Over-bath shower / tap hose leaks - grrr !

[Adrian Brentnall]

HI All

One of those silly, trivial, but ever-so annoying things - any helpful suggestions welcomed before I go completely crazy !

We have one of those bath/shower mixer things on the end of the bath - like this one

not quite the same brand. On ours, the water is 'switched' from bath to shower by lifting the end of the shower hose that's attached to the taps - this causes a brass tube with a rubber 'o'-ring to slide upwards and divert the water flow, due to some clever machining inside the tap body.

So far, so good......

BUT - and it's a big 'but' - it seems well-nigh impossible to get a decent seal between then ends of the flexible hose and the tap end. So far we've had several hoses, and new washers and/or O-rings at each end - but the water still fountains out at the tap end when the thing is switched to 'divert'.

The hose itself is really cheap and nasty - it's very plasticky, and the screw connectors at each end are made from high-tensile, chrome-look plastic - you can't get a decent grip on them to tighten them, and if you could, they look as if they'd shatter. Absolute rubbish ! - hence the grrr !

It looks as if part of the recurring problem is that there's a great temptation to tug on the hose, rather than the fitting, to switch to 'shower' mode - but the flimsy construction of the hose really doesn't help.

So - before I go to the hassle of replacing the entire mixer assembly and hose / shower - does anybody have any better suggestions for making this darn thing work...?

Maybe there are better / more expensive versions of this hose, that (God forbid !) have real metal connectors that you can actually tighten..... there doesn't seem to be any way of getting any sealing compound into the joint, at rest the hose 'flops' down over the fitting, putting extra strain on the seal.....

Any recommendations for manufacturers / specific models etc also welcomed. ISTR that this particular horror was made by a company called 'Puffin' - who appear to be based in China (surprise!) .....

Help !

Adrian Suffolk UK ======return email munged================= take out the papers and the trash to reply

[Lee]

There are all-metal versions of the hoses available (still have plastic inner hoses), but after breaking several we've gone back to using the cheap plastic ones. The metal ones "look" like they wouldn't mind flexing, but they don't seem to last very long when asked to do it ;) :)

Lee

[Bookworm]

If its crap it is usually Chinese! You can buy good quality metal flexible shower hoses but you will have to go to a decent Plumbers Merchant. You are probably going to a 'shed' to buy yours?

They will buy any crap and put a huge mark up on it. I know.