Those black rubber washers..

[davidix]

Is there such a thing as a better grade of washer? Old apartment faucet, constant repairs, even when seat assembly replaced each time.

[DUNBARParticipant]

If you are not replacing the seat, the surface that is inside of the faucet that has to mate with the seat washer, nicks, cracks, and uneven surfaces will prematurely wear or rip the seat washer into pieces in a short time.

It must be a smooth against smooth surface in order to work without premature wear.

Kinda like replacing wheel bearings on a vehicle and using sand instead of grease to lubricate the bearings. It doesn’t work for long.

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“Your best interest is secured by making the right decisions the first time.”

[Retired plbg1Participant]

Is it on Hot or Cold. You can buy different washers for Hot water side

[cocacolaParticipant]

Hot water side wears out faster. Seems to me if a plastic screw cap on a bottle of carbonated pop stays sealed under pressure, there should by now have been innovations in the plumbing world for things like the rubber washers, seat assembly, etc without having to replace faucet. i don’t need a life guarantee but a year without repair would be nice. Three flights down to turn off water, 3 back up to repair, 3 down to test drive repair, 3 up to see if test drive failed, etc etc.

[Robert Stephen MortonParticipant]

cocacola. ever thought how many times a tap is turned on in a year? In my home where there are 3 people & 2 bathrooms, my wife has on average 3 showers per day & I have 2. that is 10 opperations per day by say 360 days, so our shower tap is opperated 3600 times per year, not counting when we turn the hot tap off on each other for spite.
a coco cola bottle cap is usually onl operated twive & I have seen them leak.
Do you have Ceramic disc taps in USA? I have had ceramic disc taps in my house since 1986 without any maintenance whatsoever, We reccomend C/D taps to all our customers because of the agressive water in our town.
Regards Bob

[cocacolaParticipant]

I’ll mention it to the landlord-given that my fridge and stove are 40yrs old I’m not sure how excited he will be
So, 2 bus trips, trek across busy highway to Menards, and one taxi trip later I have bought a Kohler hot stem (thanks, wouldn’t have noticed otherwise) assembly. Have you ever noticed that a brand new assembly has a little nick in the seat? I sure do miss the old downtown hardware stores. How do people in a city like New York do it?

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