Plumbers - Remove this under tap pipe?

Russinating · 6 Apr 2014 at 15:18

I tried to spin our kitchen tap around this afternoon to give us more space on the draining board. In doing so I think I've loosened the pipes connecting to the tap as both cold and warm drip from the very top.

The whole sink plumbing was bodged by the owners of the flat and the tap connects to the inlets via these solid copper pipes. How on earth do they connect to the valves? I've tried twisting, pulling, levering and nothing. The pipes are completely round the entire length so I can't get a spanner in at any point to help either. Any pointers? Thanks!

SB118 · 6 Apr 2014 at 15:38

They'll be threaded into the bottom of the tap unit, with an o-ring just below the thread. Needs twisting back in.

Russinating · 6 Apr 2014 at 15:46

Yeah I figured it'd be something like that, but how do I do that? The tap can be pulled barely an inch up with it connected and the pipes don't have a hex on them anywhere.

Haggisman · 6 Apr 2014 at 15:52

I'm not a plumber, but those white bits look like push fittings. Push the top ring down into the fitting and it should release the pipe. Then I guess you could pull it straight out, sort out where it connects to taps, and push it back in.

Nightglow · 6 Apr 2014 at 16:28

Those plastic fittings, you need to push down the raised retaining collar flush towards the fitting, whilst pulling the pipe away from the fitting to release them from the copper pipe, there is a Pushfit Release Tool available to make job easier.

Russinating · 6 Apr 2014 at 17:11

Thanks guys, removed the plastic fittings and go the whole tap (and copper pipes out). However the copper pipes are well and truly in there, absolutely no chance of unscrewing them let alone tightening them up. The hexes for them are concealed within the bottom of the tap so can't access them and apart from that they're just round.

Tidied everything up anyway and reinserted the pipes into the plastic valves and it still leaks from the top. Argghh!

Russinating · 6 Apr 2014 at 17:28

The pipes joining the tap where the leak seems to be coming from:

Nightglow · 6 Apr 2014 at 17:42

Need to replace the O rings.

You can get a special spanner to remove them, but if you decide to replace them with flexitails, then you can undo them with a pair of slip joints.

I never use the supplied tap tails, always replace them with these.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/flexible-tap-tails-10mm-x-15mm-x-300mm-pack-of-2/27936

http://www.screwfix.com/p/flexible-tap-tails-12mm-x-15mm-x-300mm-pack-of-2/91351

DannyW · 6 Apr 2014 at 17:53

swap the copper pipes out of the tap for flex tails, makes life so much easy and ive never seen one leak

Terminal_Boy · 6 Apr 2014 at 18:06

DannyW said:
swap the copper pipes out of the tap for flex tails, makes like so much easy and ive never seen one leak

Absolutely this. Makes swapping out taps in the future very simple and they never leak if you use new seals each time they come apart and are tightened correctly.

Nightglow · 6 Apr 2014 at 18:19

Terminal_Boy said:
Absolutely this. Makes swapping out taps in the future very simple and they never leak if you use new seals each time they come apart and are tightened correctly.

That's the secret, tightening correctly, too many peeps overtighten them, it's the same with compression fittings.

DannyW · 6 Apr 2014 at 21:55

With a new compression fitting, olive and new pipe it should only need a quarter turn to seal it, it also shouldnt need any ptfe or sealing compound - in theory. but in real life they do often leak as I found when I did my bathroom.

This is the best video ive ever watched on push fits - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3jzUQwHRtM

Wh00pS · 7 Apr 2014 at 10:45

DannyW said:
swap the copper pipes out of the tap for flex tails, makes life so much easy and ive never seen one leak

I fit kitchens and bathrooms for a living, in the past 5 years or so i've seen 2 flexi's that have actually burst (one caused a hell of a lot of damage) and i've seen a few more with bad bulges that are on the way to bursting.
I personally hard plumb everything, 30 mins of my time extra to cut pipe and solder everything up is well worth it for my peace of mind.

Nightglow · 7 Apr 2014 at 11:48

Never had a flexi tap tail burst in, must be nearly 20 years.

The quality of them do vary though, I only fit WRAS approved ones

Washing hoses are different matter, seen several burst over the years, some had been fitted only a few weeks & the mess they cause, one house had the cellar flooded to the depth of around 5', funny thing the mains stop & washing machine were in the cellar...

Russinating · 7 Apr 2014 at 12:44

Thanks guys. Managed to unscrew the pipes in the end with some brute force and screw them back up again. Refitted, no leak, and tap moved. Success!

Wh00pS · 7 Apr 2014 at 22:23

Nightglow said:
Never had a flexi tap tail burst in, must be nearly 20 years.

The quality of them do vary though, I only fit WRAS approved ones

Washing hoses are different matter, seen several burst over the years, some had been fitted only a few weeks & the mess they cause, one house had the cellar flooded to the depth of around 5', funny thing the mains stop & washing machine were in the cellar...

As i said in the above post all the ones i've seen as have been in the last five years, in the 20 years or so previous to that i never saw even one bad one. As for where they came from i don't know as i never fitted them, i was just called in to fix the problem. One thing i did note was all had rust corrosion on the braiding which may have pierced the hose inside or just allowed the hose to split under pressure.