The faucet is leaking in the kitchen. Single-lever mixer - do-it-yourself device and repair
Modern plumbing is constantly changing its appearance, using more advanced technologies and materials, so it is not only functional and comfortable, but also durable. Thousands of companies around the world are developing durable devices that are easy to use and easy to maintain.
For example, to replace two-valve taps, set up comfortable temperature in which it is problematic, single-lever models came, easily opened even with one hand. In this article we will tell you what the device is, as well as how to repair it. ball mixer for the bathroom with your own hands.
Design
A single-lever type bath faucet is structurally different from a two-valve type. It has only one handle-lever, which regulates the temperature and power of water pressure in the tap. This type of faucet is also known as "one-armed bandit", ball, articulated, joystick. It performs three main functions: water mixing optimal temperature, jet formation and change in its power. Its mechanism of action is quite simple:
Please note that the single lever faucet consists of the following structural elements: a rotary knob, a faucet cover, a spout with a faucet body, an inner chamber or cartridge, as well as several gaskets and seals.
Kinds
Inside the mixer, as you can see even from the name of this plumbing fixture, cold and hot water in order to obtain a jet of optimum temperature. This process is carried out using a ceramic cartridge or a ball mechanism. According to the device of the internal chamber of the mixer, 2 types of devices are distinguished:
Important! Despite the differences in internal arrangement, the ball and ceramic cartridge models look and function much the same. However, there are also differences: the cartridge is better protected from accumulation limescale, and the "ball" is resistant to impurities contained in tap water.
Advantages and disadvantages
Many homeowners pay attention to a single-lever faucet, because its device and repair, as well as installation are simple, but at the same time very effective and functional. These more modern devices differ from two-valve devices not only in more aesthetic appearance. They are also very convenient to use, they allow you to more accurately and quickly adjust the water temperature, reduce its consumption. But they also have disadvantages:
Remember! To increase the service life of a single lever mixer, you can improve the quality tap water by installing a special filter, as well as to carry out timely preventive maintenance of the device.
Operation problems
Even high-quality plumbing fixtures fail over time. The service life of the faucet depends on the material from which it is made, the quality of tap water and the intensity of use. The most common problems that arise when operating single-lever models are:
Important! Whatever High Quality no matter the faucet, it needs preventive maintenance. Even if there are no problems during operation, you need to disassemble the device once every 2 years, clean it, and also replace the gaskets. After all, even a small mote that has fallen under the seal can cause a leak.
Repair
Many home craftsmen are interested in how to repair a single-lever ball mixer if it starts to work poorly. Experienced plumbers say: if the device has become unusable, you can only completely replace the cartridge in it or clean it, as well as replace the gaskets. To do this, proceed as follows:
Please note that each plumbing fixture has its own service life, which depends on its quality and intensity of use. However, this period can be extended if you improve the quality of tap water with a cleaning filter, as well as regularly carry out preventive maintenance of the device. For a single-lever mixer, maintenance consists in periodic disassembly and cleaning, as well as the timely replacement of rubber seals.
Video instruction
The faucet is running! This is probably the most common expression in the topic of plumbing repairs. In this article, we will analyze how you can fix a single-lever or, as it is also called, a flag mixer.
They are widely used due to their ease of use, and most likely, they are used by you in the bathroom and in the kitchen.
The main control element of such a mixer is a cartridge, and if water flows from under the lever of your tap, then it's time to change this element. This is not difficult, it is enough to know the order of work.
Let's get started!
Faucet repair in photo examples
First of all, you need to remove the decorative cap - a plug, which, using colored marks, indicates the position of the lever for supplying cold and hot water
The opened hole gives access to the fixing screw that fixes the cartridge and the lever
Using a screwdriver (usually negative, but not always), unscrew the screw and remove the lever
Then we unscrew and remove the decorative cover, which is attached to the external thread of the circular nut
Using a wrench, unscrew and remove the circular nut
We take out the damaged cartridge and change it to a new one of the same size (the common diameter is 35 mm and 40 mm)
There are two conical protrusions on the cartridge, which play the role of guides, they must coincide with the place of their landing in the mixer body.
We repeat the assembly of the mixer in the reverse order. If the case is not damaged by corrosion (it happens) and has no mechanical damage, then the cause of the leak has been eliminated!
Lever and have a similar structure, so the leak from under the lever is repaired in the same way, by replacing the cartridge.
Video explanation | Single Lever Faucet Repair
If the faucet is leaking, it is not necessary to call a plumber and pay for his work. In our article, we will figure out how to disassemble a single-lever mixer and do the repair yourself. To carry out work, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the device of this sanitary appliance and prepare the necessary tools.
Experts attribute the appearance of water from under the faucet lever to the failure of the cartridge. In this regard, we will need to disassemble the device and replace the cartridge.
At the initial stage of work, you need to remove a small rounded decorative cover. Usually on this plate there are two multi-colored dots (red and blue) indicating the turn of the tap lever to add hot or cold water. If the direction of the liquid supply does not match, the lid is turned over to the opposite side.
When the decorative cover is removed, a screw will be exposed inside the hole that holds the lever in position. This lock can be unscrewed with a regular or Phillips screwdriver. There are times when a hexagon is required to remove the tap.
Note! If you cannot unscrew the screw with a screwdriver (the lock is rusted or the thread is broken), then in this case you need to pull the lever with force. In this case, the base of the screw should come off the plastic cap.
After removing the lever in one way or another, remove the decorative cover. It happens that this part is also impossible to remove in the usual way. The insert can be loosened by hand; to improve the effect, a soft, dry cloth is placed at the place of application of the force. If the cap could not be removed by hand, then to pull it out, you can use:
- Pipe wrench;
- Pliers.
To protect the surface, the working part of the tool must come into contact with the part through the fabric. After several rotations different sides you can quickly remove the decorative cup.
Tightening or replacing the cartridge
After removing the protective lining, we see the cartridge in front of us. Now you need to unscrew the ring nut and you can remove the mechanism for supplying and mixing water. After pulling out this part, on the bottom you can see the mounting grooves that are used to install the device in its working position.
Slots for cartridge installation
If, after removing the cartridge, metal corrosion was noticed, then the mixer can be replaced with a new one. In some cases, water leakage from under the lever is eliminated by tightening the nut.
Note! To resuscitate the mixer, you can cover the sinks in the metal with silicone and wait for this substance to dry, after which the cartridge itself is installed according to the marks.
Reassembly
The assembly of the mixer begins with the installation of a new cartridge. After that, we tighten the circular nut, install decorative cup. Next, install the lever or flag and fix its position with a screw. If the fastener was rusty or had a damaged thread, then the lever must be firmly mounted on the cartridge holder.
Important! Before buying a new cartridge, you should understand the design old model. The diameter of this part can be 35 or 40 millimeters, but there are devices with an additional o-ring. That is, if replacement is necessary, consider design features old cartridge model.
If it leaks after replacing the cartridge
The main reason for such a fairly common phenomenon is the corrosion of the metal in the seat. We have already said that you can try to cover such areas with silicone, but if this does not help, then you will need to change the entire mixer.
If the lever goes down
Spontaneous lowering of the mixer lever usually tells us about its breakdown. When you click on the flag, water can be supplied in a thin stream or not at all. Many people think that main reason such behavior of the lever is a failure of the cartridge, but this is not always the case.
All residents of a city apartment or country house plumbing is used differently. Some open the taps carefully, others, for example, children, sharply pull the flag. In the latter case, damage to the inner part of the lever, which is put on the head of the cartridge, is possible. In case of damage, the walls of the square insert diverge to the sides, which leads to a certain amount of free play of the part; when lifted up, the crane begins to fall.
Note! To determine the breakdown, it is necessary to remove the round decorative insert, unscrew the screw and remove the lever. After that, they look at the inside of the flag: if it is damaged, then install a similar part from the old mixer. In the presence of quality plumbing, lowering the lever may be caused by wear on the cartridge, which will need to be replaced.
If it leaks from under the shirt
In some cases, water may leak from under the faucet jacket. The main reason for this phenomenon is damage gaskets, and the liquid can leak both in the upper and in the lower part in the area where the circular nut is located.
In this regard, during the installation of a single-lever mixer, you need to properly tighten the circular nut. This part is often unscrewed or loosened during product shipping, resulting in a small gap. Such a gap is quite enough for water leakage.
If the nut is well tightened, then the cause of the leak will be a faulty gasket. . To fix the problem, unscrew the nut, remove the nylon washer (serves to form a working gap between adjacent rotating parts of the housing). Next, remove the mixer spout along with the shirt and carefully check the installation sites of the gaskets.
There should be no signs of corrosion, shells, etc. In this case, the only solution to the problem will be to replace the gander from the old faucet, in the worst case, you will have to replace the mixer completely.
The second reason for water leakage from the shirt is the wear of the gaskets.. Such parts are made in the form of a horseshoe, and their working, most part faces the water chamber. It is quite difficult to buy a new faucet gasket, but you can repair the faucet.
Disassembly of the mixer to eliminate leakage from under the shirt
To do this, several layers of fum tape are laid in the seats, which will increase the diameter of the seals and improve their tightness. Next, put on gaskets, install nylon washers, assemble the rest of the mixer.
Before installing the crane on permanent place check its tightness. If a repair work made correctly, the water does not flow, then the mixer can be fixed on the sink.
The mixer is very old, probably more than ten years old, but it still works flawlessly. The only problem that he had during this time was the leakage of water from the base of the spout. A few years ago, I already changed these seals around which the mixer spout rotates. And somewhere a month ago, puddles near the mixer began to appear again.
If you have something similar, then you should not panic, as the water that remains in the spout itself (the tube from which water flows out) is leaking after the tap is closed. A small plus here is that as soon as the spout is empty, then the water from the base will stop flowing. But there is also a minus, since people use the mixer in the kitchen very often, then water will leak almost constantly. This is of course unpleasant, because over time, white stains on stainless steel and rust on the enamel of sinks will appear from the water. And if water flows under the faucet itself, then under the sink the faucet mount will begin to rot and rust, flexible eyeliner and other plumbing fixtures that are prone to corrosion.
In this thread, I only dismantled half of the faucet to get to the swivel spout glands. If you need to break it upper part(head), then I painted a little how to get to the cartridge.
This is how it looks on the video.
Unfortunately, in this faucet, to get to the sealing rings of the spout, you have to disassemble half of the faucet. We block the water supply under the sink or in the riser, then unscrew the faucet hoses and direct them into a container to drain the remaining water from the hoses and faucet. After that, we move the mixer handle to the open position so that the water comes off the spout.
We turn off the hoses from the mixer itself. Then we unscrew the nut from the stud that holds the bracket for attaching the mixer to the sink. I first unscrewed the mount, took out the mixer and then unscrewed the hoses. In general, here it is convenient for anyone.
One at a time, the hoses fit perfectly through the hole in the sink, but it's better to unscrew them from the bottom.
Actually our removed mixer. Here you can clearly see the black rubber sealing ring, which is installed at the base of the mixer. It should be a little more detailed. Since if you suddenly began to notice that the hoses under the sink were periodically wet, rust appeared on the faucet mount or hoses. That reason is most likely in this ringlet, which eventually fell into disrepair and water began to leak under the mixer. It is also possible that the fastening of the faucet itself to the sink has weakened.
Unscrew the fastening bolt with a screwdriver.
Key 10, hoses, if you have not previously unscrewed them.
Now you need to unscrew the threaded ring from the base of the mixer, which holds the spout. Scars do not adorn the chrome-plated body of the mixer, so I glued pieces of leather on the lips of the adjustable wrench with adhesive tape. Which can be replaced with paper, rubber, a rag, or something else to minimize scratching the case. In general, it is better to first try to unscrew this ring with your hands in rubber gloves. Particularly well help to unscrew all smooth stuff, ordinary rubber medical gloves. If it doesn’t work, then we use brute force.
Having unscrewed the brass ring, we see a fluoroplastic white ring under it. There are two of them, one on each side of the base of the spout.
Now you can freely remove the swivel spout of the mixer, under which there is a pair of seals that we should replace. In general, this disassembly is completed.
Before removing the seals, carefully inspect how they are installed, as they differ somewhat in their cross section from a conventional ring.
We remove all the rings, we go with these samples to the store for a new set of rings. These oil seals were originally black (rubber), but I didn’t see the same ones anymore. All the time you come across such white ones, like from silicone.
We clean all the seats for oil seals and fluoroplastic rings, from any fat, dirt and water growths, put the rings in their places and assemble the mixer. If you suddenly forgot which side to put the seals, because these cuffs have a longitudinal section, that is, the section of the ring in the form of the letter "K". Everything is simple here, the cut (depression on one of the sides) of the stuffing box is always directed towards pressure or liquid.
Lightly lubricate soapy water or shampoo the omentums and the inner cavity of the spout, so that when putting on the spout itself, the omentums do not turn inside out. You can also lubricate with petroleum products, but they are most likely not tasty :-) It’s better then to lubricate with ordinary butter or sunflower oil.
We tighten the ring, do not forget about the installation of a fluoroplastic ring under it.
If the flexible hose is very old, then it is better to completely replace it. Otherwise, you will have to buy O-rings and gaskets for eyeliner, so as not to leave old and already upset rubber bands on the hoses.
After assembling the mixer, we install it in its place and connect the eyeliner. By the way, after installing the mixer, try to periodically inspect the eyeliner for the first week in case of possible leaks. To be honest, these white seals disappointed me a little, they last for two or three years and water again runs out from under them. Although it is possible that the development affects the body of the mixer itself and the spout, because it is very old. Or perhaps this is such a policy of manufacturers to make seals a little smaller than the original, so that after some time the water starts to flow again and as a result the client goes for a new mixer. In general, if you notice that water has begun to appear near the mixer, then you should not immediately change the mixer to a new one. Just carefully inspect it to determine exactly where the leak is coming from. And if it turns out that it is flowing from under the spout, then now you can repair the mixer yourself with your own hands, spending only on a set of gaskets, and possibly hoses.