Tip: It is often not the aerator itself that gets dirty, but the cleaning filter located at the entrance to the room. Therefore, if cleaning the aerator did nothing, then unscrew the filter and check the cleanliness of its mesh.
We found out how to repair a bathroom faucet with a shower with our own hands. If you use higher quality consumables, such problems will occur much less frequently.
VIDEO
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 carefully remove the lever, 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 also needs to be replaced.
The ball is fixed with seals, the suitability of which must be monitored.
Mixers 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 replaced, 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 there is none, 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:
VIDEO
In some cases, problems with faucets are due to an incorrectly installed sink or the wrong choice of model. Most of the troubles can be solved on your own, but if difficulties arise, it is better to call a plumber - professional advice or repairs have not bothered anyone yet.
The bathroom in our time is a complex complex of a variety of devices, plumbing connections and assemblies. As for mixers, there can be two or three of them - it all depends on how much and what is installed in the bathroom. Any technique tends to break down sometimes, and faucets are no exception, so you need to know what to do in these cases. With detailed information and an algorithm of actions, you can easily fix minor malfunctions with your own hands.
Every modern bathroom has a faucet. Replacing your bath with an invigorating shower saves a lot of water. Sometimes the mixer fails, then repair or purchase of new units is required.
The faucet is one of the main devices in the bathroom, it is in the bathroom, and in the shower, and in the sink, if it is installed separately. With this unit, you can regulate both the pressure of water and its temperature.
The mixer is of the following types:
The first includes two valves, which, with the help of rotation, allow you to achieve the desired flow of water and its temperature. Such a unit is arranged simply, if necessary, it can be easily disassembled and repaired. When working, it is important to follow the recommended sequence of operations, this is the best guarantee that no extra parts will remain after assembly.
Water regulation by means of the second type consists in the fact that the lever rises in an upward direction and turns to the side. Inside this design there is a large ball with special slots and in contact with the lever.
Water with different temperatures enters through such slots and mixes. The water pressure is regulated by changing the angle of rotation of the lever.
The model with a ceramic cartridge has two plates that are in contact with one another. The plates move relative to each other when the lever changes location. This allows cold and hot water to mix.
The box crane is reliably protected by seals, which can be:
The valve head assemblies can be changed. The box crane, in turn, may consist of:
A tee connects several pipes, the second type is connected using a special wiring.
The lever mixer is very popular, its main advantages:
ease of operation;
reliability;
looks aesthetically pleasing;
ease of installation.
The scheme of the device of such structures is simple; unfortunately, it is impossible to repair them, it is possible - the case is designed in such a way that it cannot be disassembled.
Switches from the tap to the shower can be of the following types:
cork;
button devices;
cartridge type.
spool.
The most common and simple are cartridge type switches. Their main failure is the wear of the rubber ring between the housing and the shift lever. The gasket rubber is in an environment in which there is both high humidity and mechanical stress. The destruction of the gasket is only a matter of time. Troubleshooting is not difficult, for this you need to disassemble the device and replace the gasket.
What needs to be done to repair the crane:
shut off the water supply;
disconnect the lever from the mixer;
unscrew the screw from the switch;
dismantle the switch;
install a new ring;
wind the FUM tape on the thread in several layers;
put the lever in place, tighten the screw.
Often found in spool switches is a broken nut, it secures the switch in the shower itself. Similar incidents happen when the materials from which the mixer is made are made of cheap silumin material.
It is recommended to buy nuts and hardware made of hard alloys:
Such a malfunction is eliminated as follows:
the mixer is disassembled;
the hose is unscrewed from the shower;
unscrew the bottom nut.
If the nut fails due to thread wear, then it should be replaced with an analogue of a better material. After processing with sandpaper, the device is assembled, lubricated with grease and put in place.
Often, breakdowns occur at the switching points for other reasons:
button failure;
the passage of water simultaneously into the faucet and shower hose;
failure of the mechanism that controls the flow of water;
abrasion of gaskets in the push button switch itself.
It is possible to eliminate the leakage by changing the rubber rings.The pushbutton switch breaks due to the failure of the metal spring, which must be replaced.
If there is a decrease in water pressure in two-valve type taps, then it is quite possible that the clogged aerator is to blame, it should be cleaned. It is also possible that the spools, which are responsible for the flow of water entering the faucet and shower, fail.
Such nodes from bona fide manufacturers are designed for a long service life, so it is recommended to buy plumbing fixtures on trading floors with a good reputation. Each unit of goods must always be accompanied by genuine certificates of quality and warranty.
In order to repair breakdowns, you should use the services of craftsmen with practical experience. In this case, it is good to have certain ideas about how mixers are arranged and what types they are.
Any mixer consists of several nodes:
frame;
rubber pads;
axle box crane;
decorative elements;
valves;
spool;
adapter;
crank.
The most common malfunctions in the form of leakage, they are:
under the gander;
under the mixer lever;
under the mixer valve with two valves;
at the connection points of the hose and the shower.
under the fastening nut, water may leak due to wear on the gasket.
In this case, the repair can be done by hand, it does not require the qualification of a plumber.
Often, malfunctions can be easily eliminated by replacing a worn ring with a new one made of partonite. When winding the gander, be sure to lay the FUM tape so that the gaps are better sealed. Leakage in a lever faucet occurs when the cartridge itself breaks. This problem can be fixed by changing the cartridge. It can be of different sizes, it depends on the manufacturer. When buying a new cartridge, it is advisable to take the failed cartridge with you, their compliance should be 100%.
Leakage from under the lever is eliminated in this way:
first, the plug is removed, which is marked with a red-blue marker on the handle;
the fixing bolt is unscrewed;
the lever is removed;
the cartridge is changed;
the mixer is reassembled.
