A dripping tap is almost never a failed tap. It is one small worn part inside it, and which part depends entirely on how the handle moves. A single-lever tap dripping from the spout needs a cartridge; a two-handle tap needs a spindle or a washer. Water appearing anywhere other than the spout is a different fault entirely, and a few of those do need a plumber. Here is how to tell which cause is yours before you spend anything.
Before anything else: find out where the water is actually coming from
Dry the fitting, close the tap properly, and watch it for two minutes in good light. Nearly every tap complaint resolves into one of four observations, pointing four different ways.
- Water drips from the end of the spout. The part that shuts the water off has worn — usually a cartridge, spindle or washer.
- Water seeps around the handle base or wall flange while the tap runs. The shut-off is fine; the seals around the moving stem have gone.
- Water appears at the wall or under the basin, not at the tap. A joint or a valve. Treat it as urgent: it is wetting masonry or a cabinet.
- Nothing drips, but the flow sprays sideways or spits. That is the aerator, and it is the cheapest fix of all.
If you cannot tell whether the drip comes from the spout or runs down its outside, hold a dry tissue under the spout tip. If it wets, it is the spout.
Now identify your tap, because the part depends on it
Turn the handle and feel it. One that travels about a quarter circle from off to fully open and stops firmly is a ceramic mechanism. One that keeps turning for two or three full rotations and tightens gradually is an older rising spindle with a rubber washer at the bottom. A single lever that tilts up and swings sideways is a mixer cartridge, combining temperature and flow in one part.
Single-lever tap, dripping from the spout: the cartridge
Inside a single-lever mixer sits a cylindrical cartridge holding two polished ceramic discs. They seal because they are flat against each other. Grit from the supply, or scale in hard-water areas, scores those faces, and once scored they cannot close fully. Tightening the lever does not help; forcing it wears them faster.
Replacement is a homeowner job on most basin mixers: isolate the water, prise off the lever cap, undo the grub screw, lift the lever, unscrew the retaining nut, pull the old cartridge out and drop the new one in on the same alignment pins. What people get wrong is the size. Measure the cartridge you removed across its body before ordering; 35 mm and 40 mm are both common, and one that is close but not identical will not seat squarely. Ask for the cartridge matching your tap's model, not a generic one — which is why the code on every basin mixer box is worth keeping.
Two-handle tap, dripping from the spout: the spindle or the washer
On a quarter-turn pillar cock or angular tap the equivalent part is a ceramic disc spindle, sold as a half-turn spindle assembly. Same symptom, same cause: scored discs. On an older full-turn tap the part is a rubber washer held by a small screw at the base of the spindle, which costs very little and perishes predictably after a few years of hot water.
One honest caveat. The spindle closes against a seat machined into the tap body. If hard water or grit has pitted that seat, a new spindle seals for a few weeks and then drips again. Run a fingertip inside the body after removing the spindle: rough or ridged rather than smooth means the body is the problem and no spare part fixes it. Replacing the whole tap is then the cheaper answer, not the upsell.
Most Indian bathrooms have an angular stop cock feeding each tap, so you can isolate one fitting and leave the rest of the house in water. If yours were never fitted, add them next time a plumber is in the house.
Water seeping from the handle base or wall flange: the O-rings
If the tap shuts off cleanly but weeps around the handle while running, the stem seals have gone. Most spindles and cartridges arrive with new O-rings; fitting them dry is the usual mistake, so use silicone grease, never oil or petroleum jelly, which swells rubber.
Water at the wall or under the basin: not the tap
Wall mixers get misdiagnosed most often, because the body is partly buried. A wall mixer such as the Rigga RI01009 has three leak points: the spindles, the diverter, and the threaded connections behind the tile.
The distinction matters. Spindles and diverters you can change from the front. A connection leaking inside the wall shows up as a damp patch spreading on the wall or in the room behind, often with no visible drip at all, and it needs the tile opened. That is a plumber's job without exception, and worth doing before the patch grows. The same holds for a leaking concealed valve such as the Folariz 15 mm stop valve: the serviceable parts come out through the wall plate, the body does not.
Under a basin the culprit is simpler: the angular stop cock itself, or the union nut on the flexible connector. Both are accessible, and a ₹460 PA01001 angular stop cock is cheaper to replace than to fight with.
Spitting flow rather than a drip: the aerator
If the flow sprays sideways or pulses, unscrew the aerator at the spout tip, soak it in diluted white vinegar for an hour, brush it and refit. Nothing else is wrong. The same scale logic covers shower heads, in why your shower has lost pressure.
Symptom to part, at a glance
| What you see | Likely cause | Part to replace | Who does it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-lever tap drips from spout | Scored ceramic discs | Matching cartridge | Homeowner |
| Quarter-turn tap drips from spout | Worn disc spindle | Half-turn spindle pair | Homeowner |
| Full-turn tap drips from spout | Perished rubber washer | Washer and screw | Homeowner |
| Drips again weeks after a new spindle | Pitted seat in the tap body | Whole tap | Homeowner or plumber |
| Weeps at handle base while running | Hardened stem O-rings | O-ring set | Homeowner |
| Damp patch spreading on wall | Connection behind tile | Joint remade | Plumber |
| Drip under basin at the valve | Worn stop cock or union | Stop cock or connector | Homeowner |
| Flow sprays or pulses | Scale in the aerator | Nothing; descale it | Homeowner |
When replacing the whole fitting is the sensible answer
Spares are right for a sound tap and a waste of an afternoon in three cases. When the seat is pitted, as above. When the body is not solid brass — chrome-plated mild steel corrodes from inside, and new seals cannot save a thinning body; our comparison of SS 304, brass and mild steel explains how to tell. And when the plating has already pitted and blistered, since that is the same age and water chemistry that ruined the internals.
Four situations are not worth attempting: a damp patch with no visible drip, anything needing the wall or floor opened, a tap with no isolation valve upstream, and a fitting that still leaks after you replaced the obvious part. In all four the diagnosis is the expensive bit, and guessing at spares costs more than the visit.
If you do replace, match the type you already have unless you are ready for plumbing changes: a two-way wall mixer and a pillar cock are not interchangeable, and a single-lever mixer needs one tap hole where two pillar cocks need two. Finish is the one choice you can make freely, and how each finish behaves in Indian water is worth reading first.