Bathroom Basin Taps
Jul 16th, 2010 by MCSmith
Replacing the old taps in your bathroom is a great do-it-yourself project for improving your home. The most difficult part of replacing old taps is usually removing the old fittings. This is usually the case with most plumbing jobs. First let’s consider the bathroom basin taps.
The first task is to close off the cold water and hot water supply lines to the basin. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to tie up the float arm of the cold water storage cistern’s ball valve. This should prevent water from flowing into the basin. Next, simply run the cold water bathroom basin tap until the flow stops. Now you are ready to open the hot water taps. This way, you’ll be able to conserve most of the heated water in your hot water storage.
Looking under the bathroom vanity and underneath the basin, you’ll see small and fairly accessible nuts that connect the tails of the taps to the water supply lines. You will also find a larger and usually inaccessible back-nut, which secures the tap to the basin. These back-nuts can be extremely difficult to remove, even for plumbing professionals. The swivel tap connector nuts, which connect the taps to the pipes, can usually be easily removed with an appropriate sized spanner or wrench.
You can find crowsfoot or basin spanners, and special wrenches that could help you, but keep in mind that ceramic basins are fragile and can easily become damaged by too much forcefulness. The best way to go is to first disconnect the trap from the waste outlet and disconnect the swivel tap connectors. These are all secured in place by nuts that can be removed easily. Now you are ready to lift the basin off of its hanger or brackets, and cautiously place it on the floor upside down. At this point you can try removing the tap tails with your crowsfoot spanner or wrench, but first apply some penetrating oil to the tap tails, and wait a few minutes for it to soak in. You will find that it’s now much easier to loosen and remove them. To prevent damaging the basin, make sure that you hold the tap in place to prevent it from swiveling. You can also use these techniques in other bathrooms to help you remove bathroom basin mixer taps or bathroom faucets.
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