safest way to loosen the bell covers on taps

[Mark D Smith]

Hi

i need to replace around 3 tap washers but i am not certain how much pressure to apply to the wrench. is there a trick to loosening the covers.

tap knobs are also tight (single screw removed ok).

Mark

[shazzbat]

The covers have spanner flats, yes? You Should be able to get them off with a spanner or strap wrench. holding the spout of the tap to prevent it rotating should also help. How much force? Well, if you feel that it's getting excessive and nothing has moved, it may be an idea to turn the water off just in case. In an extreme case, you may have to remove the tap from the basin and the pipe.

The knob with the screw already out probably just wants rocking/tapping from side to side. If it's a cross head type, tap it upwards from underneath alternately left and right.

As with many things, it's a case of just enough force to undo it, but not enough to do any damage. How much force that means is a matter of feel and experience. Yours starts here :))

HTH Steve

[Mark D Smith]

yes covers have spanner flats & i have arranged to borrow a bigger spanner as mines a little small. also it the taps are cross head! all except 2 modern taps in the kitchen which i have yet to get the plastic inlays out of.

water off (i am a coward and don't want drenching).

i look forward to gaining more experience :-)

Mark

[Keith Willcocks]

I have often found that the words trauma and experience can amount to the same thing ;o)

[Jim Lawton]

And once you've got this sewn up, you'll get this urge to do a bit more plumbing

- there's (almost) nothing beats the rush of sawing through your first water pipe and knowing that you've got to get that joint to work - mind you it's so much easier now with push-fit. Having said that, water is really sneaky ...

-- Jim "a single species has come to dominate ... reproducing at bacterial levels, almost as an infectious plague envelops its host"

[ken]

As an aside, some of the covers that look like a spanner fixing are actually not. They are a push fit. Over the years, grime builds up inside and they appear not to want to move. Pouring boiling water over then normally frees them off.

ken

[shazzbat]

What was I talking about there? Of course you've got to turn the water off anyway to change the washer. Pillock.

Steve

[Derryck Croker]

A couple of lengths of wood, one each side of the spout and extending past the back of the tap - these ends tied together with a bit of wire etc. Gives a nice bit of safe leverage to stop the tap rotating.

Apply enough to break it and then back off by 1/2 a turn? ;-)

[shazzbat]

Are you ex-REME by any chance? We used to say that the correct torque for a given bolt was "up to shear and back half a turn".

Steve

[Derryck Croker]

No, I just remember reading a similar line in an electronics mag a long time ago. The questioner was asking how tight to do a transformer-holding nut and bolt to stop the laminations buzzing IIRC :-)