If you are going to change your Taps, for whatever reason, the first thing you should be aware of, is that many Taps bought today are inferior in quality and a great many are imported, if you buy these you will never be able to purchase spares should the need arise.
Always buy good quality Taps, usually from a British Company that is going to be around when the Taps need replacement parts.
If you go to a good Plumbing and Heating Merchants they will have the knowledge to tell you what Taps to buy.
Another thing to consider is the condition of your Sanitary Ware or Sink; there’s no point in changing the Taps if the other components are shoddy.
Also, although once the Taps are fitted it looks comparatively simple, it’s quite a hard job to replace them in situ as they are normally fitted to the Sink, Basin and Bath before they are installed.
If you know what type of tap you are fitting and where it is going, click the direct link in the box below.
There are a number of types of Tap. You can get individual Taps, Deck Mixers or Monobloc Mixers.
(Click on thumbnail for full size)
If you are fitting new Taps to a Sink always go for a Mixer Tap as it’s nigh on impossible
to retro-
Kitchen Mixer Taps are different from Bath and Basin Taps in that they have individual pipes inside them for the Hot and Cold supplies so that they actually mix after the water has left the Tap.
This is for a couple of different reasons, primarily to stop the Mains Water being contaminated by the Tank Fed hot water and also because, if you have Mains Pressure on the cold and Tank Pressure on the hot, the higher Mains Pressure would push the hot water back up the pipes.
This is why you should always have Balanced Pressures on Bathroom Mixers.
Depending on the type of taps you are removing, you will need a few different tools.
If you are replacing conventional Taps with a Backnut and Tap Adaptors (below right), you will need a Basin Wrench to undo the Nuts.
(Click on thumbnail for full size)
There are a number of varieties on the market but the basic design is one or the other shown right.
(Click on thumbnail for full size)
You can also use a Box Spanner ( left) to undo the Back-
© 2006 Heating & Plumbing Solutions
Made by Selsoft
