The cold water side of the kitchen mixer tap started dripping and so I knew a plumber was required because I know nothing about changing washers. Trying to get a plumber turned out to be more difficult than I imagined it would be … leaving messages on answerphones that received no response, booking someone through Checkatrade who didn’t turn up (twice!) and then getting someone who did actually turn up and who told me that the tap I have needed a new cartridge (whatever that is!) and that getting the right one would be difficult so the advice was to get a new mixer tap. By this time I was in despair because of all the water that was being wasted so I agreed.
Yesterday a man arrived with a new mixer tap to fix but he couldn’t turn off the water under the sink so tried the stopcock outside - still no joy. I rang Anglian water and they will send out an engineer to fix it ‘within the next 7 days’. Meanwhile the plumber tried to source a new cartridge taking the old one with him to see if he could find a match - no joy there. So the old cartridge was replaced and lo and behold no more dripping tap!!
Now I have a quandary - the plumber had already purchased a new mixer tap for me and said to let him know when the stopcock was fixed - but the leak has stopped now so do I just carry on as before or have the new tap fixed anyway? Decisions, decisions …
Presumably the new mixer tap has a receipt so that it can be returned? Also if replacing a cartridge it is always worthwhile to replace them both (both hot and cold have individual cartridges), although the hot side probably doesn’t get as much use so will probably last a lot longer…
Do you actually need a mixer tap?
We had a similar problem years ago in a previous house
We messed about with a couple of plumbers - a similar performance as you have described - then one of the fitters at work had a look
His opinions and comments about mixer taps were suitably industrial, but it came down to the decision that it would be easier to replace the faulty mixer tap with plain, simple, upright kitchen taps for separate H&C water - which we did.
The plumber provided the new mixer tap so I suppose he must have the receipt, he took it with him when he left. The problem with replacing the cartridges is that the plumber says that it is difficult to find the correct ones - he did try by taking the old one to various plumbing outlets. It was when he put back the old cartridge that the dripping stopped - not straightaway but after the plumber had left. My problem is that if I don’t have the new mixer tap installed and the dripping starts again will the plumber come back to do it because I didn’t follow his advice about a new one in the first place - considering all the trouble I had finding a plumber and the trouble he took to try to source a new cartridge.
Thanks for that idea Zuludog - I hadn’t considered that possibility because there has always been a mixer tap on the kitchen sink. Something to think about for sure.
Our new mixer failed a few weeks back, it was bought with our new kitchen, it wasn’t a good tap and we didn’t like it , so we bought another from wren, more expensive but we did get a refund on the old one, I’m still waiting for wren to send their man to fit it, ( I should have said that the hot wasn’t working at all) so I fitted it myself , our bathroom mixer also became a bit grubby,and pitted so I changed that as well, the trick to keeping mixer, or any polished chrome tap, is to not use any chemicals on them, just clean with a damp microfibre cloth then dry off…
But you’ll have to get a new sink, as there’ll only be one hole for the mixer
Yes, obviously such a change might not be suitable in every case, it will need a proper looking at
When you said the drip had stopped I assumed he had found and fitted the correct cartridge!
As he hadn’t, personally I’d replace the tap then…
I replaced the cartridge on the hot tap on my bath, just a few weeks ago. The tap is hollow metal & the cartridge is the part from the washer that drips or seals the water off, when the tap is closed. To the fitting for the outer part, that you turn. It is in short the complete mechanical part of a tap. The valve.
The outer part of the tap is a mixture of image & hollow tube. So if it looks OK & if the tap no longer drips, then it should be fine.
If the water turns off, then replacing the cartridge should be a simple job. Even for a semi competent DIY person. As to make taps cheap to manufacture, they keep the cartridge part, fairly uniform. It may happen occasionally where a cartridge is a strange size. But your plumber clearly found the size you need, so your tap is fixed.
I do wonder how your plumber managed to change the cartridge, if he could not turn the water off! As without turning the water off, removing the valve (cartridge,) leaves water spraying out of the tap body when the valve/cartridge is removed!!
The plumber couldn’t find a replacement cartridge so put the original one back. He couldn’t turn the water off at the stopcock but was able to isolate the tap to enable him to remove the cartridge - I don’t know how he did it. However, to replace the tap altogether he said he needed to put in new ‘hoses’ so the water would have to be turned off completely to do that. I am repeating what the plumber told me, I hope it makes sense!
Yes, he will have to fit new tails ( flexible pipe) to the hot and cold, ( they come with the new tap) it would be prudent for him to fit new isolators too, to enable the water to be turned off, it might have been a bit of grit/scale under the washer so when he took it out it cleared it, that would explain why it’s not dripping now…
Commiserations Margaret 
getting a plumber to sort a small job is almost impossible. I tried 9 plumbers to fix the washer on my mixer tap, one said they could do it in September. The washer disintegrated and blocked the flow of hot water so I had to carry hot water downstairs in a bucket.
Eventually my neighbour’s son fitted a new mixer tap, not a difficult job that I could have done myself at one time. I decided on a new tap in the hope that I don’t have trouble again for some time.
I hope you are all sorted now Margaret .
Years ago, when I had my bathroom replaced with just a shower, I was going to get a mixer tap but the plumber persuaded me to just have separate taps as he claimed mixer taps were more trouble than they were worth.
Sounds like he was right.
Goodness Meg that sounds like a nightmare having to carry hot water downstairs! At the moment the tap is not dripping so I think that probably the point @Primus1 made about the bit of grit/scale could have been the cause. I’m still debating as to whether to replace the tap or not but don’t have to make a final decision until Anglian Water have fixed the stopcock sometime this week (or so their email says 
)
To be fair, this is the first time I have had a problem with a mixer tap though Bruce and I thought, when it started dripping, that it probably needed a new washer - not realising that they have cartridges now rather than washers! The tap I have is less than five years old, it was a cosmetic replacement because the previous one was looking quite shabby. The worst part of the situation was trying to get a plumber to look at it - and then the stopcock not working properly.
Replace every time… never throw good money after bad.