Faucet ceramic cartridge

 
 
Most modern faucets have a ceramic mixer cartridge valve.

Ceramic mixer cartridge valve example 1

When my ceramic mixer cartridge valve was broken a spend a lot of time searching for a replacement.
At that time a had no idea how this item is called and where to purchase one. This tutorial might help you out.

There are many different kind of ceramic mixer cartridge valves. It is impossible to describe them all. In this tutorial only one particular ceramic mixer cartridge valve is described. The one I was searching for.

The "ceramic mixer cartridge valve" is also called:
  • ceramic disk mixer
  • faucet ceramic mixer
  • plastic mixer faucet
  • water mixer cartridge
  • ceramic mixing cartridge
Most Do-It-Yourself (DIY) stores do not sell them and (online) plumbing suppliers ask a lot of money for these products.

The problem with these ceramic mixer cartridge valves is that it is very difficult to find technical details about them. As a consumer I want the dimensions of these valves, so I can easily order them. But many manufactures display their ceramic mixer cartridge valve products online but with no technical details.







Faucet ceramic cartridge.



Information

When my ceramic mixer cartridge valve was broken I measured it and made this technical drawing:

Ceramic mixer cartridge valve example 1 The drawing is in Dutch, here below the translated words:

Keramisch binnenwerk = Ceramic inner
Alle maten in mm = All measurements in millimeters
uitsteeksel = protrusion
rubber ring = rubber ring

With this technical drawing I went to different DIY stores in the Netherlands (Gamma, Karwei, Praxis and Hornbach) and none of them sold any ceramic mixer cartridge valves.



I than send emails to several online plumbing shops, but only a few sold ceramic mixer cartridge valves with these dimensions. Finally I found a cheap ceramic mixer cartridge valve on Amazon.de (the Amazon.com in Germany). On Amazon.de, search for the word "Kartusche" which is the German word for ceramic mixer cartridge valve.
In Dutch it is called "Kardoes".

On Amazon.de they did not provide any technical details about the ceramic mixer cartridge valves, but they did mentioned the manufacturer name Kerox.

Via Google I found their website and Kerox provides technical details about their ceramic mixer cartridge valves:
Tech sheet: Kerox ceramic mixing cartridges single lever type 40 and 42 mm sizes.

I have purchased my ceramic mixer cartridge valve on Amazon.de.
Sanifri 470010813 Kerox Kartusche 40mm, ohne Kartuschenboden
It has costed me EUR 10,98 + EUR 3,75 shipping costs.

Kerox ceramic mixer cartridge valve 40 mm