The dripping tap
A dripping tap is usually a worn washer (on older jumper-and-seat taps) or a worn cartridge (on mixer taps). On a jumper tap, the washer and the jumper valve seat wear together; we replace the washer and reface the seat if it is grooved. On a mixer, the cartridge is the whole valve — a dripping mixer is a cartridge replacement, not a washer. We carry the common cartridges, and we will match the brand rather than fit a generic that does not seal.
Stiff and hard-to-turn taps
A tap that has gone stiff has usually seized on the spindle or the cartridge — often because it has not been serviced and the rubber has perished onto the seat. Forcing a seized tap snaps the spindle. We free, service and re-grease the spindle with the right tap grease, replace the perished rubber, and the tap turns like new. Where the spindle is corroded past saving, we replace the tap.
Mixer taps — pull-out, filtered and boiling
Kitchen mixers increasingly have pull-out spouts, filtered-water outlets, and, in some Traralgon kitchens, under-sink boiling/chilled units. The common failures are a leaking pull-out hose (the hose or the O-rings at the connector), a stiff diverter, and a boiling unit that has lost pressure or is weeping. We service and replace pull-out hoses, diverter cartridges, and the filters and valves on boiling units — and we isolate the power on a boiling unit before we touch it.
Shower mixers and tempering
A shower that runs cold when a tap opens elsewhere in the house is usually a flow/pressure problem, not a mixer fault — but a shower mixer that will not hold a stable temperature is the cartridge. We replace shower cartridges, and where a home has a tempering valve that has drifted, we recalibrate or replace it so the shower does not scald. A shower that runs hot then cold then hot is often a failing tempering valve, not the mixer.
Outdoor taps and frost
Outdoor taps (hose bibs) are the ones that freeze and split in a Traralgon winter. We replace split hose bibs, fit frost-proof bibs where the location is exposed, and lag the pipework. A tap that has frozen should be isolated and not used until it is checked — a frozen tap that thaws is often a burst.
When to replace, not repair
A tap with a corroded body, a stripped thread, or a body that is pinholing is past a service — we replace it. A chrome fitting that is pitting is not just cosmetic; the pinholes are the next leak. We replace fittings in matching or compatible styles, and we will not talk you into a full replacement when a washer will do.
Tempering valves, pressure and the hot-cold swing
A shower that runs cold when a tap opens elsewhere in the house is usually a pressure-balance problem, and on the older Traralgon homes with original galvanised supply the pressure drop across a partly blocked pipe makes it worse. We check the static and working pressure at the meter and at the fixture, and where the supply is sound but the pressure swings, we fit a pressure-limiting or tempering valve so the shower holds a stable temperature. A tempering valve that has drifted — common on units past their five-year service life — will let the shower run scalding then cold then scalding, and we recalibrate or replace it. On a renovation we set the delivered temperature to the 50°C the Victorian plumbing code requires at the bathroom tap, and we test the real temperature at the spout, not just at the valve.