Replace 1970s bath tap head knobs

[GaryTheGolfer]

i bet redsaw is right actually. google "plumbing merchants" in your area - ignore plumb centre etc.. phone up and describe what you've got. they may all say no but i bet at least one tells you where you can find them.

I did visit the best merchant (8 miles round trip). I then phoned or visited 7 other (fairly) local merchants/shops...excluding the Homebases of this world.... (but admittedly including Plumb Centre....in desperation). I phoned the manufacturer who doesn't sell to the public. They directed me to B&Q and gave me the B&Q part number. They no longer stock this manufacturer's part. I was eventually found someone who knew the appropriate product and directed me back to the very first merchant. I phoned them asking if they stocked or could order the specific Oracstar product (TC27). They told me YES they had it in stock. So I drove the 8 miles round trip again.....only to be told that they didn't stock and couldn't order it and that their assistant must have misunderstood when I requested an Oracstar TC27 Swop a Top Tap kit!!!! They apparently thought that description was met by a tap reviver kit.

Although no-one stocked anything suitable, they were all very helpful when pressed for who might sell/stock a suitable product....particularly the pukka merchants.

I did find one merchant that could order it in but their (wholesale?) supplier had a £180 minimum order policy.

It was only really by a bit of luck that I tripped over a suitable solution when browsing one of those very old-fashioned general hardware stores 18 miles away.

I have honestly tried to do the leg-work 🙂

.......All this for £1 worth of broken 1970s plastic!

Thanks for your support by the way!

 

[dontknowitall]

I did visit the best merchant (8 miles round trip)...

You lucky thing - I live 12 miles away from my closest merchant and 25 miles from the likes of B&Q, etc!

 

[REDSAW]

where do you live is the question!

 

[elainec]

Hello Garythegolfer. I just joined the forum specifically to tell you about tap heads, so I hope I am not too late. I had the same nightmare, I sent away for some from Notjusttaps.co.uk and their advertising was very misleading, needlesstosay, I had to send them back because their so called larger size was basin size, and it ended up costing me nearly as much in postage as the tap caps themselves, so dont bother to check there. I had the same with a local plumbcentre, said he had them on the phone and when I went around, it was a conversion set he was trying to sell.

I actually got some today, Oracstar Swop a top, acrylic, (I actually wanted chrome to match the basin taps) but gave up on that. Got them in my local Wilkinsons store for £8.50. They looked ideal for my 1980's bath taps. However, it wasnt as simple as I first thought. They give you an adaptor which goes on top of the existing spindle and that is held on by three grub screws. However, my spindle was too fat to go in the hole (about 1/2" depth) and I didnt want to try and shave down the spindle in case it all went pear-shaped. So I have spent all afternoon, with a drill and some metal bits, trying to enlarge this hole and with much perseverence and swearing, I did get there in the end. They are not a perfect fit in that they are a fraction shorter in depth so you can see a little of the base. I think I could have drilled a little more out but I got fed up walking up and down the stairs checking. I have taken a photo so you can see what I mean with the old taps in the middle, when you look down on them, this gap hardly notices.


I didnt think the image would appear so small.
So if you are prepared to try and drill out the hole, probably better than I could, (I am a female, afterall, and getting on in years, lol) asssuming your spindles are too big, I think these are the only ones you can use. There are no other bath size tap handles now, I am told that basin and bath taps these days should both be the same size.

There is a site I saw but they dont give any details but they are a lot more expensive, and for £8.50 I was prepared to give the oracstar ones a go (Oracstar are a good make, not a wilkos brand). These people also sell the oracstar and have the chrome I want but they are twice the price plus postage.

Good luck

 

[REDSAW]

The lengths some people go to to save a quid bedazzles me?.

I have a small stock as in picture of the same heads supplied and fitted for £40.lol.

 

[Bartdude]

The lengths some people go to to save a quid bedazzles me?

Spot on Redsaw,the mind boggles sometimes!

 

[elainec]

The lengths some people go to to save a quid bedazzles me?.

I have a small stock as in picture of the same heads supplied and fitted for £40.lol.

Not really a question of saving a quid, more to do with saving a lot of inconvenience and aggro, as firstly the taps work fine but the gate valve doesnt work in the airing cupboard and no isolating valve, so would mean draining the hot water down, getting a plumber in to replace with new taps, thus removing the fixed tongued and grooved bath panel, then would need to replace the basin taps again to match new taps on the bath, etc. After paying out £499 to British Gas two weeks ago for a power flush, it seemed stupid and an unnecessary expense to have all that done just because the taps were looking a bit old and not matching the tops of the basin taps, which they do now.

I hope that is a satisfactory explanation for you!

 

[elainec]

Well I guess some of us are better at d.i.y. than others. If my husband were still alive, he would have done it easily, would imagine nothing worse than having a useless man in the house.

 

[Dannypipe]

Garythegolfer spent the day driving round plumbers merchants by the sounds of it (visiting 8 in total)...plus all the extra time he's spent on the internet, and at B & Q...it must total up to over 8 hours of 'work' and where is he with it? Still at square one.

If he was on minimum wage, at 8 hours, he'd have earned enough to have a trained plumber change those taps and maybe enough left over to buy a pint down the pub to celebrate. Who cares if it only takes us half hour to do, ITS OUR JOB. If it was easy we wouldn't have one.

Trully false economy here.

 

[REDSAW]

well i did ask him where he lived so i could possibly sort him with exchange heads but he didnt reply?.

 

[Dannypipe]

You can take a horse to water Red....

 

[GaryTheGolfer]

Firstly thanks for making the effort of joining the forum and relating your similar tale. I also owe you an apology for not replying sooner to your pm but being retired means I am fully occupied....

I have now solved my problem....very much along the lines you described. I bought the chrome version of the "Swap a Top" from Choiceful.com. I paid the premium for the chrome version. When it came it the acrylic version (and was clearly marked as such on the packaging). I returned this for a refund as they no longer had stock of the chrome version. I am still waiting for this refund.

I tried to find an online source of the chrome version but failed. In the end I bought the acrylic version from an old style hardware shop in Clacton......you know the kind where you can buy 7 2" nails if that is what you need.

I already knew the (metal) adapter didn't fit directly so I drilled it out and then patiently filed the hole to a square to fit the tap shaft. I then fitted the adapter and secured it with the grub screws.

The (hexagonal) adapter fits inside the replacement tap top. The height of the adapter is about 1/2" but only about 1/8" of it seats into the tap top. The intention is that a securing screw is screwed vertically into the top of the tap shaft. My tap shafts dont have screws so my choice is to drill and tap a thread, glue the tap tops in place, or leave them free. I chose the latter option (at the moment).

The taps now work perfectly again (but you can pull the tap tops off....if you really want to).

I am disappointed that the journey has been so long but happy that the job is done a) by me and b) economically.

Thanks to everyone for the constructive comments (and even the others...you know who you are....)

 

[elainec]

Glad to hear you got it sorted, if not was going to suggest I sent you my old tap caps which were perfectly okay, but the chrome paint worn a bit inside the acrylic. I think you are wise to leave the taps so that can be pulled off, you can always warn a guest they come off if they want a bath otherwise could go into panic mode thinking they have busted something, ha ha! Glue wouldnt be a good idea if you need to change a washer.

 

[REDSAW]

I tried to find an online source of the chrome version but failed. In the end I bought the acrylic version from an old style hardware shop in Clacton......you know the kind where you can buy 7 2" nails if that is what you need.


classic, every one should know where there nearest one is.
open all hours.lol.

 

[elainec]

Youre right, wish I had one of those old shops in my area, instead of buying a whole bag of screws etc. when only needing a couple. I could do with some fork handles or is that four candles, LOL!

 

[dontknowitall]

I could do with some O's ...

 

[elainec]

Rubber or plastic?

 

[dontknowitall]

The ones you dig up weeds with!

 

[tamz]

Youre right, wish I had one of those old shops in my area, instead of buying a whole bag of screws etc. when only needing a couple. I could do with some fork handles or is that four candles, LOL!

My inlaws had one but he closed it about 10 years ago as he couldn't compete with the big diy places. The place was like Aladdins cave. He had everything in there. Nobody missed it until it was gone like so many other small local businesses.
Btw i can see the trades going the same way in a few years. So many big companies getting into repair and maintainance work, people using them more because they don't know or trust anyone................we'll see.

 

[elainec]

Btw i can see the trades going the same way in a few years. So many big companies getting into repair and maintainance work, people using them more because they don't know or trust anyone................we'll see.

Let's hope not. This seems to have been the trend though, starting with supermarkets!