DIY Plumbers

I am quite sure that many people have come across this at some time.

You want to replace the taps on the bathroom basin. You don't wish to get a plumber in for financial reasons or fear of getting well and truly ripped off (they're not all crooks), so you decide to have a go yourself......

An easy job, or is it.?

Disconnecting the water pipes is easy, providing you have remembered to turn the water off first. You have one of these:

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and one of these:

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some of these:

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and finally, one of these:

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but, you still can not get up inside the basin to the tap fixing nut because all the tools you have seem to be too big or is it the basin isn't big enough, and the tap itself will not turn on the sink.

Apart from smashing the sink, which kind of defeats the object of the excercise, how does one get the illusive tap fixing nut off.

Would love to know how others approach and solve this problem.

By the way, it is not a job that I am embarking on, but one I have come across before.

Kindest regards,

Jim

Reply to
the_constructor
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Box spanner - obviously you tighten the tap in position before connecting the pipework.

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32mm for basin taps, 36 mm bath taps

Sometimes you can use large sockets directly, but usually need deep sockets.

And you can put a socket & ratchet over the other end of the box spanner for easy tightening.

Reply to
dom

In message , the_constructor writes

Or rather because DIY actually stands for "do it yourself"

Can't really advise however, since I only had such a problem with bath taps and it was just a matter of frigging and farting about until I succeeded

Reply to
geoff

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Usually I have been able to get at them with one of these - offered straight up, and using something else in the other end to turn it.

However, if there is no room for that, you will need a tubular spanner - a bit like the ones used for monoblock taps or immersion heaters, but about halfway between them in size ;-)

Reply to
John Rumm

Friends of my wife had four plumbing jobs to do - a day's chargeable work. That was change the electric shower (like for like as the old one had failed), replace bath and basin taps and sort out the piping to the outside tap.

Two plumbers quoted - neither turned up. I got volunteered and as a DIY plumber did the job well inside the working day and got payment that was good for me and probably good for the payer. The only investment I did make was a set of tap box spanners which made dealing with tap nuts so much easier.

Reply to
robgraham

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You spend an outrageous sum of money on a set of these;

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They are worth every penny. You can have mine when you pry them from my cold dead hands....

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

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I use one of these and have yet to run into a problem:

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Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

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I have one too, and I've found very little that they actually fit!

Reply to
Farmer Giles

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It works well enough on taps and is cheap enough to replace when I forget where I put it between plumbing jobs.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

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Fair enough, but I have honestly found it next to useless. It must be me!

Reply to
Farmer Giles

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At £50, it is easy to see where the jaw-dropper name come from ;-)

Reply to
Harry Stottle

You may be able to use a regular open ended spanner but used incorrectly i.e. just off vertical (as the pipe/tap is in the way) If you need more leverage (which you have now lost due to using spanner in wrong plane) just fix an adjustable on to the spanner shaft/handle..

You may only get a fraction of a turn but reverse the spanner(s) and take another tweak. Finger-loose/tight is just a tweak away..

Sometime plain old gas pliers will get the job done too.

or tighten from the top... i.e. restrict nut movement and twist tap to tighten then adjust.

8¬O
Reply to
www.GymRatZ.co.uk

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No. I found mine useless as well.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Indeed, and I use the service valves (or other appropiate compression joint) as the mechanical disconnection point as well. To access the tap stems I undo the service valves and lift off the sink.

I've just replaced the sink cabinet in the shop kitchen today and being able to disconnect the pipework just under the bowl instead of 12 inches above the back of the bowl made it a piece of cake.

JGH

Reply to
jgharston

You can buy tap spanner exactly for this purpose. the spanner bit is perpendicular to a long shaft so yo ucan rech right up into the basin and grip the nut. Search for "tap spanner" on ebay and you'll find many types. With these you can tighten the nut while the tap is still connected to the pipe.

Robert

Reply to
RobertL

My solution was a bit cheaper but probably just as effective. I turned up a couple of S/H Snap-On "crows-foot" spanners on e-bay in the US - and pushed the ratchet, extension bars and UJ from a knackered old 3/8ths socket set back into service. I now have one HELL of a tap spanner!

I think I paid about $13 for each including postage - which is a bargain really as Snap-On stuff fetches silly prices over here, even when used.

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Reply to
Midge

I thought that USAnians used "wrenches" rather than "spanners" ;-)

Reply to
Frank Erskine

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Java Jive saying something like:

No, you just shut off the valve at the bottom of the hot cylinder that's on the feed pipe. If, of course, it isn't seized or broken.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

My sincerest thanks to all who contributed to this thread and the advice.

T'was a wonderful experience.

Kindest regards,

Jim

Reply to
the_constructor

Which if its a gate valve - is probably seized or broken - poxy things.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

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