Broken plastic nuts securing taps to bath

[cb1980]

Accidentally leant on my bath taps a bit heavily and broke the plastic nuts securing them to the bath:

They appear to have a 1" central hole diameter:

This is what the area under the bath looks like:

I assume I just need to:

1. Buy a couple of these plastic nuts.
2. Turn the mains water off
3. Check no water comes from the taps when I turn them on
4. Get a bucket, etc. handy in case a small amount of water comes out.
5. Use an adjustable spanner to unscrew the flexible metal pipes from the taps.
6. Screw the new plastic nuts on.
7. Reattach the flexible pipes.
8 Turn the water on.

Questions:

A. Is that process going to work/not flood my bathroom?
B. What are these plastic nuts called officially, and are they readily available in B&Q/Wickes/etc.? Is it a 1" size I'm after or something else?

Thanks!

 

[seco services]

Get 3/4" brass nuts better than plastic.

If your on a combi boiler then yes isolate the mains stopcock.

 

[Blagard]

There is a washer between the flexible connection and the bottom of the tap. Don't lose it, make sure it is still there when you reconnect to the taps. If you do lose one, they are also available from most good stores.

The nuts are called "3/4" tap nuts" to suit the tap size even though the diameter you are measuring is nearly an inch. Probably a hangover from the days the pipe was 3/4" copper so both pipe and tap were called 3/4".

I'll bet seco services is right guessing you have a combi boiler, but if not and you have a hot water cylinder, you will also need to turn off the tank supply feeding it, or run off a tank full of water before the hot water stops flowing.

I second use of brass nuts, if you can get them.

Edit: What you wrote should be fine, although to avoid even a little spill I turn the kitchen taps on for a minute after opening/checking the bath taps to drain the water in the pipe/tap. Assuming the kitchen is lower than the bathroom

 

[muggles]

Go to Plumbase and buy yourself a Fix-A-Tap kit

 

[Charnwood]

Get 3/4" brass nuts better than plastic.

Make sure they are of the wide flanged variety. Some only have a narrow flange.
Correct terminology: three quarter inch wide flanged brass backnuts.

Go to Plumbase and buy yourself a Fix-A-Tap kit

They do not come with nuts. You'll still need a couple if you go for this item.

 

[cb1980]

Thanks guys, just picked up a pack of 2x 3/4" brass back nuts from B&Q for £1.29.

Same price as 1 plastic one, which also had a narrower flange, not sure why plastic would be twice as expensive as brass...

Only worry with brass is that the plastic nuts were obviously the weakest point, so if I did the same again might it not damage something more expensive/messy? ie the taps, pipework or the bath itself?

 

[ChrisOxford]

Only worry with brass is that the plastic nuts were obviously the weakest point, so if I did the same again might it not damage something more expensive/messy? ie the taps, pipework or the bath itself?

It should be fine under normal circumstances. I suspect your plastic nuts had become weak and it didn't take much to finish them off. They sometimes develop hairline cracks if overtightened, for example.

BUT, you should never, of course, use bath taps as a handle to pull yourself out of the bath. My grandmother apparently did , and she lived to be 90, but her bath was nearly as old as she was and a lot more solidly made than today's models.

 

[Charnwood]

a lot more solidly made than today's models.

Cast iron baths. Never again, hopefully!!!!

On yer back like a tortoise shell, up the stairs.
No wonder I'm a cripple. Health and safety? You don't know the half of it.

 

[cb1980]

All fixed with no swearing, thanks for the advice!

 

[nottsrob184]

All fixed with no swearing, thanks for the advice!

"F*ck me....well done."

 

[dreadnoughtheating]

Nobody mentioned 'Top-Hat washers'..

And, the jammy so&so even had his taps at the exposed end, not up against the backwall, with a pedestal basin 6 " away from the bath to circumnavigate.

I could use orangutang arms and two pairs please usually.

DH