advice on odd tap problem

Just take the lever off and put it on the way round that suits you.

You may have to swap the taps over if you want to get the levers resting in the together or apart directions (the 'H' and 'C' markers should be swappable.).

Incidentally - readers - is the tap normally supposed to be on with the lever in line with the spout, or at right angles? In the bath, right angles gives a handy foot rest when off, but aesthetically, having them in line seems better!

Cheers,

Not sure I understand what you are saying. If it is a 'normal' tap then it is usually turned on anti clockwise when looking from above the head. Are you saying one turns on anti clockwise and one clockwise?

John

Yes - we need to know - are they quarter turn taps, disc valve taps - or conventional taps with a screw and washer?

Thanks for your reply. Not sure what the terminology is but you turn it a quarter turn to turn it on/off and it has a lever rather than a 'handle'. It is a modern design rather than a traditional one. On the hot tap it is off when the lever and the spout aligns, which is how it should be. It is the reverse on the hot tap - the water is running when the lever and spout align and not running when they are perpendicular. They both turn in different directions, ie, both away from the centre of the basin.

Spamlet suggests removing the lever and putting it on a different way, but then the C (for cold - which is etched into the chrome) will be the wrong way round.

thanks again Bob

Yes: levers would look silly if you had one pointing in and the other out so they come in pairs. But as the 'H' and 'C' 'buttons' normally seem to unscrew you can have them arranged whichever way you like - excepting of course that if you do have 'two rights' or 'lefts', and start with the levers pointing in, one will be on, pointing backwards and the other forwards.

When I fitted our bath levers (a doddle with speedfit these days: and a huge improvement on the impossible to turn with wet soapy hands 'designer, very expensive' mixer taps we had before!), they - without any particular attention from me - ended up with the taps turning on outwards from the in line with the faucet position. I have toyed with the idea of swapping them over to see what they look like turning on inwards. Depending on your particular constraints of walls and bath (ours is a corner bath for example, which means if we have the taps parallel one stream will drop directly into the bath while the other will hit the side...) you may find a lever fouls the wall, or similar such problem, so you have to choose the lever and tap positions that are appropriate.

Time for a long soak I think...

Sorry, I assumed he meant lever: can't imagine a screw tap turning off when open - except when the washer becomes detached and then it would either not turn on at all, or, not turn off once it had.

One handle is on the wrong way round. Remove whichever on is incorrect and put back on 90 degrees out onto the shaft

Is the Hot on the left? Or the right?

What about turning the lever on the hot to match the cold? Would the 'H' then be the wrong way around? Bearing in mind an upside down 'H' looks just like a right way up 'H' :-)

Look carefully: you should see a small screw or allen screw at the back of the lever somewhere that you can loosen to lift the lever off its shaft. Alternatively, you may find it is a simple push fit. When you put it back in the new position be sure to align the splines (teeth) of the lever and spindle properly and not force it. In our case one of the levers does go slightly past parallel with the faucet while off, but not so much as most people would notice. The point being that if I had tried to force the cover on in the exactly parallel position I would have damaged the splines.

Hard to see how you can get an etched in H the right way round yet have the C the same way round and it not work correctly if it is from a proper pair. Are you sure the letters are actually etched into the lever moulding, rather than on an unscrewable plate that is flush with that moulding? (If so, you may find that gripping the top carefully with a rubber glove will help you unscrew it.)

One other possibility is if you have the tap bodies themselves at different angles - for example, fitted to either side of the basin rather than both at the back. If that is the case then you really will need to find a pair with moveable lettering if you want the letters to be the right way up from the front but both turn on the same way.

Interesting how many ways round such a simple thing can be!

Ah, but a sideways one is an 'I'; or a 'U'

:-)

But, assuming they are capital letters, the 'H' wont be, if turned 180 degrees.

HTH

John

I said that!!

John

Hot left, cold right

Oh well - that puts paid to any theories based on you fitting them the 'wrong' way round.

But I said it 32 mins earlier - according to OE6 anyway :-)

Great minds think alike :-)

I did come across a 'pair' like that a while ago e.g. they wern't 'handed'. Returned them to plunmbers shop for exchange to find all his stock like it! Not sure of exactly how, but they managed to covert one somehow.