bath taps vs. basin taps

[Stephen]

Hello,

Here's a daft question: what are the differences between bath taps and basin taps?

In my limited experience, basin taps have always had 1/2" back nuts and been plumbed to 15mm pipe, whereas bath taps have had 3/4" back nuts and been plumbed to 22mm pipe. I guess the wider tail (?) of the bath tap allows your bath to fill more quickly and more quietly?

Are the spouts and tap bodies the same size or are bath taps slightly larger?

I ask because I bought a cheap set of "contract" taps from Screwfix and although I ordered basin taps and the box said basin taps, they require a 3/4" connection, which caught me out.

Have they put the wrong taps in the box or do you now get 3/4" basin taps?

Thanks, Stephen.

[Skipweasel]

Considerably, in the case or ours.

[Roger Mills]

I've never seen 3/4" basin taps. What size are the holes in the basin?

[I assume that you're not confusing pipe thread with actual dimensions. 1/2" taps have 1/2" BSP threads whose OD is approx 3/4" - and 3/4" taps have 3/4" BSP threads which are about 1" in diameter.]

[Tim Watts]

Roger Mills ( [e-mail]) wibbled on Monday 03 January 2011 22:26:

In my case (taps from ebay, but a well known make sold overpriced elsewhere) the tap dimensions were virtually identical up top between the 1/2" and 3/4" versions. So much so, I used 3/4" on the basin as well as the bath (with

15mm tap connectors) as they fitted the basin holes *much* better).

[YAPH]

Wrong taps.

In Ye Olde Days bath taps were much bigger throughout to allow quicker filling of the bath from low-pressure hot (and, usually, cold) water systems. Nowadays many bath taps are practically the same bore internally as basin taps and are fine when fed from the high-pressure but relatively low-flow rate supplied by a typical combi.

As Tim points out the fit of tap tails into the holes provided for them is (as a Tech College teacher of mine once memorably put it) "like a turd in a shirt sleeve" and a 3/4"-tail bath tap will easily fit the holes in a washbasin.

[John Rumm]

Bath taps are usually larger.

Not seen any recently... apologies for going over stuff you probably know, but I take it you really do have 3/4" BSP tails on the taps, and not a thread with a 3/4" diameter? (the latter being 1/2" BSP)

[Tim Watts]

YAPH ( [e-mail]) wibbled on Tuesday 04 January 2011 00:12:

I'll say.

There's "precision engineering", "rough fit" and sanitaryware.

The best one was my bog cistern. Level it according to the base or the top - but not both. When the top was against the wall on the bolts, the lower back needed an 18mm packing batten 1/4 up from the base to allow the flush pipe (high level) to fall vertically without stressing the joint...

At least with my bath, I got to drill the tap holes so they did actually fit!

I even put them on the correct centres to allow a mixer tap to be swapped in later if anyone desired (mixer taps seem to have common tail spacings).

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

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

Probably pure historical accident. Once a maker notices it, they'll change it so customers can be reigned in for replacements.

[Stephen]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Just to clarify the 3/4" issue, perhaps a picture is worth a thousand words? I would have expected basin taps to connect to one of these:

I needed to use one of these: the photo isn't clear, the nut on this 3/4" connector is 1" wide.

The taps were sent in a plain white box and the leaflet inside said "bath/basin taps". I think this means they put the same leaflet in boxes of either tap, not that the taps are for both baths and basins!

I am pretty sure I was sent bath taps by mistake. However, as Tim pointed out, they fitted the holes in the basin perfectly, which is why I thought perhaps a 3/4" basin tap did exist, why else drill such large holes?

Looking at a limited number of bath and basin taps at families' homes, the (modern) bath and basin taps seem about the same size. These taps certainly don't look out of place on the basin and the flow doesn't seem out of the ordinary, so I will save the hassle of removing them and exchanging them for the "correct" ones.

That there are flexible tails that connect 15mm pipe to 3/4" tails suggests that Tim and I are not the only ones to do this.

I think that old bath taps (decades old) were bigger than their basin counterparts but I guess that trend has changed and it is cheaper for the manufacturers to make one size tap body and just vary the tail width these days.

Thanks for all your help, Stephen.

[Roger Mills]

> but I needed to use one of these:

> If the photo isn't clear, the nut on this 3/4" connector is 1" wide. >

You've pretty certainly been supplied with bath taps - but if they fit and look ok, why worry? In my experience, bath taps virtually always have 3/4" BSP connections, but with mains pressure H&C feeds, 15mm pipework is adequate - hence the need for 15mm to 3/4"BSP flexible pipes.

[Stephen]

I think they are bath taps too but it looks as though for this particular model the only difference between the types is the diameter of the tails, so above the basin, you can't tell which type they are. The cold is mains fed but the hot is gravity fed and the head is not particularly high, even so, the flow seems ok, so I see no reason to change them. I'm not sure I would see any change in flow if I pout in the basin tap equivalent because I imagine the insides of both sets of taps are the same width so would restrict the flow equally.

Thanks, Stephen.

[Roger Mills]

If there's any difference at all (which there probably isn't) you could only *reduce* the flow by fitting smaller taps.