Replacing taps.

[Mary Pegg]

I am a reluctant plumber. I find myself trying to replace both the basin taps and the bath taps, and taking frequent breaks as the urge comes to start laying all to waste with a basin wrench. Of which, my first question.

I'm find it impossible to undo the big nut that holds the tap in place. This is not helped by the wrench slipping, as it seems to be just a little bit too wide for the job in hand. Have I managed to buy a metric one or something? It was the bog-standard offering in B & Q. My ruler tells me it's 27 mm. Would a shim of some sort help it grip, and if so, what would you suggest? Or do I go to a specialist's emporium and ask for a British Standard Number 1, or something?

I'm managed to fit the other basin tap, by replacing it, finding it too short, adding a tap connector and finding it too long, shortening the tap and finding it still too long. So it is now pushing the feed pipe down and bending it (under the floorboards) which strikes me as Not A Good Thing. Halfway down there is a pipe connector so it strikes me that I could remove the section twixt tap and connector and shorten it. Is this straight-forward?

Now for the bath.

The dome-washer-thingy in the hot tap valve has welded itself to the innards of the tap and come away from the rest of the valve assembly (as I tightened the bugger up more and more to stop it dripping until it finally stopped water flow for all time) and I have a fancy replacement tap-and-shower unit to hand (it's been kicking around the bathroom for years waiting for the Round Tuits to arrive). The question is - do I need to grease up the valves on the new unit? I think it was my failure to do that when replacing the tap top bits a couple of years ago that led to my current bathtime situation.

[fx: wanders off to fill bath using rubber shower hose attached to basin taps]

[Ed Sirett]

Just like putting up curtain rails is many peoples first intro to general diy, changing taps is the plumbing counterpart. Similarly it is not the easiest job to cut your teeth on and can lead to people giving up.

If the old tap is a single item, you can some times get a bit of help by turning the tap in the bath (its about to be junk anyway) whilst applying modest torque from below. The tap may be so fast in the bath and some _very_ old baths have square holes.

There area selection of wrenches available to attempt to undo the back nut.

1) A very chunky lump of iron like screwfix part 13294. It "should" fit the back nut the large end does baths the small end does basins. It needs to be turned with another wrench as it fits vertically end on the nut. News ones can be a very tight fit due to the paint. Over strained ones can be overly loose. 2) A claw and tommy bar (S/fix 14631) Works well unless the nut is very tight or there is not enough room for the claw (usually the case). 3) A pressed steel (about 3mm steel). This is _weak_ but works well for tightening new work, will be wrecked if used to undo anything.

All of the above is made extremely awkward by the fact that the taps are much more often than not up against a wall, the wash basin stops you getting well in well...

If you can get a few mm of slack on the tap you can then saw it off with a hack saw from above taking care not to saw the bath.

On metal bath you can also try heat to loosen things.

It depends hwo much strain. If all else fails the flexible braided connectors will fix it, provided the pipe is not relying on the tap for support.

New taps should be adequately pre-greased, even if only 'contract' grade.

[nightjar]

I spent about half an hour last week grinding the jaws out on one to fit the brass nut on a basin tap. I suspect that there is a certain flexibility in the manufacturing standards of the wrenches, the nuts or both.

Colin Bignell

[Mary Pegg]

Hmm... this was the basin I was talking about, but yeah, it's got square holes. I expect the bath will too.

Yep, looks like the one I got. Says "malleable" on the Screwfix website. Does that mean bashing the "claw" a bit tighter is a sensible course of action? I was thinking of getting a bit of [old towel / empty drinks can / something else] to use as a shim to make the wrench get a close fit.

Okay. The hot and cold pipes come out of from underneath the floorboards behind the pedestal and at some point there is a pipe connector that connects those bits of pipe to the ones that go up then sideways (underneath the basin) and then up again into the taps. When I attached the new tap + connector to the existing pipe I had to push the whole pipe down about half a centimeter. (The first time I did this it was about a centimeter but since then I've shortened the tap itself by about 5mm - not so great an idea, I know think, since the nice clean smooth end has been hacked off to reveal a botched hacksawed end. Anyway.) So I was thinking to dismantle the connector and shorten the top bit of pipe.

[bath tap / shower unit]

Is it worth having it apart to see? What would I be looking for?

[BillV]

That sort is not a lot of use in my opinion. The one I use all the time is like Screwfix item 14631 but telescopic. These get tighter due to the "beak" design of the head.

[Mary Pegg]

Will bear it in mind if I run into trouble with the bath taps.

So - what's the deal with silicone grease on the washers? Should I get some? Can I use this 'ere small tube of lithium grease instead?

[Another Dave]

Yup. I had the same problem. After a couple of month's struggling (I'm exaggerating but not by much) I gave up trying to unfasten the nut and took an angle grinder to the top of the tap. Even taking great care not to damage the bath, it only took half an hour.

Another Dave

[John Rumm]

I would rather not risk it. Many greases will cause natural rubber to perish - silicone grease is usualy safe. You can get it cheaply from most of the sheds (in the plumbing sections), plumbers merchants, and also online from places like CPC.