Problematic Kitchen Mixer Tap.

[MTR]

I think we have the Lidl one from about five or six years ago. It looks very much like this model:

First the cold side was dripping through the top lever part, just slightly, then the hot went last night. I was planning to put a new washer in but hadn't got 'round to it. And now that we have neither feed working properly, I'm being forced into an immediate fix

Now I find out that it's not even a standard washer but a "40mm ceramic disc washer" so I look up a guide online which suggests that I might be able to clean it up rather than replace (we're in a v. hard water area); I find the retaining screw for the lever head, remove it and expect to be able to lift the part straight off just like in this video (~1:15 - 1:25):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWmf9VQNzA4&feature=fvsr

But it 'aint coming off I've tried twisting, pulling, twisting with pulling, easing with a side-to-side jiggle, and then all off the preceding repeated with as much force as I can reasonably muster. Not moving.

Help ?

Thanks eagerly.

 

[seco services]

That video missed one vital part unscrewing the dome cover under the lever.
Until you remove that the cartridge won't come out.

 

[MTR]

Indeed it did. I'm pleased to report that since posting this I have got the lever off with the kind of brute force usually reserved for not caring about things because you plan to replace them and the plastic innards are all sorts of broken. I think this is what was causing the leak rather than my efforts to remove the top. Now I don't know if the broken bits are proprietary or part of replacement ceramic washer kits

 

[dcawkwell]

Indeed it did. I'm pleased to report that since posting this I have got the lever off with the kind of brute force usually reserved for not caring about things because you plan to replace them and the plastic innards are all sorts of broken. I think this is what was causing the leak rather than my efforts to remove the top. Now I don't know if the broken bits are proprietary or part of replacement ceramic washer kits

It's a cheap and nasty tap from Lidl.
Replace it with something that will last.

 

[Charnwood]

You could try to find a cassette here.

 

[MTR]

Thanks for all the helps so far. We're getting somewhere.

I went out and bought a new tap as the swiftest way out of the predicament. Ooops. Got the old one off and the new one is a bit narrower. For some reason the fitter of the existing one thought best to cut a massive jaggedy hole which is too oversized for the new tap. Is there a kind of washer or stand-off nut I can get off-the-shelf which will sit between ?

Ta.