Leaking mixer tap on freestanding bath

[C0mbat]

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum and a DIY newbie so apologies if I'm not posting correctly.

We've just purchased our first house and we moved in to a leaking bath tap. The leak happens with either the tap (correctly terminology?) or shower outlet and is dependant on whether the mixer part is switched to one or the other.

Im struggling to get a plumber to come and look at it so what do I need to do to fix it. I'm more than happy to go to Homebase to get a new mixer tap if theres a chance I need to do that. But I need to work out a few things:

1) How to turn the water off in the bathroom
2) How to take the tap off. Do I need to turn the bath over and is there a risk of damaging the pipes if I do? In other words do I really need a plumber if I'm a newbie to this type of thing?
3) What do I need to do the job?


I've attached some photos.

Thanks

 

[terryplumb]

What is actually leaking ? Taking the bath out/ turning on its side is required to fit a new tap.
Is the problem water continues to run out the spout ( water outlet into bath) when both tap handles are in the off position ? If so ,you just need new valves ,which can be done without moving the bath.

 

[C0mbat]

What is actually leaking ? Taking the bath out/ turning on its side is required to fit a new tap.
Is the problem water continues to run out the spout ( water outlet into bath) when both tap handles are in the off position ? If so ,you just need new valves ,which can be done without moving the bath.

Thanks for your response. That's exactly what is happening. Water is coming out of either the spout or shower head depending on whether the middle knob is switched to either. It constantly runs out of it 24/7. How would I change the valves without turning the bath on its side?

 

[oldbuffer]

Those taps have cartridge type valves in them. One or both must be letting water by as it is running continuously. I'd change both valves. To do this:
1. Turn off the hot and cold water. To do this (assuming no accessible isolation valves on the pipes leading to the taps.
1.1 If you have a combi boiler, turn of the boiler (electric switch) and close the main stopcock coming into the house. If you don't have / can't find the stopcock, then if you are on a water meter, the meter will have a valve attached to it, use that.
1.2 If you have an unvented hot water cylinder, turn off the boiler and close the main stopcock as above.
1.3 If you have an ordinary hot water cylinder (cylinder in airing cupboard, large cold water storage cistern (CWSC) in loft) it can be a little more complicated.
1.3a. If the water is pumped. (i.e. when you turn the taps on a pump starts up) then normally there are isolation valves in the flexible hoses connecting the pump inlets to hot and cold pipes. Close these after turning the pump off electrically.
1.3b If the water flows by gravity you would need to "bung" the cold water outlet from the bottom of the CWSC. (See Toolstation 31768) then drain off residual (in the pipes) hot and cold.
2. Remove the valve handles. From your pictures looks to be:
2.1 Remove the small chrome "plugs" from the back of each handle.
2.2 Inside there will probably be an Allen grub screw, usually 2.5 or 3 mm. Slacken these enough to pull of the square handles. Make sure you put the plug in and don't lose these screws!
3. Unscrew each cartridge. These will almost certainly have brass hexagons next to the chrome body of the tap. Use a decent adjustable spanner to remove them. They will turn anti-clockwise to undo looking down on the top of the taps.
4. Go to a decent plumber's merchants to get new cartridges. If this proves difficult, try sending photographs and measurements to showerdoc.com.
5. Replacement is the reversal of the above.

 

[C0mbat]

What is actually leaking ? Taking the bath out/ turning on its side is required to fit a new tap.
Is the problem water continues to run out the spout ( water outlet into bath) when both tap handles are in the off position ? If so ,you just need new valves ,which can be done without moving the bath.

Thanks for your resojsoeThat's exactly what is happening. Water is coming out of either the spout or shower head depending on whether the middle knob is switched to either. It constantly runs out of it 24/7. How would I change the valves without turning the bath on its side?

Those taps have cartridge type valves in them. One or both must be letting water by as it is running continuously. I'd change both valves. To do this:
1. Turn off the hot and cold water. To do this (assuming no accessible isolation valves on the pipes leading to the taps.
1.1 If you have a combi boiler, turn of the boiler (electric switch) and close the main stopcock coming into the house. If you don't have / can't find the stopcock, then if you are on a water meter, the meter will have a valve attached to it, use that.
1.2 If you have an unvented hot water cylinder, turn off the boiler and close the main stopcock as above.
1.3 If you have an ordinary hot water cylinder (cylinder in airing cupboard, large cold water storage cistern (CWSC) in loft) it can be a little more complicated.
1.3a. If the water is pumped. (i.e. when you turn the taps on a pump starts up) then normally there are isolation valves in the flexible hoses connecting the pump inlets to hot and cold pipes. Close these after turning the pump off electrically.
1.3b If the water flows by gravity you would need to "bung" the cold water outlet from the bottom of the CWSC. (See Toolstation 31768) then drain off residual (in the pipes) hot and cold.
2. Remove the valve handles. From your pictures looks to be:
2.1 Remove the small chrome "plugs" from the back of each handle.
2.2 Inside there will probably be an Allen grub screw, usually 2.5 or 3 mm. Slacken these enough to pull of the square handles. Make sure you put the plug in and don't lose these screws!
3. Unscrew each cartridge. These will almost certainly have brass hexagons next to the chrome body of the tap. Use a decent adjustable spanner to remove them. They will turn anti-clockwise to undo looking down on the top of the taps.
4. Go to a decent plumber's merchants to get new cartridges. If this proves difficult, try sending photographs and measurements to showerdoc.com.
5. Replacement is the reversal of the above.

Thanks so much! That's such an amazingly detailed response. I have a friend who has done his own DIY plumbing so I'll run this past him when he's next here as I'm a bit nervous about trying all of this myself.

 

[C0mbat]

Those taps have cartridge type valves in them. One or both must be letting water by as it is running continuously. I'd change both valves. To do this:
1. Turn off the hot and cold water. To do this (assuming no accessible isolation valves on the pipes leading to the taps.
1.1 If you have a combi boiler, turn of the boiler (electric switch) and close the main stopcock coming into the house. If you don't have / can't find the stopcock, then if you are on a water meter, the meter will have a valve attached to it, use that.
1.2 If you have an unvented hot water cylinder, turn off the boiler and close the main stopcock as above.
1.3 If you have an ordinary hot water cylinder (cylinder in airing cupboard, large cold water storage cistern (CWSC) in loft) it can be a little more complicated.
1.3a. If the water is pumped. (i.e. when you turn the taps on a pump starts up) then normally there are isolation valves in the flexible hoses connecting the pump inlets to hot and cold pipes. Close these after turning the pump off electrically.
1.3b If the water flows by gravity you would need to "bung" the cold water outlet from the bottom of the CWSC. (See Toolstation 31768) then drain off residual (in the pipes) hot and cold.
2. Remove the valve handles. From your pictures looks to be:
2.1 Remove the small chrome "plugs" from the back of each handle.
2.2 Inside there will probably be an Allen grub screw, usually 2.5 or 3 mm. Slacken these enough to pull of the square handles. Make sure you put the plug in and don't lose these screws!
3. Unscrew each cartridge. These will almost certainly have brass hexagons next to the chrome body of the tap. Use a decent adjustable spanner to remove them. They will turn anti-clockwise to undo looking down on the top of the taps.
4. Go to a decent plumber's merchants to get new cartridges. If this proves difficult, try sending photographs and measurements to showerdoc.com.
5. Replacement is the reversal of the above.

@oldbuffer I've yet to action this and getting a plumber is proving difficult. I'm now certain that the leak is the hot water and as such any heat that comes solar panels that feed it will be getting lost. Do you know if there is a way of switching off the feed from the solar panels? That way I can still heat it from the boiler on demand for a bath but the solar energy is used for other things or fed back in to the grid. See the attached photos.

 

[oldbuffer]

1. If by solar you mean panels on the roof which supply heated water directly, then I'm afraid I have no knowledge of how they are connected.
2. If you mean Photo Voltaic (PV) panels which supply electricity then:
2.1 The only way this source can heat water is via an immersion heater.
2.2 You have an immersion heater fitted to the cylinder. (1st photo, ...552.mp.jpg).
2.3 Trace back where the white wire coming from the immersion goes to. It should be to a switched outlet and may well be to the outlet with the red neon light showing. Photo. 3 (...608.jpg).
2.4 Turn the switch on the switched outlet to off.

 

[C0mbat]

1. If by solar you mean panels on the roof which supply heated water directly, then I'm afraid I have no knowledge of how they are connected.
2. If you mean Photo Voltaic (PV) panels which supply electricity then:
2.1 The only way this source can heat water is via an immersion heater.
2.2 You have an immersion heater fitted to the cylinder. (1st photo, ...552.mp.jpg).
2.3 Trace back where the white wire coming from the immersion goes to. It should be to a switched outlet and may well be to the outlet with the red neon light showing. Photo. 3 (...608.jpg).
2.4 Turn the switch on the switched outlet to off.

Hi, oldbuffer. Sorry for taking up your time on this but I still can't get a plumber. Is there anyway of turning the water supply off just to the bath from looking at the above photos? Or if not then the whole bathroom. I'll only switch the supply back on when the kids get a bath. The reason is that the leak is getting faster and I think it's probably filling 2-3 baths worth of water per day at the moment.

 

[terryplumb]

It's impossible to tell from your pics which valve ,if any isolates bath taps.
If you close your COLD mains water stopcock , where it enters the property ,and turn on all hot taps ,what's the result, do hot taps run dry after a few minutes ?

 

[C0mbat]

It's impossible to tell from your pics which valve ,if any isolates bath taps.
If you close your COLD mains water stopcock , where it enters the property ,and turn on all hot taps ,what's the result, do hot taps run dry after a few minutes ?

Thanks for the response @terryplumb I'll wait for my father in law to visit before trying that. What am I looking to achieve as a result of this check? Just so I know if I'm successful

 

[terryplumb]

If your hot water is supplied under mains cold pressure ,closing the mains cold stopcock should result in no flowing hot water from hot taps and allow you to remove the tap valves and replace them.