of up to 200 millimeters in a metal case on sale.

But it has little to do with those valves that can be found in basements:

To facilitate the rotation of the plug, a gearbox with a steering wheel is used.
The cork is still made of cast iron: if two metal elements stick to each other, it will not help to tear them apart, besides the gearbox.

Video (click to play).

How a tap blocks the movement of water or gas in a pipeline is easy to understand. And how exactly is it ensured that there are no leaks to the environment?

The plug passes through the valve body completely. Its threaded shank, when tightening the nut screwed onto it, presses the plug against the body with great hardening. The absence of a gap ensures that there are no leaks both through the valve through the pipeline and into the environment.

It is curious: when the valve is operating, the level of quality of lapping surfaces improves over time.

The gas plug cone valve, which can be seen on the gas stove in most Russian apartments, is steam otherwise: the plug is pressed against the body not by a nut, but by a spring. A small hardening of the clamp, coupled with lubrication, provides a moderate hardening of the turn of the plug; but the large working pressure of the structure is more than small.

Finally, a plug-gland valve was massively used for water supply and heating: a stuffing box packing near the stem ensured that there were no leaks. In most cases, a braided graphite gland was used.

How the packing was clamped in most cases depended on the material of the valve:

Brass products were crimped with a union nut.
A cork cast-iron faucet more often used several bolts to crimp the stuffing box, which attracted the stuffing box to the lugs of the body.

Flanged. Adjacent flanges are attracted to each other by four to eight bolts; tightness is ensured by a paronite or rubber gasket.
Threaded or coupling. For sealing, sanitary flax and unnatural sealing materials are used.

Depending on the nominal diameter of the connected pipeline, the DN (nominal passage) of the valve is indicated. Domestic documentation uses the metric system; DN approximately corresponds to the internal diameter of the pipeline in millimeters. Imported goods are often labeled in inches:

Here are a couple of examples of the use of cork taps in their various designs.

The most obvious example is a samovar faucet. The cork in it is held in the valve body only by its own weight.

Mixers of the Soviet example with a lever switch were not very ergonomic in use and leaked quite often; but they were virtually unkillable. Breaking the lever or plug was not an easy task.
Three-way plug valves were used to regulate the temperature in apartments: depending on the position, they let the coolant flow through the battery, through the jumper, or completely blocked it.

By the way: the last function of the crane was the circumstance of the fierce hostility of the mechanics who served the areas built up with Khrushchevs. Find out which of the residents on the riser turned off the tap, it turned out far from immediately.

We have already mentioned the gas valves of the Soviet example. The cork valve, compared to the screw valves then common, really looked much more reliable and ensured the absence of leaks.
Finally, along with a screw valve, a plug valve was the most common element of shutoff water supply systems and heating fittings in the 60s and 80s of the last century. It was there, for example, that the 11B6BK DU50 valve mentioned at the beginning of our material was massively used: it was mounted on hot water and heating tie-ins in elevator units.

How do plug faucets look against the background of alternatives in relation to plumbing?

Let's start with praise for them.

Unlike screw valves, they do not need to be oriented in some way in the direction of water flow. The separation of the valve does not threaten easily due to the absence of such.
A straight and wide through channel in a plug forms a fairly moderate hydraulic resistance - again, in contrast to the winding passages in a screw valve.
For the same reason, plug valves are never clogged with scale, rust or sand. Garbage simply has nowhere to linger in them.
Cork valves favorably differ from modern ball valves in greater resistance to high temperatures.

But: 150 C, which is large for a ball valve, is the temperature limit on the supply line of the heating main at the peak of winter cold. Higher values are achievable only in steam heating systems, which are currently used only by a few industrial companies.

The author's experience of dealing with plug valves in water supply and heating systems allows us to formulate the following main claims against them:

Both cast-iron and brass valves boil with long periods of inactivity. In order to turn them at the end of five years of inactivity, hardening is required, fully talented to break the thread on the drive.
At the end of the notorious period of inactivity, the smallest turn of the valve leads to leakage of water through the stuffing box. Yes, this is a nuisance - non-specialized for all gland packing products; but with a screw valve, it is solved by its full opening. Here you have to fill the stuffing box again.
By the way, about the stuffing box: it is possible to fill it only by first blocking and throwing off the water. What is the instructions for? If you open a pressure valve, the disturbed plug will quite possibly fly in your face at the front of the water flow. Cold at best, hot at worst.

Read also: DIY flash di622 repair

For comparison: a valve with ground-in cheeks for stuffing the stuffing box with your own hands is enough.

Glandless (tension) valves have to be loosened before opening or closing, which is accompanied by water leakage.Especially touching when you are under the valve. If you do not loosen the tension nut, there is a real chance to tear the thread from the plug.
The rod for turning has to be taken with an adjustable, open-end, or (much more often) a gas wrench. As a result, quite often used taps are easy to identify by rounded or even absent rods above the stuffing box.
For all that, the price of a plug valve is not lower, and usually higher than a ball valve of the same size.

The conclusions are rather disappointing. The obsolete design has already lost the battle for the plumbing communications market and can only be used in highly specialized industrial pipelines.

In buildings where a three-way plug cock is located under the radiator, it is only possible to recommend that the connections be replaced as soon as possible.

As always, in the video in this article, the reader will be able to find additional thematic data. Good luck!

Each of us should probably know how to fix a faucet. Moreover, in most cases, the malfunction can be eliminated quite quickly and at no extra cost, but the call of the master must be expected for more than one hour, and he will take a lot of money for the work.

In our article, we will talk about the most common breakdowns of water taps, after which we will give repair algorithms for most models.

If you have experience and skills, you can quickly eliminate any malfunction.

Before you repair a faucet mixer, you should take the time to analyze the situation. So we can understand exactly what actions should be taken, thereby saving a lot of time.

Leakage is the most common problem

The list of breakdowns includes the following items:

In principle, this table describes the main faults. Other situations that may arise during the operation of the crane are derived from those already analyzed, and therefore they need to be repaired according to a similar algorithm.

But such cracks cannot be repaired.

Also, before starting work, you should carefully familiarize yourself with the design features of the model you have installed. As a rule, the assembly drawing of the faucet is included with the product itself, therefore, when installing a new faucet, this document should be saved.

Note!
If you couldn’t find the diagram, then you should enter the query “assembly drawing method for specifying a water tap” in the search engine and select your model.
Most manufacturers put technical documentation online, so the chance of finding what you need is very high.

Now we will try to figure out what to do in each case. And let's start with the most common situation, namely, with the elimination of the causes of leakage of the locking element.

Drawing of the body of the water tap and a schematic representation of the locking elements

Cranes, in which the axle box acts as a stop valve, are the easiest to repair.

The algorithm of actions here is as follows:

Before disassembling the faucet, be sure to turn off the water on the riser.
Remove cover from flywheelunder which the fixing screw is located.
Unscrew the screw using a screwdriver, then remove the flywheel from the guides.
We dismantle decorative cones, covering the place of attachment of the axle box.
Using an adjustable wrench, we unscrew the worn-out axle box from the socket. We clean the cavity of sediment and blot it with a rag, removing residual water.

Putting the new box in placescrewing it along the thread. In this case, it is not necessary to exert excessive force so as not to damage the structure.
Next, we need to check the faucet for leaks.. We turn on the water on the riser and inspect the installation site of the box.
Grabbing the rod with pliers, turn it several times. The water flow must turn on and off quickly and clearly.
Perform assembly in reverse order, installing decorative cones and fixing the handwheel on the crane.

In some cases, the axle boxes can be repaired. It all depends on their design.

Remove the gasket from the end of the box

Products with a rubber gasket are more maintainable:

Using a screwdriver, unscrew the screw that secures the gasket at the end.
We dismantle the sealing element and install a new one of the appropriate size in its place.
We fix the gasket with a screw, clamping it hard enough, but without deformation.

With ceramic axle boxes it will be a little more difficult:

We remove the rubber sealing gasket from the end, and then remove the end cap.
We dismantle the ceramic plates, if necessary, unscrewing the fixing element.
We clean the internal cavity of the axle box, removing contaminants that can lead to leaks.

Completely disassembled ceramic box

We return the plates to their place, observing the correct position: when the stem is turned, they must completely cover the hole, interrupting the flow of water.
We complete the assembly by installing the dismantled elements in place.

Note!
Often the cause of leakage is the wear of the ceramic plates themselves, so they may need to be completely replaced.
And finding these parts is quite difficult, and the price of a repair kit will not be much less than the cost of a new axle box.

The device of a water tap and a mixer, which is controlled by one lever, differs from the box design.

Accordingly, the dismantling of such a product for repair must be carried out according to a different scheme:

First, lift the red-blue trim on the front panel.
Under the overlay there is usually a screw for a Phillips screwdriver or a hexagon - we unscrew it.
Next, remove the handle, carefully disconnecting it from the stem of the ball or cartridge locking mechanism.
The next step is to provide access to the armature itself. To do this, unscrew one or two nuts.

Note!
Very often, manufacturers make an internal, fixing nut with grooves for a special tool.
You can either purchase a similar wrench, or try to unscrew the part with your own hands using improvised tools.

Unscrewing the nut with a special tool

By removing the nut, we get access to either the cartridge or the ball valve. They are dismantled quite simply, and replacement will not cause difficulties.

Repair kit for ball mixer

To restore the performance of a single-lever mixer, most often you need to completely change the functional element.

The instruction recommends doing this:

We remove the cartridge from the socket by pulling it vertically up along the guides. If the part is skewed, you can correct its position with a slight side impact.
We clean the cavity under the cartridge from rust and debris, which can cause leakage.
We install a new cartridge, fix it with one nut and check how well it blocks the water. If there are no leaks, and the adjustment works properly, we assemble the mixer.

Cartridge removed from slot

Ball valves have their own characteristics. Their main advantage is that the ball itself breaks extremely rarely, so the repair usually consists in replacing the gaskets. We act like this:

Grasping the rod, we take the ball out of the nest.
Using tweezers or small pliers, remove the spring-loaded spacers that press the ball against the body.

Removing the sealing elements

We replace the gaskets, after which we install the ball in place.
We lay a new sealing ring on top and clamp the valve with a union nut for the mixer.
As in previous cases, it is better to check the tightness of the structure before complete assembly.

In addition to actually repairing the locking mechanism, it is sometimes necessary to carry out other measures to restore the operability of the crane.

For example, in case of problems with the aerator, we act like this:

Using an adjustable wrench with plastic pads, carefully grab the aerator and unscrew it from the spout.
We take out the installed mesh and thoroughly rinse it, removing all contaminants.
At the same time, we clean the mixer spout with a flexible brush, trying to remove layers from the inner walls as much as possible.
We wind the aerator onto the spout, making sure that the thread does not warp.

If a leak occurs at the place where the swivel spout is fixed, proceed as follows:

Carefully twist the union nut using an adjustable wrench. We're filming a goose.
We remove the rubber gasket from the socket.
We install a new one in its place. The diameter and thickness of both elements must match.
We return the spout to its place, fixing it with a union nut.

This gasket needs to be replaced.

Some malfunctions do not affect the operation of the mixer, but significantly worsen its appearance. As a rule, these include scratches, coating chips, abrasions, etc. And although the full restoration of chrome plating or nickel plating by electroplating is quite expensive, throwing away the tap and buying a new one is not at all necessary.

You can return an attractive appearance to the product by painting:

We dismantle the mixer, completely disassembling it and removing all non-metallic parts.
We grind metal surfaces, removing scratches, and then thoroughly degrease.

Aerosol metallic silver

Note!
If the scratches are minor, then such polishing can be applied without painting: it restores the factory chrome / nickel plating well.

After polishing is completed, we assemble the crane and install it in place.

Repair of a water tap and mixer can be carried out according to different schemes. It all depends on how well we analyze the breakdown and what decision we make at the planning stage. You can learn the troubleshooting steps themselves by watching the video in this article.Faucet leakage problems are relevant for bathrooms that we use several times a day. Small droplets dripping slowly and continuously from the faucet are the first signal that an urgent repair is needed.It is not difficult to eliminate the breakdown, having an idea about the structure of the mechanism of the device. As they say, repairing a mixer with your own hands is a worldly affair.Typical faucet problems are leaks caused by:

a malfunction of the soul;

conical plug defects;

crane box wear.

But most often the rubber gasket wears out, the condition of the crane depends on the integrity and strength of which.Most often, a leak from a valve is due to wear of the rubber gasket in it. This is the most common situation. Both mixer taps can leak.You will need the tools shown in the photo:The thickness of the new gasket is from 4 mm. You can make it from a piece of sheet rubber. The process of cutting it is the simplest, but if there are doubts about the quality of hand-made production, then in the future it is advisable to change the home-made gasket to a factory product.As a template for cutting the gasket, the one that is to be replaced is suitable. If it is too deformed, then it should be taken into account that the manufactured part of the seal must be 1 mm larger in diameter than the previous one.The edge resulting from the increase in Ø should be modified: cut along the circumference from the side adjacent to the seat at an angle of 45º so that this sealant tightly “enters” the hole to be closed and the valve with the new gasket does not buzz.After replacing the gasket, everything must be returned to its place. We insert the crane box back. Usually, when removing a crane box, it is always advised to treat the internal cavity from plaque. This plaque is usually the result of water hardness.In the reverse assembly of the mixer, a plumbing adjustable wrench is used.In most cases, mixers have problems with valves, especially with half-turn valves. The valve can be replaced or repaired. There are no particular difficulties in how to repair a broken faucet in the bathroom yourself.In a conventional valve, which is unscrewed in a circular motion, it is most often necessary to change the gasket or gland packing. Brief instructions for replacing the gasket are posted above, and in case of problems with the gland packing, they usually try to tighten the gland.A small nut located at the base of the crane box will be involved here. The cross section of this nut is square. In a clockwise direction, tighten the nut until it stops.If these manipulations turn out to be useless, then it will be necessary to unscrew the gland ring. After unscrewing, a special gland packing is wound around the valve stem. Then the ring will need to be screwed back well. All of the above actions help stop the leak.

Repair of the valve seat - the cavity into which the faucet box is screwed - is necessary if, after replacing the gasket or the faucet box, water has not stopped flowing from the tap. With prolonged use of the mixer, it is often deformed, this causes leakage.The appeared notches and scratches can be removed by milling. It is necessary to scroll the deformed area with a cutter a little. After such a scroll, the mixer is assembled, and if the seat is properly polished, there will be no leakage.To solve this problem, you need to do the following:

buy a switch;

disassemble the crane;

replace the broken part.

If deformations are found in the conical plug used to mix water from hot and cold water pipes, it must be replaced. When eliminating any breakdown, the flow of water is always blocked. The following photo shows how the switch is removed:When eliminating the above described malfunctions, it is not necessary to remove the mixer from the mount. But there are more global problems with the valve mixer, which are also completely solvable.Read more about some malfunctions of plug-in mixers and how to fix them.It is possible to repair the shower-spout switching mechanism without replacement. Consider the original way of fixing the switch flywheel on the stem:Now it remains for us to drill a hole on the switch stem and assemble the mixer:Eliminate the leak, following a certain algorithm, and then change the mixer.

Initially, in this situation, the water is turned off. Special taps for shutting off are located on the water supply pipes.

After shutting off for verification, the valves are rotated in the direction of opening to the maximum.

Then the connecting nuts are very carefully unscrewed. In modern mixer designs, they break easily. Regular brass nuts are easier to unscrew. They won't crack or break. A broken nut needs to look for an analogue in shape.

Next, remove the mixer.

When removing the mixer, the branch pipe is turned out, at the border of which a leak is detected with the coupling. The edges of the pipe when turning out are held with a key or by a shoulder. A nut is screwed onto the removed pipe. You need to screw it in correctly, until the end. The new nut is taken from the old mixer. The reliability of the installation of the nut is determined in comparison with its original position.When it comes to replacing the mixer, be sure to determine the size of the nozzles. The mixer is always sold complete with them. If differences are found between the old and new pipes, both are changed, and not just the one that flows. If they are identical, then only one can be changed.To understand how the leak is removed in this case, consider the diagram:During the installation of the pipe, there may be nuances. When screwing in, this part is held by the collar. In this case, the thread for two turns should remain free.All the rest are wound with sealing threads. Usually this seal is advised to impregnate with drying oil or oil paint. After such wetting, you must immediately screw the pipe into its proper place - this serves as a guarantee against re-formation of a leak.Having shut off the water, they first try to simply tighten the nut, and then, after supplying water, check for leaks. If the leakage persists, the nut is unscrewed, and the mixer moves along the nozzle closer to the wall. Then you need to remove the hose attached to the bracket.This is necessary to control the position of the mixer. When moving the mixer, look at the end of the pipe, because it is relative to it that the location of the device is changed.This is done until it becomes possible to remove the old gasket, which is adjacent to the nut and ensures tightness. An attempt can be made to remove the gasket without touching the faucet. Often this fails. The reason for this is the gasket sticking to the pipe (to its end).It is also impossible to pull out the pressed gasket. Then the shower is detached from the wall. This will help rotate the mixer. To facilitate rotation, all nuts on the mixer are loosened.The gasket for replacement is simply cut out of rubberized sheets. In thickness, it should be from three to five millimeters. On the nut, it is prudent to leave free space for two threads of thread. After replacing the gasket, everything falls into place easily.Sometimes there is a leak between the body and the sidewall. The mixer is separated from the piping, then from the shower. Take off the nose. The sidewall turns out. Then smeared with putty. You can use paint instead of putty. Do not use the mixer until the lubricant is completely dry.Usually the problem is associated with blockages in the piping to the faucet. Pipes and sidewalls may be clogged. To correct the situation, you will need to clear the blockage. To do this, the valve head is turned out. Then a steel wire is pushed into the resulting hole. We take out all the garbage, sand. After that, you can clean the cavity with a solution of vinegar from plaque.A similar nuisance is a sharp decrease in the pressure of water from the spout. Usually the cause of the problem lies in the blockage of the aerator. It is solved by unscrewing it and cleaning the nets. They are blown and then washed. You can use a needle to remove sand from the mesh.What to do if the water flows, but the spout falls? This is due to the fact that the locking ring has broken. Until a new part is purchased, there is a temporary solution.After closing the valves, you need to make an expansion ring. It is usually made from copper wire. The diameter of the material for the ring must match the diameter of the old product. After a ring is made with a soldering iron, it is advisable to treat it with liquid oil. This will prevent rust formation.This situation is associated with the loss or breakage of the limiter. Knowing exactly where this part is located, it is easy to return it to its place. To do this, disassemble the mixer, find a malfunction and return the element to its place, applying light blows to the protruding part of the limiter with a hammer. Also, the limiter can be replaced with a small piece of brass wire - this will solve the problem of leakage at least for a while.Sometimes troubles happen with a shower hose and a watering can, more often due to wear of individual elements or poor water quality.Usually, water does not pass well through the mesh when there are blockages in its holes. Here, after removing the mesh, it is easy to clean it with an ordinary awl or needle.After screwing the mesh back, the water supply and the direction of the streams are restored. And the plastic panel with holes, and the rest of the shower and faucet, can be wiped with a solution of vinegar from plaque and stains.

If the leak appeared due to wear of the inner part or winding, it does not make sense to repair the hose, it is easier to buy a new one. Its cost is low, and the service life of new modifications is much longer.If both the drain and the shower are leaking at the same time, the point is a loose joint between the cork and the body. To correct the situation, the locking screw is first turned out. The next step is to tighten the union nut. This reduces leakage, but switching water from the drain to the shower is somewhat difficult.To completely eliminate the leak, you need to grind the plug to the mixer body using special lapping paste compositions. They are sold in many stores.Most people have preferred lever joystick mixers. It is very convenient to use them, since only the handle of the mixer is turned to achieve the desired water temperature. It is also very easy to create the desired water pressure by moving the lever up and down.To understand how to fix a single-lever mixer yourself, you need to have an idea about its device.Instead of valves with gaskets that close the channels with water, there are special cartridges here. They are usually spherical or disc. They do not need to be changed as often as the same gaskets. You cannot replace a disc cartridge with a ball cartridge. Only their cartridges are suitable for a ball lever mixer, and their own for a disk mixer.Articulated, they are also single-lever or joystick, mixers are extremely sensitive to the quality of tap water. Therefore, malfunctions often occur not due to a breakdown or failure of the locking device, but due to the appearance of sediment and clogging of the interfaces of moving parts.Consider how the Grohe Eurosmart 3300001 bathtub model was cleaned with the 08915 mechanism located on the spout, which switches the shower to the spout. This device did not work, the water went into both the shower head and the gander at the same time. Note that the master did not have to replace parts and seals, it was enough just to remove rust and calcium build-up.After cleaning and washing the switching mechanism, it remains to "deal" with the pressure. As it turned out, for this it is enough to clean the spout aerator:After the traditional water shut-off, unscrew the mixer mount. Then you will need to remove the lever as carefully as possible, and you need to do this carefully, slowly loosening it. Raise and pull out the lever only when no resistance is felt. To continue working, you need to unscrew the thread connection.After dismantling the dome of the mixer, the plastic component will be visible. Behind it, a seal is usually visible, which needs to be cleaned or replaced. It is just a normal rubber gasket. If the ball element is damaged, it must also be replaced.The ball is fixed with seals, the suitability of which must be monitored.Faucets with a lever (joystick) need careful handling, they need to be used easily and smoothly.When installing any cartridge, you need to make sure that the protrusions on it are identical to the protrusions on the mixer.Disc cartridges rarely need to be changed as they last up to 10 years. But mixers with such a flow rate are not cheap, although they are fully justified.A little about how to postpone the repair of the mixer for a long time. One of the simple solutions is to monitor the quality of the water supplied to the mixer, using modern mechanical filters for this. Solid particles of sand and pebbles will not spoil the parts, and they will last much longer.It is recommended to install coarse filters at the beginning of the fork in the water supply of the dwelling. Today, a self-cleaning filter is available to the consumer. All filtered deposits from it are sent straight to the sewer. It is not always possible to install a large filter.Where it is not available, the mixer itself is connected to connecting taps, where cleaning filters are already built in.There are filters that help reduce water hardness. This is important for ceramic faucets, as they suffer more than others due to the presence of salt deposits in the water.And finally, advice from experienced plumbers. If pipes hum when you turn on the mixer, you need to check how well they are fixed and, if necessary, fix them with clamps. In some cases, the buzz is due to high pressure in the pipes, then a special reducer will be required to reduce the pressure. Often this noise is caused by worn valve gaskets, after replacement it disappears.Before the upcoming gasket replacement, it will be useful to watch the following video: