HELP - I need a virtual plumber!

[NASWM]

My cold tap in the kitchen has been playing up for AGES. And this week sometimes when I turn it on nothing comes out. Yesterday I had to wiggle it for about 2 mins to get some water out.

And now, it seems to have stopped altogether.... I cant survive without a cold tap in the kitchen. Can anyone help? I have tried taking the cross bit and metal cover off, but cant see an obvious washer or anything. I dont need this right now. I cant wash up as the hot tap is too hot for my hands :( :( :(

Limescale?

Generally "bad" washers make taps leak, not stop working.

in the meantime, just run the tap into the dishwashing bowl and wait for the water to cool down

limescale? what do I do about it then?? And it is only a year old...

Don't know TBH - call a reall plumber I guess! Which you should probably have done when it first played up (but I never do that when things go wrong either) There might be a blockage in the pipe/tap I guess - turn the water off at the mains, remove the tap and see if you can spot anything obvious.

Are they plastic pipes or copper? Had a problem with the dishwasher where it turned out the plastic pipe was blocked by a disk of plastic which was meant to have been removed when fitting.

if you have bad limescale you will know about it - your kettle will have it in, it will stain the taps and sinks etc.

Will ask DH what he thinks it might be. In the meantime fill a bottle or something from the bathroom tap.

Dish washer works fine, as does Washing Machine. Think it is more 'mechanical' than anything else. But who knows.

Re bathrooom water - it's not safe to drink is it? I thought only kitchen tap water was safe to drink.... or am I mad??

depends if it sits in a tank or come straight from the mains - do you have a cold water tank in your loft ?

yes cold water tank in loft

DH says he thinks the washer is probably broken and blocking the pipe in the tap. If you trun it off very tightly over time the washer gets weakened and then can fall apart. He says to be careful playing with it because you may not be able to turn it off again if you do manage to get it on.

It isn't too difficult to change the washer (have to turn the mains off) - but maybe worth getting a plumber if you are not confident.

throckenholt thanks ever so much. I just managed to fiddle with it and get a drip out to fill a kettle for the bottles.

Bigger problem now is the mess DSs are in after playing with roller pens (see other desperate thread)

Thanks!!