Faulty replacement tap washers?

[Silinman]

After the hot tap in our bathroom started dripping recently, I got out my trusty emergency plumbing kit and replaced the washer with a new one from my spares box.

Thinking that would be the end of the matter I turned the water back on only to find that the tap was now dripping even worse than before, and I also was aware of resistance as the tap head was turned off, indicating a possible problem within the tap body.

To cut a long story short I have now used three different makes of replacement half inch washers, all of which suffer the same symptoms.

Placing the ‘old’ washer on its side against the new washers, I can see that the old washer is probably 1mm smaller in diameter than the replacements. I bought my replacements all from different stores in the hope that maybe one was just out of tolerance, but all three are the same size and larger than the original removed form the tap. After testing, the new washers they all show signs of crush around the face of the washer.

The taps are Bristan Colonial - has anyone had similar problems with these taps, or have I just got a Friday afternoon set?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated - thanks

 

[kevplumb]

the seat will be scored

 

[Silinman]

The taps are only about three years old, and I think still have the original washers fitted, so I would doubt there is any damage to the seat. As I said in my post, the original (leaking) washer appears slightly smaller in diameter than the new ones I am trying to fit. Could it be that the seat inside the tap is smaller than normal and therefore the oversize washers are not fully closing on to the seat.

 

[kirkgas]

if you only changed the hot tap washer, turn off both hot and cold and swap the tap bodies over, depending on what one now drips will tell you whether it is the "original hot" washer or the seat needs repaired, a simple enough job with the right tool or in an emergency you can carefully scrape a flat screwdriver across, this will only work if there is crud on the seat as opposed to damage