Hi, has anyone had a problem with Cooke & Lewis kitchen taps? I purchased said tap after a kitchen upgrade just two years ago, the tap now drips constantly. After numerous enquiries trying to locate a new barrel for the tap I am now at a dead end as I am constartly being passed from one company to another with the same old story . . . Sorry we only supply the brand and not spares!!! Contact the manufacture. So round and round I go.
???
Not good
Unless it’s easy to replace washers and they are standard size, I wouldn’t even contemplate trying to find spare parts for it. Go to your local builders merchant or plumbing supplier and purchase a decent recognised manufacturers tap to BS quality.
I’ve fitted 2 sets from B&Q recently, one was from the Cooke & Lewis range, my own. The other I fitted for my son as his gave up and leaked, it wasn’t Cooke & Lewis though.
I can remember fitting his tap before, they don’t last long, I’d say around 5-6 years and on my advice I told him to not spend loads on a tap for the very reason of getting spares if they breakdown and of course he has kids so it gets some use and abuse.
I’ve had my Cooke & Lewis tap fitted for around 2 years, it’s a monobloc and all good, I paid around £40-50 for it. As cheap as possible for my sons house because of the above.
All ypou can do I guess is contact B&Q, don’t bother with instore management go to the top or at least their CS and complain that it’s not lasted as expected and why no spares for it, could do better bla bla bla. I would say an item like this should have a certain serviceable life, not good enough really.
The ceramic disc valve may well be a standard size. I fitted a Franke monobloc tap in our kitchen around four years ago. Bought cheaply on eBay, supposedly a second but I can’t fault it. Have had to change one of the valves already but we are in a hard water area.
Having since looked on you tube there are videos showing how to repair the ceramic valves. Basically it’s a case of take it out, strip it down, descale it and reassemble.
Good answers here already.
A kitchen tap is not something to be without for any period of time.
In your position I would replace the existing tap with a new one to suit - hopefully not too expensive and a relatively straight forward plug and play plumbing operation.
You can then take your time to refurbish the leaking tap so it can be reinstalled when the new one gives a problem.
I’ve replaced the tap valves on several of our taps, both the ten-year-old Franke monoblock on the sink (tap OK but shaft and O-ring seals worn) and the thirty-five-year old Ideal Standard bath and basin taps (simply worn out but nice tops). I used the inserts from Tap Magician,
https://www.tapmagician.co.uk/TMDefault.aspx
I tried various spindle lengths for the Ideal Standard taps, and looked at various suppliers, Amazon was convenient and about the usual price.
eg this set for the Franke
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01MZHTN01/
and eg this for the basin
Thought this was car site not builders advice line…Joke!!
Just as a price comparison the valves for our Franke tap are as follows.
One compatible valve from Tap Magician £15.99 including delivery.
One genuine Franke valve from their own online spares section £22.99 including delivery.
Yes I know that there is a possibility they may even be from the same production line but sometimes the genuine parts are not much dearer.