There are times when you need to replace a faucet in a bathroom or kitchen, but there are no friendly professionals nearby. Also, at night in the yard, and calling the plumber at home, and in the afternoon, it doesn’t always work. The owner has only one option left. – Independently replace the defective mixer.
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Special features of Mixer
If a new or serviceable faucet is in stock, replacing a defective fitting is not difficult for someone who has done the same thing. But for those who don’t distinguish between carob and end keys, it would be difficult to explain how this could be done on their own. But since there is such a need, you should try.
Before removing a faulty mixer, the following essential steps must be taken to protect others’ property from flooding.
- Shut off the main valve for the supply of hot and cold water from a common riser to an apartment or house. In older houses, it was often not possible to turn off the water to certain stairs. The pipeline routing was due to the installation of only common gate valves for the entire stairway. It was not possible to separate the fittings for each apartment on the branch. Modern residential buildings have eliminated these inconveniences. Now each apartment has its own separation device for the hot and cold water pipelines.
- If the main valve in the apartment of a modern building fails, work is added. It is necessary to notify the neighbors at the entrance that the cold water will disappear for a while due to an accident in the apartment, and turn off the lift in the basement.
- If the basic valve of the entire staircase in the house of an old building is not maintained (if it happens often), then immediately such a question becomes a problem. We need to call the emergency housing service. Not all houses have an underground passage, and your home’s communal door may be somewhere in the well in front of the building, rather than in the basement of the house.
- Overlaid, finally, once you’ve got all you need and no water in the taps, you can start replacing the mixer.
If you do not act, you risk flooding yourself and your low-lying apartment. It doesn’t matter if there are other mixers or spare parts available. Even if it’s out of stock, you can suffer day or night.
Once the threat of flooding is eliminated, it is necessary to thoroughly understand the problem that has arisen. Consider the mixer to find out the cause of the breakdown and its repairability.
What to replace in a Fault Mixer?
Sometimes, in an emergency, you don’t need a new or available used mixer to temporarily eliminate difficult situations. The tempered master has detachable parts of the mixer: “hussies” with connecting elements assembled or dismantled – mixer, gaskets, valve axle box. All of this can be useful depending on the fault of the existing valve that has become unusable. You can repair the mixer for the first time thanks to spare parts.
And to replace and repair the mixer, you need a set of tools that can be used when there is some understanding of human life. This set includes a number of keys from number 8 to number 32 so you can take care of your apartment’s plumbing fixtures and bathroom fixtures. When assembling plumbing and furniture, it is recommended to prepare a wrench for nuts of unexpected sizes. There is a high demand for economic gas keys, which are required not only for work in pipelines but also for the same plumbing work.
Wrenches are always useful for plumbing and fittings
In addition to tools, the house always needs spare parts and various consumables for plumbing and plumbing repairs. The factors driving the greatest demand for faucet and mixer repairs are:
- rubber or plastic gaskets
- valve
- valve stem
- valve flywheel
- Pipelines and connecting and transition parts, among which nipples (tongs), couplings, nuts
- Composite sealing material
A nipple (also called a barrel) is a connecting part of a pipe with external threads on both sides of the same or different diameter and pitch. Not only for installation or repair of water supply systems, but also for connecting two pipelines, pipelines and cranes. Can be used.
If the malfunction of the mixer is easy to eliminate by replacing the gasket, and the leakage at the connection point of the pipeline is a minor tightness, then such an “accident” can be considered a slight misunderstanding. But if everything is more serious and replacement of the mixer cannot be avoided, then you will have to roll up the sleeves and drag the tools and spare parts to the place of work.
There can be two options for installing a mixed tap in the bathroom of a modern apartment.
- One tap that works on both the water in the bathroom and the washbasin.
- Two separate taps: one for showering, one for water in the tub, and one for washing in the sink.
These two individual mixing valves are completely different designs. For sinks, one-way faucets are usually used (normal two-valve). For bathtubs, two valves with a shower switch are used. It is worth considering first the example of replacing a valve faucet for water in a bathtub and shower.
There are models of single lever (single lever) bathtub faucets, but replacement is not a problem. The supply of hot and cold water is the same everywhere.
valve mixer
Before disassembling the mixer and starting to unscrew the connections with the cold and hot water pipelines, it is necessary to pay attention to the material of the pipelines. If the supply pipe is steel and there are no more connections, you can safely unscrew the nut. For pipes made of metal-plastic or polypropylene, this must be done carefully, hold the supply pipe with a suitable tool and at the same time unscrew the fixing nut of the mixer. You should not twist the plastic pipe, otherwise, the problem will be more serious.
It is advisable to secure the plastic pipe itself, but metal duct adapters are usually placed by the installation organization when laying water pipes and wiring in an apartment. This adapter is also a type of nipple with two screws on the ends. One of them is screwing or soldering after adjusting the distance between the pipe and the standard mixer, the other is for attaching the crane.
Step-by-step instructions for removing the mixer in a bathroom or kitchen with a standard type of supply pipe consist of several points:
- Shut off the cold water with the primary valve. Apartments in new construction are located: cold water – toilet, hot water – bathroom. There are apartments where each valve has its own shut-off valve. In old houses, the valve is in the basement. But still, first you need to take a closer look at the pipelines in the apartment.
- Open the valve on the mixer you want to change to drain the water from the pipeline and the device itself. In order not to leave the system even under atmospheric pressure of the rest of the water in the pipe, it is recommended to leave all the remaining taps in the apartment open.
- Have your tools, parts and supplies ready. In such cases, manage rags and buckets of water where to drain and a way to clean up puddles. Tools and consumables require two adjustable wrenches (or one adjustable wrench and one set of open-ended wrenches), pliers, special Teflon tape or sealant for sealing threaded connections, paint or insulating tape, a ductile scale, and a liquid from rust. If something isn’t available, you’ll have to put it off for a while. If you have a good connection, you may not need the last item on the list.
- At the same time unscrew the nuts holding the mixer on the two eccentric adapters. Not all water comes from a mixer or glass piping, so it’s a good idea to keep the work area clean by placing a dry rag under the eccentric before loosening the attachments, or instead of cooking.
- Threads attached to the joint are not expected to appear at first. You should not make tremendous efforts to achieve your goals by tempting fate. Plumbing and plumbing in the home is the most unpredictable system of comfortable human life. At every opportunity, they try to recover and turn heavenly life into hell. And due to the artificial synthetic pipeline, you should not try.
- If it’s stuck in the joint, relax and if there’s fluid, use a missing or smeared cloth with fluid on the problem area. Give it time to soften or rust, then try loosening the nut. Also, instead of a special liquid, you can use vinegar, heated oil, kerosene. In the end, the nuts will disappear, because nothing is impossible.
- Remove the mixer nut from the adapter and remove the faulty mixer. If the new crane is disassembled, prepare and assemble it.
- New mixers usually have an eccentric adapter from the kit. If it is possible to get rid of the old eccentricity, it is better to do this without thinking. For example, for a plastic supply pipe, this operation will not succeed, and for a steel water pipe there will be no problems. Remember the location, unscrew the old eccentric from the supply pipe and wipe the dirt from the junction. Wrap the thread on the new adapter with 3-4 layers of teflon tape, compress it and thread it into the water pipe in the same position as the old adapter.
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- Now wrap the second end of the adapter where the mixer will be attached with teflon tape. 3-4 hours is enough to wrap the tape with the full thread of the nerd.
- Be careful not to twist the nut or eccentric screw to get the fixing nut of the mixer on the eccentric of both pipelines. Tighten the two connections simultaneously with the nut fit.
- Protect the chrome-plated surface of the mounting nut by wrapping it with painted or insulating tape and tighten it with a key or pliers.
- Remove the masking tape. Adjust the density of all other fasteners in the mixer (“gander”, shower hose).
- Check the tightness and correct operation of the taps by alternately supplying water from each pipeline.
Replacing the valve mixer is not difficult. Such work can be done independently in less than an hour, in the presence of primary fittings, tools and the necessary materials.
And the quality of work depends on the attentive and rational approach of the owner to the business.
single lever crane
Cartridge replacement consists of the following successive steps:
- The water supply is diverted to the apartment by the main valves of the hot and cold water pipes.
- The pressure in the pipeline is resolved by opening the tap, including the one being repaired.
- A decorative cork comes out of a hole under the crane lever, which has a screw holding it in place. You can use a flat-blade screwdriver for this.
- Turn 1-2 turns to loosen the locking screw and remove the handle. You will need to unscrew a screw or screwdriver or a special hex key.
- Detach or separate the decorative half-rings from the crane body by hand. A clamping nut and valve stem are provided to secure the position of the cartridge to the crane body.
- Carefully loosen the clamping nut using an appropriately sized or adjustable spanner.
- Remember the position of the cartridge in the cartridge saddle, then pull it upwards from the body. Replace the old part exactly the same: the device of the appropriate diameter (30 or 40 mm) and the cassette hole.
- Before replacing the cartridge, clean any areas of scale, rust and other debris. Also, inspect and replace the O-rings if they are worn or deformed.
- Set a new item to keep the old item’s position. Another way to put the device is with special grooves and beards, but careless installation can destroy the product.
- Tighten the clamping nut to secure the device to the body and seat.
- Keep the prop ring in place.
- Secure the crane lever with screws.
- Check the results of the work through the water supply.
Ball mixers have a different lifespan compared to cassette mixers and are less responsive to water quality, but are not repairable. In case of breakage, the crane is completely replaced. The only case where disassembly of the faucet is required is related to reduced water flow due to blockage of the strainer in the drain. The faucet is disassembled and the filter is cleaned as follows.
- Remove the “gander” from the mixer body;
- Unscrew the filter nut from the drain chamber.
- Clean the filter screen by blowing and rinsing in the opposite direction to the work flow.
- Clean the gander itself and its fasteners from deposits.
- Assemble the structure in the reverse order of dismantling.
Single lever taps are installed in bathrooms and kitchens. They can be of different designs with or without shower switches. In the bathroom they are often installed in a separate sink – “tulips”. They are installed in a common washbasin for washing.
Algorithm for the complete replacement of a crane of one of these designs:
- Turn off the water and open the tap to relieve pressure.
- Free the work area from unnecessary objects and sewage pipelines that may impede free access to the mixer’s retaining nut.
- For sink type “tulips”, the base must be removed for ease of operation. In other cases, if the fixture on the sink is not too stable (eg missing bolts and loose joints), the shell must be removed. You can do her mount at the same time. But first disconnect the flexible hose from the pipe to the mixer. It should be separated from the pipe, not the mixer.
- Unscrew the fasteners under the sink. There are metal plates with gaskets, there are 10 (8) of 2 fixing pins with nuts. This nut must be loosened using a socket wrench for a special kit made of a long tube. Fit and spanner key.
- Unscrew the fastener nut to partially pull the valve out and loosen the flexible connection. Completely removing the tab from the sink hole will not work and may clog the mounting plate. After unscrewing the hose, the crane, plate and hose are spare parts.
- Prepare a new device with accessories (mounting plate with hoses, nuts and gaskets).
- The device must be fully assembled with O-rings and gaskets on top.
- Clean the hole under the unit in the sink from the bottom and top of the dirt.
- First put the rubber seal over the flexible wiring, then the mounting plate from the connecting plate to the mixer, and slide it into the hole from the bottom.
- Tighten and tighten the wiring to the bottom of the crane.
- Attach the gasket and plate to the retaining pin with the nut.
- Once the peel tulips are in place, remove and strengthen them.
- Connect the hose to the pipeline.
- Tighten the mixer with the retaining nut from the bottom and place the top sealant exactly around the hole.
- Check the results hydraulically.
Useful tips for novice home craftsmen:
- If the water from the faucet began to spray – you need to clean the strainer “from the goose”.
- Weak jets from the mixer – the hole in the water injection valve of the mixing chamber is clogged or the filter in the spout of the single lever tap is clogged.
- Poor water pressure – first clean the filter in the supply line. It is also possible to hit stones in it.
- Install a check valve behind the flow meter and filter.
