leaking mini-stop-tap and flexible hose issues

[Old Techo]

Whenever we go caravanning I run through my preparation spreadsheets and one of the several house tasks is to turn off several flick-mixer and other mini-stop taps… www.reece.com.au/search/valves-c231/mini-stops-c928

I do this in case a connecting hose bursts whilst we are away.   Back home I turn them back on again.

After a few days home we noticed wet carpet next to the bathroom. The culprit was a mini-stop leaking in the adjacent bathroom basin cupboard. Water was dripping around the tap knob as it was leaking past the tap spindle seal or gland, usually an O ring.

I totally rebuilt the bathroom about 15 years ago.   It took me a year as it was major work. So the stop taps are that old but never adjusted except for twice a year. The bathroom gets very little use.

Today I pulled out the offending part that looks like one of these… plumbingsales.com.au/spares-taps/tap-spindles-standard-washer/unstyled-bib-pillar-spindle-flat-sided.html

Usually it is just a new O ring required but when I ran the spindle out I was quite disappointed to see, inside the working area that the spindle occupies, that it was cast and not machined brass. So the surface that the O ring spins in was a bit rough.  Was this a faulty stop or had I just bought cheap ones?  Dunno, but maybe you plumbers can tell me?

I put it in my lathe just to rotate it and with some 600 grit wet and dry wrapped around a piece of hand-held dowel poked inside I reduced the cast roughness to a much smoother surface.  A new O ring plus some Vaseline and it works well again 😊

There was some cupboard internal melamine water damage by swelling but with some wooden blacks, G-clamps and a fan heater for 2 days, it is now good enough.

    

[Frank and Brenda]

OT, when I was a maintenance man many moons ago in another life, I always used Vaseline on the O rings as well but an old plumber told me that since Vaseline is a petrolium product it should never be used on rubber as it makes it deteriorate faster
Now today with most of these things it's no true rubber but some compound or other so I'm not sure if that still applies but I have a tube of plumbing lubricant here, that I've had for years and only use that
As for the cast brass fittings, I've noticed those starting at about the time you mention but never gave it a thought as being the possible source of a leak
Our unit was built about 5 years prior to that and hadn't needed taps replaced other than the ceramic washer taps I installed when my son in law and I remodeled the bathroom, they have machined spindles

[Old Techo]

Frank,

True... but I only buy nitrile O rings that are suitable for oily scenarios

[gerrym]

OT, lash out and buy some of the ones that I have.

1/4 turn ceramic disc type.

The spindle doesn't travel up and down so the O ring doesn't get chewed out by deposits and stuff,

Stop Tap   This is only one source

[jr]

OT,
I have some of those isolation valves, with the nice chrome plastic handles and the last time I turned one off when we were going away the plastic split open so I needed multigrips to close the valve. Also, when we had our house built the plumber fitted most of the isolation valve in the roof as our plumbing is up there.

Only way to easily isolate all those flexible hoses is turn the water of at the meter.

I believe all flick mixers must have separate isolation valves because when one needs repairing it is not just a matter of fitting a new $2.00 washer. You need to remove the ceramic valve and there are many types so to save the house from being without water for days you can just isolate the problem tap while you search for a replacement.


JR

[Old Techo]

Gerry,

Your link is dud but I found an example here... www.sunlightbathrooms.com.au/products/levi-1-4-turn-ceramic-disc-mini-cistern

I did see the ceramics when I was searching for mini-stops and that pic that I posted.

Thanks and I'll check them out next plumbing trip

[gerrym]

New Link  Just needed to put "me" after "chro" to spell chrome

OT, this one works, and a fraction of the price, so you should be able to afford 2

[jr]

Do you turn the water off the house when heading off on a holiday?

These flexible hoses used on flick mixers only have a five-year guarantee on them as far as I no.

Last week we had a flexile hose start to fail under our bathroom twin sink, fortunately it was a small leak. I decided to replace the two sets of hoses on both sinks.

First problem each hose has an isolation valve, that’s good but two of the four valves started to leak once operated and they have only been sitting there 21 years doing nothing. Probably the spindle seal.

Second problem I have very short hoses on my flick mixers and Bunnings only kept long ones with a small tread one end, most had the large fitting both ends. Went to a plumbing supply and they did not have any hoses with small fitting one end only large fittings both ends. They said I needed to buy the flick mixer with the right hose, and the flick mixer has a ten-year warranty but the hose five years. Went to a second plumbing supplier and they did have the right hoses.

I replaced the four tapes and four hoses $140 later.

How many people replace there flexible hoses every five years?

JR

[warrenk]

I have had 2 blow out over the years.  One was in the toilet cistern, so not a problem, but was a loud noise when it did blow out.  The other was under the bathroom vanity.  It was a loud bang and then the sound of guessing water.  Luckily, we were home watching TV when it happened and turned the water off quickly, but still a lot of water through the house, but only on tiled areas.  These were both rubber hoses covered in SS mesh.  The new now are teflon pipes covered in SS mesh. They are supposed to last longer. Now we always turn our water off when we go on holidays, although they could fail anytime when are not home.

[legendts]

Sounds like I need to see what’s needed JR. This house was built in 2014 so needs looking into for sure. Cheaper than having a mess down the track.

Thanks for the heads up.

[bazza44]

I have copper pipe to all sinks, basins, laundry. Flexible only to the toilet cisterns and on the roof to the evaporative cooler. I have stop cocks to these three and turn off when on holidays. I do replace them about every four to five years.

When I renovated the bathroom in 2020 I thought of using flexible to the hand basin because so easy to do. I ended up doing it the hard way and bent copper pipes to fit, do not have to worry about forgetting to change them.

Barry

[stoney]

This seems to be quite a common problem. All mine are solid copper

[Old Techo]

JR,

I merged 2 threads as they were similar topics.

[jr]

Thanks OT,
I do now remember the other thread on the topic.
The new isolation tap’s I fitted are on/off taps only turn 90 degrees.
The problem is not just the flex hose but also the isolation valves so starting to think it would be better to turn the water supply to the house off and open one tap to stop any pressure build up as this could happen on a very hot day. There is a safety valve on the hot water system so this may be good enough for high pressure protection.

JR

[Old Techo]

JR,

I don't think turning the water supply off would increase the threat of water expansion if your water supplier has done the right thing and fitted a non-return valve, perhaps built into the meter, to stop you pushing your water back into the mains.

Of course most properties would not have that ability but anyone with their own tanks and pump, like we have, could pump their possibly contaminated water into the mains. I fitted a NRV to my side of the meter to prevent that.

I don't turn off the mains when we vacate as we used to have cattle that needed drinking water and still have 2 bird-baths that our local birds have grown up with and relied upon for bird generations.

No house water could be a problem if you have someone regularly visiting to check the house and water any indoor plants. They may need to use the dunny.