creperum
New Member
Two months ago I replaced the cartridge and seat for the cold water tap in my bathtub. Now it displays very odd behaviour: From OFF, the tap will turn a long way (most of a revolution, maybe) with no water coming out, then all of a sudden it goes from nothing to a full flood; then, if you turn the tap back the other direction, it stays at "full flood" for a long way, long into the region where nothing was flowing, before eventually slowing down and stopping. Also, it isn’t consistent: if you manage to set it to a medium flow, for example while taking a shower, after a little while it will suddenly go to FULL ON again. I joke that we have a binary cold tap: either full on or completely off.
Just the other day it started doing another odd thing that I’ve seen elsewhere: I turned the tap on a little bit and it started flowing, then emitted a CLUNK and the flow stopped completely, until I turned the tap quite a bit further. It does other odd things, too: sometimes when I have the shower on, and I’m trying to adjust the cold to something between “tiny trickle” and “full gush,” the flow will suddenly get really small and start almost vibrating.
This has really got me wondering about the physics of the flow through the valve, but I’m completely out of my depth. Is this a known phenomenon? What can I do about it? I tried taking the cartridge out and putting it back in, but I didn’t see anything amiss with it, and it didn't stop the problem. I couldn’t see any reason why it would be doing this strange behaviour. Can anyone help me out here?
Just the other day it started doing another odd thing that I’ve seen elsewhere: I turned the tap on a little bit and it started flowing, then emitted a CLUNK and the flow stopped completely, until I turned the tap quite a bit further. It does other odd things, too: sometimes when I have the shower on, and I’m trying to adjust the cold to something between “tiny trickle” and “full gush,” the flow will suddenly get really small and start almost vibrating.
This has really got me wondering about the physics of the flow through the valve, but I’m completely out of my depth. Is this a known phenomenon? What can I do about it? I tried taking the cartridge out and putting it back in, but I didn’t see anything amiss with it, and it didn't stop the problem. I couldn’t see any reason why it would be doing this strange behaviour. Can anyone help me out here?
