Plumbing problem?

[maxiewaxie]

I am now on my third kitchen tap in 6 months and I find it hard to believe that I have bought 3 faulty taps as they from different suppliers and fitted by different plumbers. The tap I had when I first moved in was fine until the tap broke but it had lasted many years. All the taps are of the cylinder variety, they all work fine at first but after a short while go wrong. An example is when I turn the handle to cold sometimes no water comes out, then I push it over to the hot position and out comes the water, then I can push it back to the cold position and it's OK.
Can anyone give me any clue to what the problem is, nothing else has changed with the water system. Any ideas at all would be fantastic.
Many thanks.

[gasman]

Hi maxiewaxie,
It sounds like you have mixer taps installed, as in the hot and cold water flows through the same outlet spout. If this is so there are two types of these taps, high and low pressure type. Basically you can not fit high pressure taps onto a low pressure system and get satisfactory results infact you get symptons like you describe. You can however fit low pressure taps on to high pressure systems with no loss of performance. So you need to determine the type of water system you have and install the appropriate low or high pressure tap to suit the system.

[maxiewaxie]

Thank you so much gasman, but how do I find out and are low pressure taps as easy to find?
Thanks again, i had my suspicins it was something to do with the pressure.

[gasman]

If you have a system or regular boiler and a hot water cylinder in an airing cupboard and a header tank in you're loft then this is what is called a gravity fed system and is low pressure.

[maxiewaxie]

I have a combination boiler not an airing cupboard, I don't know what is in the loft.
Do you think that when I repalce this one I should try a low pressure tap? It's still working at the moment but it's not working properly, the main fault is that when you have it turned to cold the water comes out in a trickle, then you turn it to hot and back to cold again and it's ok and sometimes it won't turn off in the cold position and you have to turn it to hot again to turn it off. The previous 2 taps went wrong more quicklyby water gushing out from the joints in the tap. I've used 2 different plumbers who were recommended to me, I don't know where to go from here but it's costing a fortune. Underneath the sink I have got a water filter system fitted that was there when we moved in, could that have any relevance?
Many tanks for all your help, it's much appreciated.