Loose Kitchen Tap

[Andrew May]

Fitted a new kitchen tap at the weekend. The type with a base that goes into a single hole in the sink with a nut on the underside. But it came with a rubber washer to go between the nut and the sink and however much I tighten it there is some give and the tap has a tendency to lean when touched. I can't see the point of a rubber washer and was wondering if there was any reason why I should not replace it with a nylon one to try to give a bit more stability.

Andrew

[The Medway Handyman]

Monobloc mixers usually come with a horseshoe shaped metal plate & a matching rubber washer. Have yiu got the metal plate? You should have this lot

[F Murtz]

Are you sure the rubber washer does not go on top of sink?

[Andrew May]

Well, there are no assembly instruction but there is a groove on the underside of the tap body and a matching O Ring which I assume goes on the top of the sink to form a waterproof seal. Then there is a wide thread probably about 30mm which goes through the sink and a rubber washer and a nut which I have assumed goes on the underside.

I stand to be corrected on any of this since, as I say, there are no instructions.

Andrew

[Andrew May]

Nope. Nothing like that. The tap is one of these:

is a rubber O ring underneath where it sits on the sink. There is a 30mm odd diameter threaded brass tube that screws into the underside of the tap and then goes through the hole in the sink. Then a similar sized rubber washer with a brass nut on top. Two 10mm tap tails screw into the underside of the tap body and connect to the water supply.

As I tighten the nut the rubber washer compresses and stops the tap rotating in the hole but there is enough give to make the tap wobble a bit when turned on or off.

I have thought about replacing the rubber washer with a similar sized nylon one but given nylon's slipperiness I am not sure that that would not make it easier to rotate the tap, thus replacing one problem with another.

Andrew

[Dave Liquorice]

Sure it's not "give" in the sink top allowing the tap to wobble?

[Andrew May]

There is a little give in the sink but not as much as the tap moves. If that makes sense.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

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

These monoblock types are notoriously wobbly if the sink is a bit on the thin side. You can fit a load-spreading washer underneath if clearance allows.

[The Medway Handyman]

>>>>>

> There is a rubber O ring underneath where it sits on the sink. There

Never seen the like - thank heavens. Who designs this stuff?

Reckon it needs a metal plate between the sink & the washer/nut.