Supataps.

google only seems to hit ebay, but none up for grabs at the moment

The ones in my bathroom must be pushing 30 years old, I've not had to touch them since I moved in 14+ years ago, no drips but they get a bit crusty round the top with limescale.

I could never turn them with wet hands :-(

Mary

forgive my ignorance and youth... but, what are Supataps (apart from being taps) ?

LJ

A design of tap that was around in the 1950's and 60's that had three particular features:

1. You could rewasher it without turning off the supply (assuming you had the correct special washer of course)
2. They had a nozzle designed to give a nice spray

1. In the days before outside hose taps were so common, the Supatap hose connector was 100% leak free and didn't fall of the tap.

Others have given a description, here's a horrible scratchy mobile phone camera piccie

don't see what's so "supa" about them, flippin 'orrible if you ask me... but then you wouldn't ask me anyway (c;

LJ

I agree, when I get round to replacing them one day I might put them on ebay rather than in the skip ;-)

One of their good points is that you can change a washer without turning the water off elsewhere...

Bob Eager wrote: >

Their heyday would have been in the days before in-line isolation valves became commonplace, so this was quite a Good Thing

David

"Bob Eager" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@rikki.tavi.co.uk:

Only wusses turn off the water to replace a washer

mike

Wet susses don't bother.

Why do washers need replacing - do people over tighten the taps?

In article , in2minds writes

Not the prettiest example I have seen, my dad put them in a house C1960, all chrome & a bit of a classic retro look.

"John" wrote in news:fUJwd.249$mj4.220@newsfe1- gui.ntli.net:

Useter be leather or rubber; alwys some sort of compo with spread and give which will die eventually.

Dunno about ceramics, though

mike

connector looks like. I have been trying for years to find something which will connect a hose to the darned things without falling off (the main problem being that you have to turn the bit the hose is gripping to turn the water on. I have made a really ugly arrangement of aluminium pieces and long bolts, which acts as a cage around the whole tap. This allows the hose to just screw on, unfortunately it's miles from the garden and there's no pressure to speak of in that tap.

I don't suppose SuperNews or NewsTap would intrest you, perhaps not.

Andy Burns, have you still got your Supertaps (or indeed the same house)?

I have, but their replacements have been purchased

I can't imagine fitting a hose to them, other than with a jubilee clip and getting lots of kinks in the hose as you turn it on ....

Someone I know still has her bath Supataps, not for any retro chic reason, she simplly has never remodeled her bathroom in 50 years.

IIRC the official hose connector involved some Heath-Robinson chain arangement. (BICBW)

Oh wow, I remember those taps. My solution to attaching a hose (when I can't be bothered to hook up to the washing machine connector or power shower) is a submersible pump that I put in the water butt or kitchen sink. I guess that's not really a solution if you're feeding e.g. an irrigation system that runs for hours, but it's handy if you want warm water with added detergent. :-)