Of Taps and Tails

The other thing is the little quarter turn isolating valves with the screwdriver slot are crap. Seize up, leak and pass.

They were apparently responsible for 22% of water damage claims in Australia in 2016:

That sounds like the most likely explanation so far. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

I have used those in the past, but they seem to be less common than they once were.

I can't visualise why that would be a problem - or is the base of your tap designed with a recess so that you can't get to the hex once the tail is in place to screw up?

(Normally an open ended spanner will reach the hex bit from the sides).

Note that since they seal on the o ring they don't actually need to be that tight - just enough to stop them accidentally undoing.

Ah, we might be talking at cross purposes... I was referring to the O ring on the end of the 10mm threaded flexi tail that makes connection to the body of the tap. There is a second large O ring normally on the underside of the tap body that is supposed to seal against the basin. Some of these are helped if you bed the tap onto a bead of silicone or Fernox LS-X.

w> Note that the instructions for our our monoblock tap (a Franke) says to only hand-tighten the tails and explicitly says not to use any tools. It is designed so the o-rings seal against the side walls - not under compression with a mating face (it's not a washer) - and would remain doing so even if undone several turns which wouldn't happen given the compression end anchors the flexi in place. Might yours be the same?

Well, the female threads in the tap have a tapered lead-in, so possibly. It wouldn't stand several turns - ½ a turn perhaps.

I have never found it to be a problem - often a service valve has the same or even larger flat surface area on the end of it.

I agree - more in hope than confidence!

True of some, but not generally if you get decent ones.

It's complex: need to swap valves on the rad.; build a plinth for the unit (it needs 80mm to get to the 910mm splashback - and I would like more on that but it's too messy) plus half a dozen more silly little annoyances to address. While I'm doing the rad. I'll drain the system, clean the condensate drain, have a look at the PCB and check the pressure. Refilling with inhibitor is a pain as the rads don't have top connectors so it has to be done into the main inlet. At least now I have a v. small funnel - had to use a 60ml syringe with a bit of tube before. Also need some uninterrupted days for it - I daren't make the plinth until the old basin is out and, with the differences in design, make sure that everything will work. When fitting single taps I fille the threads from plastic back-nuts and use those a spacers - locates the tap perfectly and acts as a washer underneath as well. For the mixer tap, it's a bit slack in the hole but 5mm of solvent-weld 32mm pipe with a wee bit cut out holds it snugly in place. I've just picked up the Hep2O tails but haven't yet looked at them - 10 miles walking, SF, Waitrose, bus - I needed food and rest. Didn't need that back in the'70s!