Replacing a kitchen mixer tap

[Wolveryeti]

Has anyone replaced one themselves and is this advisable? Would be interested in a view on how hard/easy it is. Loath to call out a plumber but also haunted with visions of a ballistic, shrieking wife hovering over me as the kitchen floods...

 

[nogojones]

Has anyone replaced one themselves and is this advisable? Would be interested in a view on how hard/easy it is. Loath to call out a plumber but also haunted with visions of a ballistic, shrieking wife hovering over me as the kitchen floods...

Can sometimes be straight forward, sometimes a bit more faff. What are the connections like under the sink?
You'll probably find a few youtube vids to guide you through

 

[Sprocket.]

Access to the connectors and the nut that holds the tap in are usually the biggest problem. Plenty of how to vids on the net, the Wickes one is pretty straightforward.

 

[StoneRoad]

How accessible is the water stopcock ?

And how easy is it to turn off completely !

 

[existentialist]

Has anyone replaced one themselves and is this advisable? Would be interested in a view on how hard/easy it is. Loath to call out a plumber but also haunted with visions of a ballistic, shrieking wife hovering over me as the kitchen floods...

You may well find that getting the old one off is tougher than fitting the new one. I echo Sprocket.'s comment about access, and depending on how old the installation is, you may have to faff around with bent pipe tails and annoying connectors. The good news is that standard practice for fitting these taps nowadays is to use flexible tails, which usually have their own mini-stopcock on the fitting to the supply pipe.

Top tip - do be absolutely sure that you've got the tap physically anchored securely and done up proper tight. There's nothing more annoying (to me, at least ) than a swivelling mixer tap...and, of course, with flexible connectors, you don't even have the pipework holding it steady, not that it ever should.

I'd say that replacing a mixer tap is probably at the easier end of the plumbing jobs scale...

 

[quimcunx]

I was going to try this but gave up on the idea. I would have needed to buy several tools and cut pipes and get into an impossible space to undo and do up and it would have been a nightmare lasting several days of incompetence. I also didn't get a plumber in so I just have a tap that leaks if you don't have it set just so.

 

[Idaho]

Do the hot and cold feeds both have isolator valves? If so, that takes away some of the stress.

 

[maomao]

I did it in April/May because we didn't want a plumber in the house. Wasn't that bad. You need a tap spanner. I have a set if you're passing Romford. I thought this bit would be diffcult but with the right tool was very easy. Other than that, buy the new one first and make sure you're using the right kind of connectors under the sink.

I still got a plumber in for the bathroom one a ocuple of months later though. Mainly because there were solid copper pipes not hoses involved. The plumber I used fitted hoses.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I remember it being really easy. I don't think I even looked on line when I did the kitchen sink. I did have to by a special spanner thing when I did the bath mixer taps, but that was just because I couldn't physically get a normal spanner into position.

Just make sure you know where the valve is to turn off your water and do that first.

 

[platinumsage]

It could be easy, just be sure you don't do whatever this plumber did:

 

[Chilli.s]

I have done this several times. With mixed easy/hard scenarios. Last time I'd say everything that could go wrong did go wrong. If the tap is mounted onto a flat sink without a deep bowl or 3 making access to the underneath nuts and bolts difficult, then it's a lot simpler. Be prepared to be on your back holding a torch in your gob for hours, bad back territory.

 

[cybershot]

I'd say it basically comes down to how tight the person before has done the nuts and bolts on the existing tap, which is usually the hardest part. It's completly unnecessary to do them mega tight. If they have also not been touched in 10+ odd years then you might be in for a fight. I had to drill a bolt out last time. Which was fun! Not. Just make sure to isolate the water via the localised switches if the points have them, otherwise full on stopcock off before you start.

Handy to have a plumber contact on standby if you end up in an emergency situation. Get some water in the kettle, jugs, bowels etc if you for any reason you can't turn the water back on because you've destroyed something.

 

[dessiato]

It's not too difficult, if you've the right tools it's easier. But it's essential you turn off the water first of course. I always use PTFE tape on the threads as this will help seal them. It also makes them easier to undo if you need to in the future.

 

[High Voltage]

With the water switched off and if they aren't fitted already

Take the time and minor expense to FIT ISOLATION VALVES to both hot and cold water pipes

 

[existentialist]

It's not too difficult, if you've the right tools it's easier. But it's essential you turn off the water first of course. I always use PTFE tape on the threads as this will help seal them. It also makes them easier to undo if you need to in the future.

Compression joints don't need the threads sealing - if you've got water getting past the olive and onto the thread, you've got a bigger problem than a bit of PTFE tape is going to solve.

Though I would say that a bit of tape does generally make the job of getting the joints tightened up easier. The absolutely critical thing with compression joints is ensuring that the pipe end is clean (no burrs) and undistorted, that the olive is sitting squarely on the pipe, and that the pipe is squarely located into the fitting. And, obviously, not mullering it to fuck when you start tightening up the joint.

 

[Aladdin]

I read this as "replacing a kitten mixer tap "

 

[fishfinger]

I read this as "replacing a kitten mixer tap "

Here's one for you:

 

[WouldBe]

It could be easy, just be sure you don't do whatever this plumber did:

What a f'ing idiot. Shove a nut and olive over the leaking pipe, stick an open isolation valve on end of pipe, nut them together and turn the isolation valve off. It would have helped opening the other cold taps in the house to drop the pressure and make it easier to deal with.

Not a hard job. The Wickes one I put in the kitchen I used a spark plug socket to tighten the nut (holding the tap in place) as the length of the bolt was too big for a normal socket and there wasn't enough room to get a spanner in.

 

[WouldBe]

I read this as "replacing a kitten mixer tap "

Left for piss, right for shit.

 

[dessiato]

Compression joints don't need the threads sealing - if you've got water getting past the olive and onto the thread, you've got a bigger problem than a bit of PTFE tape is going to solve.

Though I would say that a bit of tape does generally make the job of getting the joints tightened up easier. The absolutely critical thing with compression joints is ensuring that the pipe end is clean (no burrs) and undistorted, that the olive is sitting squarely on the pipe, and that the pipe is squarely located into the fitting. And, obviously, not mullering it to fuck when you start tightening up the joint.

But the flexible pipe to the pipe on the fitting is not, in my limited experience, a compression fitting.

 

[existentialist]

But the flexible pipe to the pipe on the fitting is not, in my limited experience, a compression fitting.

No, you're right - I've just looked at some on Screwfix, and they're flange fittings. Same principle applies, though - the thread is not a seal. In fact, with flange fittings, I think you usually fit a washer between the mating faces.

 

[dessiato]

No, you're right - I've just looked at some on Screwfix, and they're flange fittings. Same principle applies, though - the thread is not a seal. In fact, with flange fittings, I think you usually fit a washer between the mating faces.

That's right. But the tape helps.

 

[existentialist]

That's right. But the tape helps.

TBH, if the tape is helping in that situation, someone's buggered up somewhere. This is a good example of the kind of joint PTFE tape is good for:


Like I said earlier, there's no harm in putting a bit around the thread to make joint assembly easier - it's a great lubricant, with its ultra-low-friction properties - but anyone aiming to use it to seal a compression or flange joint is entering the realm of Bodgeland. If your compression joint is leaking, the issue is with the seal between the olive, pipe, and joint, and taping up the compression thread can only, at best, temporarily stop leakage, and won't address the underlying problem. The reason he's using tape on that joint in the video is because it's almost certainly a ½" BSP thread, and those threads are designed to seal (well, some of them - the ISO 7 ones, it says on that Wiki link. You live and learn)

Disclaimer: I should point out that I'm not a professional - just an amateur who's being doing stuff for a very long time

 

[dessiato]

TBH, if the tape is helping, someone's buggered up somewhere.

This is me we're talking about.

 

[existentialist]

This is me we're talking about.

It's never too late to change

 

[prunus]

Pics please.

We can't properly backseat-plumber you without pics of your current setup.

 

[not-bono-ever]

the misery of a rusted on faucet nut is something that will live with me forever. good luck

 

[Wolveryeti]

Thanks all. The setup is wired hose thingies connected to copper (compression fitting I think). I do seem to have isolator valves and a working stopcock. OK - I fancy my chances now. A bit clueless about what an olive is or how I fit it but hopefully I won't end up like the guy in the video.

 

[Sprocket.]

Thanks all. The setup is wired hose thingies connected to copper (compression fitting I think). I do seem to have isolator valves and a working stopcock. OK - I fancy my chances now. A bit clueless about what an olive is or how I fit it but hopefully I won't end up like the guy in the video.

If your hoses are okay just swap them onto your new tap. The compression fittings on the braided connectors just need a good nip, no PTFE tape is required, it actually lifts the compression nut off the olive and makes a leak more likely. I have worked on fire sprinkler systems and hydraulic systems that have hundreds of times more pressure than a domestic water system. I have never used PTFE on any compression fittings. A long box spanner should get the tap nut off, you can get a set of tap box spanner’s for under a tenner if you can’t borrow one.

 

[neonwilderness]

You need a tap spanner.

I‘d second this. I changed my kitchen and bathroom taps last year and it would have been pretty much impossible without one of these.