Plumbing advice for Dumbarton homes
Is a dripping tap worth fixing?
It is only a drip. That is what everyone says, and it is why so many taps in so many homes have dripped for a year or more.
This article is the case for the other view. It also covers four more small faults that people live with and should not.
What one drip adds up to
A single drop is nothing. A drop every second or two, all day and all night, is a surprising amount of water. MyJobQuote's tap replacement guide says a dripping tap can waste up to 5,500 litres a year.
In most Scottish homes that waste does not show on a bill. Water and sewerage charges here are usually collected with the council tax and are not based on a meter. So nothing arrives in the post to nag you, and the tap drips on.
If it is the hot tap, though, you are paying. Each litre that drips away was heated by your boiler or your immersion heater first.
What the drip does to the tap
This is the part most people miss. A drip is not a steady state. It is a fault in motion.
In an old-style tap, water forced past a worn washer acts like a tiny jet. Over months it cuts a channel in the brass seat the washer presses on. Once the seat is scored, a new washer will not seal. The seat has to be reground or the tap replaced.
People make it worse by turning the tap off harder. That crushes what is left of the washer and strains the spindle. In a quarter-turn tap, grit caught in the ceramic discs scratches them a little more every time the handle moves.
So the choice is not between a repair now and no repair. It is between a small repair now and a bigger one later.
What the drip does to the room
- A green or brown streak in the basin or bath that scouring will not shift
- A worn patch in the enamel of an older bath, right under the tap
- A damp worktop edge or swollen chipboard where a kitchen mixer leaks at its base
- Mould on the sealant behind the taps, fed by a constant film of water
- In winter, ice building up in a cold waste pipe until it blocks
The last one catches people out. A slow trickle into a waste pipe on an outside wall can freeze solid in a hard frost. See our guide to frozen pipes.
What it costs to put right
| Job | UK guide price |
|---|---|
| Dripping tap repairSource: Fantastic Services dripping tap repair cost guide | £50 to £150typical about £100 |
| New kitchen mixer tap, supplied and fittedSource: MyJobQuote tap replacement cost guide | £110 to £230 |
Both lines are typical UK guide prices, not quotes. Fantastic Services breaks its repair figure down as £50 to £70 for a washer or O-ring, £60 to £110 for a mixer cartridge and £90 to £140 for a valve seat repair, outside London and including VAT.
Four other small faults not to ignore
The cistern that keeps running
A toilet that trickles into the pan wastes far more water than a tap, and it does it silently. The fill valve also wears faster because it never rests. See toilet repairs in Dumbarton.
The overflow pipe that drips outside
A pipe poking through the wall that drips is telling you a ball valve has failed in a cistern or tank. Left alone, it stains the wall and soaks the masonry behind it.
The radiator valve with a crust on it
Green or white deposits on a valve mean it has been weeping and drying, over and over. One day it will not dry. See radiators and heating.
The sink that drains slowly
A slow drain is a blocked drain that has not finished yet. It is easier to clear at this stage. See blocked drains.
Making the visit pay
Here is the practical objection. A plumber's minimum charge is usually an hour, and a washer takes ten minutes. It can feel like poor value.
The answer is to save up a list. Walk round the house with a notepad. The dripping tap, the stiff stop valve, the toilet that runs on, the radiator that needs a new valve. Put the whole list in the form.
One visit, one minimum charge, four jobs done. That is good value by any measure, and it clears every small plumbing worry in the house in a morning. Our article on plumber rates in Scotland explains how minimum charges work.
So, is it worth it?
Yes. Not because of the water bill, which in Scotland you may never see. Because the tap is wearing out while you wait, the basin is staining, and the day you finally cannot turn it off will not be a day of your choosing.
Soft Scottish water is kind to taps. A decent tap in a Dumbarton home, kept in washers, should outlast the bathroom round it. It only needs someone to open it up every so often.
Put the list together today
Small plumbing faults do not stay small, and they do not all fail on the same day. Dealing with them in one planned visit costs far less than dealing with each one as its own emergency.
List every drip, trickle and slow drain, and say where in Dumbarton you live. Nobody bills you for a question.