Unexplained problem removing tap cover

[hippo49]

Hello. I wonder if anyone can help please. This is my first post.

I am trying to replace a washer on the hot tap (simple pillar type) in my bathroom basin. The basin is an 80 year old basin in Art Deco style original to the house and so I am keen not to break it or the pipe joints below. The tap is original as well I suspect. I have replaced washers before in comparable taps without significant difficulty.

I can't even get started because I cannot get the cover (bonnet?) off despite it having thin flats (actually octagonal) at the bottom which I can get a spanner on to. Because of being ultra cautious I made a mock up of a tool I have seen advertised for loosening the tap-head nut, just to remove the cover. The cover perhaps turned a little although hardly enough to notice. I took off the home made contraption to regroup and then found two surprising things. First the drip had stopped despite the fact that I had not turned off the water at this stage (crazy I know but remember I was only trying to get the cover off). Second, the tap spindle had jammed beyond hand tight despite being completely free before.

So my first thought was that I had somehow screwed the jumper plate into the washer seating. But how could that have happened? I'd imagined that the cover has essentially no connection to the "works" inside the cover.

I don't seem to be able to reverse the process to free up the spindle.

So my questions are:

1) Does anyone have an explanation for the above?
2) Could there be reverse threads involved such that anticlockwise turning has tightened something up?
3) Should I have fully opened the tap before I started as my ancient Home DIY book suggests and why would that make any difference? (I consulted it after all the above!)
4) How much can I apply force either to go forwards or backwards?

I am not keen to do anything until I understand what has gone on inside that tap!

Thanks for any help anyone can give me.

 

[hippo49]

Hi everyone who helped me with this thread. SUCCESS!

I've been very busy with other things this past week and so hadn't got back to the job until today, so I apologise if you all thought I'd finished it and forgotten to thank you.

In the end I tried the method of tapping the shroud all round on the flats using the plastic handle of a screwdriver and then using boiling water on a cloth to heat up the shroud. That looseened the shroud in an instant, so much so that I could hardily believe that the torque I'd applied previously didn't loosen it.

Getting the tap handle off was no real problem - I just forced it off by unscrewing the shroud upwards against a pair of pliers around the spindle.

Next I had to loosen the spindle. You'll remember that that had tightened hard on to the washer seat because I hadn't opened the tap before starting. That came fairly easily too.

Finallly, just when I thought the biggest challenge was still to come, the taphead practically fell out in my hand! I can only conclude that I had in fact loosened the taphead slightly before the whole lot seized up because of the spindle seizing on the washer seat.

Whatever the reason I'm just glad it's done. Thank you all again for your interest and help. Not only have you saved me a lot of money but also I've learnt something: never again will I try to replace a washer without first opening the tap fully.

Now for the next dripping tap....!

 

[Stigster]

using boiling water on a cloth to heat up the shroud. That looseened the shroud in an instant, so much so that I could hardily believe that the torque I'd applied previously didn't loosen it.


never again will I try to replace a washer without first opening the tap fully.

Well done mate!

When metal expands and contracts at different temperatures the forces can be pretty incredible. By expanding the metal of the shroud using heat, huge forces are generated and it was easy for it to break free from the corrosion, gunk, scale or whatever it was holding it firmly in place. Heat does wonders for stuck parts in all things mechanical. Sometimes the process is used in reverse too, not so much in plumbing but in engineering and manufacturing, some parts are firmly joined by making two parts a ludicrously tight fit, heating one part, joining them (things like a wheel on a spindle) whilst scorching hot and then letting it cool and shrink into place.

As for opening the tap, we would normally isolate the supply, open the tap to prove that it is actually isolated (never, ever assume!) and leave it in that position whild doing the work.

Great to hear you've got a stubborn job done and learned something along the way. That's why I love the forums because I learn things here all the time too.