Have any of you experience with modern kitchen/bathroom taps that have ceramic valves? Hardly any taps are sold now with the traditional rubber washer - 95% have 'quarter turn' handles and ceramic valves. They are said to last longer, and have other advantages, but I live in a very hard water area (South Cambridgeshire). I am wary of replacing our old kitchen taps with modern ceramic-valve ones, as some people warn that the ceramic valves do start to drip in a short time if the water is hard. Spare ceramic valve units cost £12 to £20 a pair. Rubber washers cost a few pennies and I am very used to the simple, though tedious, job of replacing these every year or two. I am sure that many of you also live in high-limestone or chalk aquifer areas.

Not in those terms no.

 

In softer water areas a ceramic cassette lasts for 10 years or more, and if you play about with a search engine you can find videos on stripping and rebuilding them.

You should get similar life to a rubber washer. 

I also live in a hard water area and have experienced both cheap and expensive ceramic taps. We re-did our kitchen in 2008 (with cheapish taps) by 2010 they were dripping. Bit the bullet and went right up market with a premium brand. Now the middle of 2017 and all is still fine. As they say, a product is either built down to a price or built up to a quality.

Thanks for the comments. My stepson who also lives in Cambridge reports that his ceramic-valve mixer tap is working OK after more than 10 years. Probably depends on quality, as you said. Some brands only carry a 1 or 2 year guarantee, others like Deva come with a 10 or 12 year warranty. Grohe and Franke are just too expensive in UK. One can buy unknown brands of tap for less than £20 at Screwfix, etc but the better makes like the Deva two-hole 'bridge' mixer taps carry rrp prices in range £150 to £200. Heavily discounted at TapsUK and some other retailers.

Thanks,

 

Martin.

We suffer with lime scale build up which usually seizes the thermostatic valve on the bath / shower tap unit every 3-4 years. I fitted a Franke mixer tap in the kitchen about 7 years ago and it's been fine.

1 minute ago, moley said:

We suffer with lime scale build up which usually seizes the thermostatic valve on the bath / shower tap unit every 3-4 years. I fitted a Franke mixer tap in the kitchen about 7 years ago and it's been fine.

I had to spray ours with wd40 every 2 years to free off. 

 

More that no one cleaned it