had a leaky tap in the kitchen, asking around i was advised to unlock the collar, pull the ‘tube bit’ out and replace a faulty ‘o’ ring.

unlocked the chrome collar with mole grips but it wouldnt come out.  it has to come out, just yank it was the advice, dont be a sissy.  ok, yanked it and ripped it in two :-/

i now have this mixer tube out of the ‘gubbins’ (water is still turned on as its past the taps.)

question is, can i replace just that part and push a new one in?  or do i need to buy a whole new mixer set of taps, switch water off, unscrew everything under the sink etc…… i have a nasty feeling thatll be the case.

for now i can push the part in slightly and itll still work ok, still leaky but it was anyway, but obviously needs replacing asap.

its a single hole in the sink, so if thats the case can i buy any mixer with a single connection (rather than one each for hot and cold).  are they all the same size?  and if so, any recommendations of where to buy taps from?  is the correct answer ‘anywhere but b&q’?

thanks

If you can get the same tap you can just replace the spout. Good practice to grease the o-rings with silicone lubricant first though. They don’t always come well lubed. Not spray type either, gel type lube is better.

The sink hole is a standard size so any monobloc tap should fit, just take note of what type of hoses/pipes come off the tap.

Bit late now but the leak may well have been coming from the taps rather than the bit you removed.It’s hard to tell from  your pics but you usually remove an allen headed grub screw that holds the tap in place. Remove tap and then the valve that’s inside and replace it.

Screwfix https://www.screwfix.com/p/cooke-and-lewis-double-lever-mono-mixer-kitchen-tap-chrome/9385t

Remove your tap and measure it and check the connection under the sink and that they will fit the Screwfix one.Return if they are differing sizes.

“<span style=”color: #444444; font-size: 12px;”>If you can get the same tap you can just replace the spout.”</span>

cant seem to find just the spout anywhere, thats why im sort of resigned to having to replace the whole lot :-/

“<span class=”skimlinks-unlinked” style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background: #eeeeee; color: #444444;”>It’s</span><span style=”color: #444444; font-size: 12px; background-color: #eeeeee;”> hard to tell from  your pics but you usually remove an allen headed grub screw that holds the tap in place.”</span>

yeah my mate mentioned something about a grub screw but i couldnt see one anywhere.

“<span style=”background-color: #eeeeee; color: #444444; font-size: 12px;”>Remove your tap and measure it and check the connection under the sink and that they will fit the Screwfix one.Return if they are differing sizes.”</span>

by ‘remove your tap’ do you mean the whole shebang?  do i have to strip it right down to under the sink to leave it in a safe condition whilst i work out what exactly i need?

thanks chaps

sorry, new forum and all that.  trying to edit out all that span stuff but it wont let me, keeps saying ‘page not found’.  ill keep trying.

IAAP.

It’s well and truly buggered! It doesn’t look as though there was a grub screw, the collar you unscrews held the spout in. I guess yanking it at a slight ange would have broken it

New tap required. Where are you?

If you’re keen to replace yourself, any mono mixer tap designed for kitchen will fit. If the water. Pressure is good.

If not, you will need one designed for low pressure otherwise the flow through a high pressure tap will be woeful!

B&Q tell you what the taps are designed for. They usually come with flexible tap tails to make installation easier.

Good luck

thanks, i wont quote as i think itll end badly, so ill just answer your question and update you…..

im in lincoln and our water pressure is good.  im not keen to replace myself as i know nowt about plumbing, but…… im always keen to learn new stuff if i can do it myself and save a few pennies so ill give it a bash 🙂

ive taken a couple of pics below and could do with a bit of advice please.  it all looks crudded and rusted up and i cant see what i would obviously do from here so ill take a guess.

first i switch the water off! 🙂

then all i can see to do is WD40 the little rusty threaded bar and unscrew that nut.  im guessing that frees up the whole unit and i can then pull the unit off from the top.  where that leaves the copper pipes is anybodys guess 🙂

im hoping then that any new unit can be placed in the hole and that the copper pipes going up can either go straight into the new unit or that i pull them from the plastic connectors below and new pipes come with the new unit to replace them.

am i close? 😀

thanks.

also i may be wrong but the isolation tap just seems to be on a cold feed, i may be wrong about that.  theres no chance of isolating it, taking it to bits and the water from the hot feed p1ssing all over the place is there?

The nut or the whole threaded rod will need to be removed, then both plastic bends need to be removed (see below) and the tap and tails will come out in one.

The copper tails will need to come out with the tap. New ones will be supplied with new tap. Do not re-use the old tails for ease, it will only end up leaking.

The plastic bends can be removed by opening the nut a wee bit, then push down on the round collar on top of the nut and pull bend downwards. Pushing down on the ring releases the grip ring inside the fitting.

New taps may have flexi pipes in which case you will need 2 of these or similar: https://www.screwfix.com/p/hep2o-hx29-15ws-adapt-brass-male-socket-x-15mm/5970f

Just remove bends and fit these, flexi’s will screw straight on to the threaded end.

If new taps have copper tails, they may need to be cut.I can’t tell by your photo if that’s the case. They will need to be cut with a proper pipecutter for going back in to the bends, otherwise you could damage the o-ring in the bend.

When you get a new tap, the tails screw in by hand, do not try to spanner them up, hand tight is sufficient.

thanks, just back from work now so will have to get a wiggle on and sort it over the next couple of days……

1.   that link ^^^ for ‘hep20’ male connectors.  i cant see the other end of that white bit, can i guess that as you say, the flexible tails will screw onto the threaded end, and the white bit is just hollow white pipe that will push back into my elbow connectors?  so if i get a choice, flexi tails will be better (easier)?

2.   if i buy those hep20 things, it says i also need a hep20 demounting tool or something, that right?  https://www.screwfix.com/p/hep2o-push-fit-hepkey-plus-set/5222j?_requestid=296584

if theyre copper tails, cut them to size and just push them into the connectors, nothing else needed, no special tools, just the pipecutter? (i can borrow one of those).  will i need any olives, o rings, or grease too?

3.   will taps come with a new ‘disc’ to replace that rusty piece of sh1t in the pics?

4.  wifes now making noises about one of those retractable spouts, but quick research shows theyre double the price of normal taps?  are they worth it, or just more things to go wrong?  any recommendations for a new monobloc tap?  screwfix my best bet or would i get just as good but cheaper on ebay say?

thanks a lot

1. The other end of that male connector is 15mm pushfit, ie pipe pushes in that end. I would remove bends completely and push male boilers on to where the bends were. Yes, flexi tails would be easier for you. Finger tight then 1/4 turn on to the male with a spanner. No need to go daft when tightening.

2. Only if you want to remove them (hep demount tool). If you buy a tap with copper tails you wont need the the Male connectors. You just need to cut tails to same size as existing tails and re-fit in to the top of the bends.

3. Yes tap comes with all parts needed.

4. I’ll leave that for you to decide, fitted them but never had to live with one so can’t comment on good or bad they are. Screwfix is fine. Forget cheap tat on ebay.

1.  not sure what you mean by ‘male boilers’, spellcheck error for a different word maybe?

so in effect, the other end of that connector is a ‘female’ end which would either take a plastic or copper pipe straight in?  so youre saying remove the elbows as theres no need for a 90 degree turn if everythings flexi, just plop one of those connectors on the end of the copper pipe, and screw the flexi end on and let it take a lazy turn up to the tap, assuming theres enough length?

2.  if i can remove pipe from my elbows by ‘opening the nut a wee bit and pushing down on the collar’, why does the website say i need a dismounting tool for removal?  is it cos mine arent ‘hep20’ and if i do buy those hep20 connectors then theyre different and need their own tools?  are there various different pushfit makes and all have their own peculiarities and different tools?

3&4.  thanks

Sorry, male connectors.

Yes to the next query.

are there various different pushfit makes and all have their own peculiarities and different tools?

Yes, but they all fit on to 15mm copper.

Hep2o is the only make that needs a demounting tool. In fact, i can get the fittings off without it, just need 2 flat screwdrivers. It’s just a ring like the one on your bends except it’s hidden inside the fitting.

Here’s the other side of the hep connector:

thank you.  ordered one with flexi tails from screwfix, plus a couple of those connectors, demount tool plus some PTFE.  i assume id use that with the brass threads yep?

also, i can only see one isolator under the sink.  ill obviously double check before dismantling, but should that knock all the water off to the tap, or should there be isolators for both hot and cold?

cheers

No need for PTFE, there will be washers on the flexi. Will go together kinda like a shower hose to a shower head if you know what i mean. What type of hot water system do you have? Is it the incoming water main valve, or a smaller isolating valve?

i took a photo to upload, but then i thought itd just be simpler to just wind the isolation tap in and see for myself 🙂

it stops both hot and cold, so thats a good start.

goods should be delivered tomorrow so ill update on progress or any problems i run into.

thanks

just while im waiting for the delivery, i thought it just make sure i could undo the rusty nut at the bottom of the sink.  difficult to get to and i had to have an 11mm spanner pretty much vertical, but it seems to have loosened ok.  got me thinking there must be a proper spanner for this so ive been googling 11mm tap spanners.  i can see theyre long box spanner type affairs  so ill probably get one for future jobs.

i watched a video on how to use one but it had some spring loaded jobbie which would have no chance of going around my 11mm nut, as its so tight next to the 2 copper pipes coming down.  all 3 are really close together as you can see from the pic ^^^.

whats your thoughts on ‘essential’ tools thatll get me through most DIY plumbing jobs like this?  i have a ‘basin wrench’ but on looking at my kitchen and bathroom sinks there doesnt seem any use for it, is it defunct now due to modern units?  it seems to be 25mm one end and 32 t’other end.

also, i dont have any silicone grease.  should i nip out and get some for any of the parts ive got coming or is it not needed?

thanks

well its done, no dramas thankfully.  few points to note.  it seems A LOT bigger than my old one, and as its a stainless steel sink and not very thick, it wobbles about a bit when twizzelling it or pulling the end out.  i like it tho.  thought id fixed it all to cock at first but looks like its the design where the arm that comes out slopes down.  not sure why but hey ho.

what a place to put the threaded bar, right at the back behind the tails!  had to go into town after all to buy a set of tap spanners to access it and tighten.

didnt use any PTFE or grease, hand tightened the tails to the sink and used spanners at the pipe end, all seems fine so far.

thanks a lot for your help.

Two tips – you should cut the threaded bar down to the point that you can fit a socket on the nut.  Also you can get spreader plates to reinforce the sink and stop it flexing.

ah good thinking on the bar.  any links to the type of spreader plate you mean?

thanks

Well done. You’ll be refitting a bathroom next…

well I am anyway and my journey started very similarly.

Used to hate plumbing jobs like this but once you’ve got a bit of experience, have solved a few leaky joints, have spilled a bit of water and noted it’s not the end of the world, you kind of get the hang of it.

OP re BigJ’s tip google tap/sink reinforcing brace

BTW – well done

looking at the sink again, im not sure theres much more room to be braced cos of the sink profile, what do you think?

thanks

A flat bar, screw to the underside of the worktop with a hole where the tap fixing “bolt” can pass through (you didn’t cut the excess off?? 😉 ). Nut above the bar, nut below

This principle HTH

well, no need in the end, taps broke after a few days! *horror emoji*

the bar that goes across to hold the end has snapped off.

in a way im pleased, it wasnt really practical, too big and kettle didnt fit under it ever so easy, so got a refund and bought something a bit more boring 🙂  tap fitting specialist now 😀