Globe taps: I don't understand how to disassemble it

[jeancallisti]

Hi everyone!

It always starts like this : "My tap is dripping, so I want to replace the join"
Then comes the catch: "I can't disassemble the tap".

Have a look at picture below, showing you my globe tap :

Except for the cylinder at the very top (which is the tap itself), it seems like it's made of one single block.
I've highlighted 2 parts :
- the red part is an hexagonal shape. But as I said I'm not sure what it's for, as the tap seems to be made of one single block -- in other words: if it's meant to help unscrewing something, I have no idea what, as it looks like there's nothing to unscrew int he first place.
- the green part was where the protective cap was screwed onto.

So what am I supposed to unscrew to reach the nut?

 

[SimonG]

Spanner on red bit and a bit of brute force and determination.

Oh and welcome to the forum 🙂

 

[jeancallisti]

Hi Simon! Thanks for your welcoming! 🙂

I'm ready to believe you, I just can't see what part of this block is supposed to get unscrewed. It all seems made of one bit.

 

[SimonG]

The red and green are all one bit and will unscrew.

 

[jtsplumbing]

Welcome jean (Lady plumber?) where did you manage to find these taps ? Try a bit of heat on them, and a good spanner that will grip on with out slipping, just got to watch that they do-not snap off were they go through bath

 

[Bernie2]

Hmm"

Good old globe taps ain't seen many of them for years. I think though, some are making a come back. The red part unfortunately as has already been said is where it screws apart. And yes you do often need a lot of brute force. But try it before you heat it, going careful you do not chew all the brass head work up.

You have to get the water out the pipe before you heat it though, otherwise the heat is just cooled by the water. In theory you should heat the tap body close below the nut and make it expand which then makes the spindle and head assembly easy to remove as it has stayed cooler and smaller.

In practise usually just heating it gently where you can get the blow lamp on without playing the flame on the bath enamel is probably easiest. Once the head is off, you usually find a jumper with a 3/4" tap washer on, the washer is held in place with either a nut or a shaped brass pin on the jumper. Please go careful unscrewing the nut on the jumper they can be very brittle and easily snap. If the threads or washer retaining pin has broken off you may have to get a new 3/4" jumper.

Some jumpers are fixed and some are loose. Usual to have loose jumper on cold and fixed on hot. To remove a fixed jumper, you can try levering it off with a screwdriver or part wind the spindle out and look between the threads for a little retaining pin. Knock it out and the jumper usually falls out. You can usually fit a loose jumper back in without the pin or put the pin back ensuring it is a tight fit and will not jump out. The new jumper may have a shaft that fits into the jumper socket on the spindle that is too big. If it is all you can get, you may have to file it down.

The washers is usually a standard flat washer. But if your a bit heavy handed you can get stronger washers made out of various materials other than rubber that stand up to heavy wear. I may also add they come in different materials for hot and cold taps as well. You can also get dome washers for taps with damaged seatings.

Also check the seating where the washer sits when the tap is closed inside the bottom half of the tap, if it is rough you can reseat it with a special tool. You can buy cheap re-seating tools in a DIY shop usually. But if its to far gone its new taps. I would suggest trying the dome washer first.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[stevetheplumber]

the bad news is if you cant get it undone ,you usually need to undo one head work to get the room to turn the tap out of the bath so if they need changing youll have to hacksaw the top of one ,they are available new still

 

[glenno1]

Welcome jean.Apply bit of heat then use ring spanner on red bit

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

It looks like one block due to corrosion

I know it is easy to say this but I think new taps will be best