Why a Dripping Tap Is Worth an Hour of Your Time

A tap that drips once a second can waste well over a thousand litres a year, and on a water meter you are paying for every drop. The good news is that in the vast majority of UK homes the fault is nothing more than a perished rubber washer or a tired ceramic cartridge, costing anything from a few pence to a few pounds to replace. You do not need a plumber, a soldering torch or a van full of power tools.

What you do need is a methodical approach: isolate the water, dismantle the tap carefully, identify the worn part, replace it, then test before you put everything back together. Work through the steps below in order and you will have a silent tap well before the kettle boils.

Before You Start: Isolation and Tools

Turn the water off first, and always before you undo anything. In most homes the simplest option is the small brass isolating valve on the pipe feeding the tap, usually found under the kitchen sink or in the bathroom vanity unit. These take a flat-head screwdriver and close with a quarter turn — turn clockwise until it stops. If there are no isolating valves, close the main stopcock, which is often under the kitchen sink, in an airing cupboard or beneath the stairs.

Now open the tap fully to drain any water left in the pipe. If your hot water comes from a tank in the loft, expect it to trickle for a minute or two before it stops. Close the plug hole, or place a cloth over it, so that small screws and washers cannot escape down the waste.

Gather the following:

• An adjustable spanner or a small set of open-ended spanners
• Flat-head and cross-head screwdrivers, plus a set of small Allen keys
• Replacement washers in an assorted pack, or a matching cartridge if yours is a modern tap
• PTFE tape, a cloth, and a small bowl to catch drips
• A torch, and a little white vinegar or limescale remover for stiff threads

Step One: Dismantling the Tap Head

On a traditional pillar tap, the coloured hot or cold indicator on top of the handle prises off with a thin blade or unscrews. Beneath it is a small retaining screw. Remove the screw and lift the handle off the spindle; if it is stuck, a gentle tap upwards with the handle of a screwdriver usually frees it.

Next, unscrew the chrome shroud or cover, then the large brass nut underneath it, known as the headgear nut. An adjustable spanner works well here, but keep it square to the nut so you do not round off the corners. Once the headgear comes free, the internal mechanism lifts out, and you can see the bottom of the valve where the washer sits.

Modern lever and mixer taps are different. Look for a small grub screw at the back or underneath the handle, often needing a 2.5 mm or 3 mm Allen key. Slacken it, pull the handle upwards, and the cartridge is revealed beneath a retaining nut or circlip.

Washer Taps: Swapping the Worn Rubber

On a traditional tap, the washer is the part that has failed. It sits on the bottom of the brass jumper or on the base of the headgear, held by a small nut or simply pushed onto a spigot. Prise the old one off with a small flat-head screwdriver and note its size and shape.

Take it to your local hardware shop or match it against an assorted pack. Most standard UK basin taps take a half-inch washer and bath taps a three-quarter inch one, but shapes vary, so compare rather than guess. Fit the new washer squarely, then look closely at the brass seat inside the tap body — the ring the washer presses against. If it feels rough or pitted, a reseating tool will cut a fresh face; if the tap is old and inexpensive, replacement may be the wiser spend.

If water weeps from around the spindle rather than the spout, the gland nut simply needs a quarter turn, or new packing. That is a different fault from a dripping spout, and worth checking while you are in there.

Ceramic Cartridge Taps: A Straight Swap

Cartridges rarely respond to cleaning. Once the ceramic discs inside are scratched or scaled, replacement is the only reliable fix. Pull the old cartridge out, note which way up it sits, and take it with you when buying a replacement — cartridges are specific to the tap's make and model, and many taps have the name stamped on the body or underside.

Before fitting the new one, soak any limescale from the housing with a little vinegar on a cloth. Seat the cartridge the same way up as the old one, refit the retaining nut or circlip, and tighten it firmly but not aggressively. Ceramic bodies crack easily, and a cracked cartridge will leak far worse than the one you removed.

Reassembly, Testing and When to Call Someone In

Refit the headgear, shroud and handle in reverse order. Wrap two or three turns of PTFE tape around any threaded joints that previously sealed with it, and tighten the headgear nut until it is snug — no need to swing on the spanner. Reconnect nothing else, and turn the water back on slowly.

Let the tap run for ten seconds, then close it and watch for a full minute. Check around the base of the tap and under the sink for weep marks. A single drop forming on the spout is a failure; a faint smear of moisture around a thread usually just needs a little more nip.

If the drip persists, recheck the washer seating, the cartridge orientation and the tightness of the headgear. Should the tap body itself be cracked, or the pipework seized solid, that is the moment to bring in a professional. For everything else, you have just saved yourself a call-out charge and learned a skill that will serve you for decades.