New taps - what to look for and where to buy?

keystone

Its easily DIYable and £50 an hour is rather expensive. I'll write you a how to guide with pics later on when I have a spare 15 minutes and post on here.

If its the same "plumber" that said the taps need replacing in entirety tell him to do one BTW. He's not worth 50p an hour IMHO let alone a nifty.

Cheers

CashisKing

If it has been a problem since the start then the taps could be for a high pressure system and if yours is low pressure then they wont work very well, but saying that HP taps are usually single handled.

zudecke

keystone wrote: »

Its easily DIYable and £50 an hour is rather expensive. I'll write you a how to guide with pics later on when I have a spare 15 minutes and post on here.

If its the same "plumber" that said the taps need replacing in entirety tell him to do one BTW. He's not worth 50p an hour IMHO let alone a nifty.

Cheers

I'd really, REALLY appreciate if you had the spare time to do that!

I didn't intend to call the same "plumber" that said they needed replacing, no. The fella that said that was a boiler engineer from more boiler company.. So not really a plumber at all if I'm honest..

CashisKing wrote: »

If it has been a problem since the start then the taps could be for a high pressure system and if yours is low pressure then they wont work very well, but saying that HP taps are usually single handled.

How can I determine if my system is high or low pressure?

Cheers everyone for all your help so far!!

Canucklehead

Hi.

I would say you have the kind of tap in this link.

Strip down, clean, silicon grease and reassemble.

Either DIY or handyman if you don't feel up to it.

GSR.

I guess you have a combi boiler ?

Jonesya

I had a mix of hot and cold taps which weren't working so as it is easier to shut off the cold water than drain the HW system, I shut off the cold water, took off the tap handle and inspected the head gear - it was clear there was water getting to the tap. Initially I tried replacing just the tap washer but the head gear was in poor condition and the tap still wasn't working that well so I bit the bullet and replaced the whole head gear. I left the hot water taps until later and guessed that they had the same problem - which they did.

There's another page on the Ultimate Handyman website which shows you how to replace the head gear:
http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/taps/replacing_tap_head_gear.htm

You can get the replacement head gear on its own if the tap handles are in good condition:
http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/plumbing/washers-tap-replacements/taps

Alternatively you can get replacement head gear complete with new handles if you want to change the style or smarten them up, the kits also come with a bigger range of adapters to fit more taps:
http://www.screwfix.com/c/bathrooms-kitchens/tap-reviver-kits/cat820108

zudecke

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hi.

I would say you have the kind of tap in this link.

Strip down, clean, silicon grease and reassemble.

Either DIY or handyman if you don't feel up to it.

GSR.

I guess you have a combi boiler ?

Hmm. Interesting!

You reckon a handyman over a plumber?

Yes, I have a combi boiler.. I think. It is electric.

Jonesya wrote: »

I had a mix of hot and cold taps which weren't working so as it is easier to shut off the cold water than drain the HW system, I shut off the cold water, took off the tap handle and inspected the head gear - it was clear there was water getting to the tap. Initially I tried replacing just the tap washer but the head gear was in poor condition and the tap still wasn't working that well so I bit the bullet and replaced the whole head gear. I left the hot water taps until later and guessed that they had the same problem - which they did.

There's another page on the Ultimate Handyman website which shows you how to replace the head gear:
http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/taps/replacing_tap_head_gear.htm

You can get the replacement head gear on its own if the tap handles are in good condition:
http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/plumbing/washers-tap-replacements/taps

Alternatively you can get replacement head gear complete with new handles if you want to change the style or smarten them up, the kits also come with a bigger range of adapters to fit more taps:
http://www.screwfix.com/c/bathrooms-kitchens/tap-reviver-kits/cat820108

Like the idea of replacing the handles, but not sure how to tell if it is the handles that are faulty? Nor which handles would fit my type of tap.

Are these recommendations for opening and replacing head gear applicable to both my kitchen and bathroom taps?

Cheers all!

Z

keystone

Rats - first of all I didn't think I had to write a how to guide for the OP after seeing post 16 but on reviewing the link I think I do. A couple of issues whilst I do that because although Post 16 myay well deal with the bathroom it doesn't deal with the kitghen and second shutting off the cold water to do the cold only first will be OK for the kitchen but will likely get you very wet in the bathroom if you are not careful. The bathroom taps are almost certtainly conventional headgear from their age and being cheap end (no offence). The kitchen mixer may, however, be a ceramic disk installation which is not quite the same and on the possibility that it is it needs dealing with separately. It might be nugatory effort if it turns out that the kitchen is also conventional headgear but at least OP is then fully armed.

I was going to suggest that the HP/LP discussion in this case is probably a red herring. OP has now confirmed that by saying he's got a combi so eveything is at mains pressure.

T'will arrive later - or maybe first thing looking at the clock and he won't be doing it now. .

Cheers

HomerCastle

I was given this 'advice' recently when one of my bathrrom taps stopped working. It was a bit of a struggle to dismantle but having done so I just soaked all the internal brass workings in vinegar overnight, washed it clean and reassembled it.. Hey presto, it works! Just remember to turn off the water supply to the taps before you start...
You'll find lots of short vids on Youtube that might be helpful. It's certainly worth a try before spending money on new taps. I'm pretty sure most of us in London don't replace taps every few years, my kitchen tap has worked for 20+ without problems.

keystone

Sorry not to get this done for you this morning zudeke but I got up this morning at 6am and found large chunks of my fence all over the neighbours garden sothat rather concentrated the mind for a bit and I lost a mornings work through it - such is life but something had to give. OK then:

BATHROOM TAPS

As said previously these are 99% certain to be conventional headgear and you have the UHM links on how to deal with it either as a repair or replace. I would add though that the ways in a bathroom mixer tap are connected so that the hot and cold is mixed in the tap body (unlike the kitchen mixer where they wil only cometogether at the end of the spout). So before working on either hot or cold make sure that you have isolated both supplies.

The silver disks on the tap handles will both pop out and the red/blue visible rings will either be rings that come with the cap or a full width red/blue plastic disc through which the screw that holds the handle on is screwed. Once the handle is off you will have full acces to the head gear. A further word or warning. The headgear will be in the tap body quite tightly so when you put your adjustable on it to remove make sure you are holding the valve body firmly with the other hand.

KITCHEN

To get to the internal gubbins on these carefully prise out the small white plastic disks inn the centre of the handles. That will expose the screws that hold the handles in place which can now be removed. You will not be able to access the valves yet because you need to remove the domed shroud. This is (should be) on only hand tight or scrwed down with onjly a small amount of pressure from the spanner. Wrap the dome in a cloth before applying your adjustable to the hexagoinal part - saves the chrome plating!

Once you get in you will be able to remove the gear. Take extra care with this one though as its only held in place with a single backnut so take the same precaustions of holding the tap body firmly as for the bath. Too much brute force and ignorance will easily cause the tap body to rotate which may (will) b....ger up your pipe comnnections royally. When you've finished realign it so that the tap body is square to the sink unlike it is now. - its likley that the backnut is losse already IMHO and you'll be needing a box spanner of some size to tighten it up.

When you get the gear out if its a conventional headgear as above then proceed as above.

If, however, its a 1/4 turn ceramic disc it wil look something like this:



These are not DIY repairable and will need to be replaced if they are causing the problem. Note that if you go for the tap revider solution here you can get them that look like conventionl headgear but have the same 1/4 turn operating mechanism as the ceramic disc models. But beware that the splining on top of the sopindle may not match the tap handle and they either won't go on or be loose. Its actually better to take one of the duff ones along to your friendly local merchant and get a like for like replacement - I don't mean a DIY shed either.

HTH and sorry again for the delay.

Cheers

BTW why on earth is there a length of what looks like garden hose on one of the feeds in the kitchen?

zudecke

keystone - im gobsmacked! thank you so much for takihng the time and effort to write such a detailed and in-depth post! I am indebted to you!

I'm at work at the moment, but will have a crack at the above as soon as I get back!

So to be prepared, what tools am I likely to need.. If it isn't already blatantly obvious, I don't have much more than a screwdriver in my flat :-O!! However, can go to the local hardware store and get what I need!