A special material is used to prevent water from leaking past a tap’s spindle when the water is turned on. It is a special sealant that is tightly packed around the spindle at the point where it passes through a gland in the headgear. This packing is afterwards compressed by twisting a nut to create a watertight seal.
You can tell when the gland packing is no longer effective because you will see water leaking past the spindle and dripping beneath the tap’s head. On many modern taps there are rubber O-seals that serve the same function as the packed gland.
After turning the tap off, remove the handle and the head cover. Tighten the gland nut first to see if this will stop the leak, and if not then unscrew it and take out the old gland packing. Use a string impregnated with graphite to replace the packing and press it well in with the blade of a screwdriver.
Replace the old gland nut and tighten it up, then reassemble the head cover and handle to the spindle.
If there are O-ring seals instead of glands, turn the water off and remove the headgear as before, then remove the circlip holding spindle to the headgear. Then take the spindle from the headgear and push out the old O-ring seals before fitting new ones and reassembling the handle, spindle and head cover.
Be careful when prying out the circlip because it can be fragile and any dents might make the problem recur.
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