wildebus
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Now I do think I got the right size cartridge, but your post did make me think on. These cartridges vary in price a lot as well as type and size, and when something is pretty cheap (and mine were under £4 each), manufacturing quality and tolerances can be a bit hit and miss sometimes?I think you may have simply got the wrong replacement cartridge Wildebus, there are lots of different types and sizes.
The two of them look the same size and they both drop into the tap body nice and tightly (more on that in a minute ...)
Looking at the underneath there is a difference
But this is more of a "style" thing then an operational one I think, as the new one (left with three separate seals) fits over the 3 holes in the tap just fine as far as I can tell.
But there are two key differences now - which I think is down to age and tolerances.
1) AGE: the old cartridge seal hardly protrudes over the body. I think it has become so compressed over time it has lost its sealing effectiveness and so allowing the leakage. This photo shows the difference.
2: TOLERANCE: The new Cartridge was hard to push down into place. The two little lugs that keep it in place (they don't do anything else but stop it turning I believe) appear to be the same size as the old one but I think they must be minisculey larger and just large enough that they don't allow the Cartridge to sit down properly all the way and the seals to work. (weirdsly, in the photos, the old Cartridge lugs actually look larger than the new ones and this is a cartridge that was not adapted.)
I push it down hard, then tightened the nut down and the leaking was reduced but still present. So this morning, I thought "ok maybe the Cartridge is the RIGHT size, but the WRONG quality?"
So I took it out, got to work with some fine files and carefully reduced them in diameter (being very careful not to be filing the blue seals in the process!).
DId this, refitted the Cartridge, which didn't go in much more easily but about the same as the old one (so the right level of reduction maybe?), reassembled the tap and turned on ...
No Leaks! I was getting a leak before within 1 second of turning on the tap on either hot or cold. Now I am Leak-free whilst I left the tap running until I got the "0% Level" warning buzzer from the control panel, so that is good.
Problem was essentially I was maybe too penny-pinching with choosing a replacement Cartridge? selected one that was the cheapest right size one with a next-day delivery. Maybe a 'proper' branded one might be better (or could be from exactly the same factory as the cheap one?)
The perild of buying unseeen, but if I saw the one I got in a "Caravan Spares shop" it would have looked to be fine anyway. It was only on fitment that the problem was evident.
(and this came a few days after another leak was fixed with my fuel filter pouring out diesel - but that was nothing to do with me this time!).