BlancoAlta Cartridge Replacement

[Oren]

With a BlancoAlta tap leaking from the top joint, I removed the cartridge and applied a smear of Plumbers Silicone to the composite o-ring - which slowed the leak down, but did not cure it.

The instructions for replacing the cartridge in a BlancoAlta tap are straight forward and as I could not find one locally (Exeter) I have sourced a replacement cartridge from the importers. This cartridge is not a straight copy of the old one illustrated in the service manual or the one coming out of the tap - it is blue and with a redesigned o-ring assembly.

I had expected that a new cartridge would immediately solve the leak, but have been disappoint that it is actually worse than the old one with silicone applied.

The cartridge has locating lugs, so can't go in miss-aligned, so the only variable is how hard the top is screwed back down.

Before assuming a faulty replacement, has anyone experience of these and can suggest a cure?

 

[SimonG]

1. Don't use silicone. It shouldn't need it.
2. Get a new tap, is it really worth all the hassle.

 

[Howsie]

They're £200'ish to replace like for like. How old is your tap?

 

[SimonG]

They're £200'ish to replace like for like. How old is your tap?

Ah well, worth the effort then. Maybe a bit of muck or limescale on the tap.

 

[dancinplumba]

is the face where o rings fit scratched ?

 

[SimonG]

What's your water pressure like?

 

[Oren]

1. Don't use silicone. It shouldn't need it.
2. Get a new tap, is it really worth all the hassle.

Thanks for sensible suggestion - if it was a "no-name" would have done that, however £200 annoying reasons and allowable hassle for not wanting to try that route - silicone in tool kit.

 

[Oren]

They're £200'ish to replace like for like. How old is your tap?

Unfortunately tap too old for "free" replacement. Didn't realise that accountants had got to "big name" products to justify plastic working in shiny brass-ware. Probably stuck with trying to make replacement plastic perform like brass, without the robot assembly line to "tweak" it to 99.8% probability of failure.

 

[SimonG]

Well if it's an expensive tap then you haven't put it together properly. Or the replacement is duff. Unfortunately new out the box doesn't always equal good.

 

[Oren]

With regard to muck, lime scale and scratches, careful(?) design has left the "machined and polished" surface onto which the cartridge seats some 25mm down inside the body, so challenging to clean and polish without either filling the lug holes or the water-ways. In extremis may have to think of a way to do it. Pressure not tested, but at the end of a long "private" pipe with flow problems, so possibly not a culprit (bearing in mind tap has been in use for a number of years) and no recent "improvement" works in the area (rural so not much prone to "improvements" by utilities - other local properties nearer mains are below 10bar). I think tap's rated 10bar, but will check with importers.

 

[SimonG]

Looks similar to a grohe tap. Leaked from the top on installation, pulled it all apart and stuck it back together with a bit of silicone grease. Real pain in the backside. Did the like of shower doctor not do a cartridge for it? Found them dead handy in the past.

 

[Howsie]

How old is the tap?