Unexplained problem removing tap cover

[rpm]

Is it at all possible that the tool you made has squashed the shroud slightly and it is binding on something underneath?

 

[hippo49]

Is it at all possible that the tool you made has squashed the shroud slightly and it is binding on something underneath?

I'd say that's not possible, no. I had a spanner on the octagonal "nut" part at the bottom of the shroud but I'd have thought nowhere near tightly enough to squash the shroud even slightly. Anyway the spanner only had contact with the nut part which as you see is very shallow. Also this is 1930s quality, not 2020 quality! So, good idea but I don't really think that's it.

I could resort to trying to take apart one of the other comparable taps just to see if there's anything odd about the internal detail but I don't really want to have to do that! I think I'd try the heat idea first although I'm still cautious about trying anything further until I understand what's going on.....!

 

[moonlight]

You may have inadvertently with your tool, if was connected underneath the tap head pulled the inners higher/ or lower depending on your tool? I would turn off the water, take off the head with the small screw shown in your picture. Put a piece of rubber or leather over the spout, box spanner on top that and use your usual spanner on the shroud as leverage. I would use boiling water rather than a blow torch. If you make the tap too hot and you don't manage to take it apart the washer could be damage and the water not shut off. Good luck.

 

[hippo49]

You may have inadvertently with your tool, if was connected underneath the tap head pulled the inners higher/ or lower depending on your tool? I would turn off the water, take off the head with the small screw shown in your picture. Put a piece of rubber or leather over the spout, box spanner on top that and use your usual spanner on the shroud as leverage. I would use boiling water rather than a blow torch. If you make the tap too hot and you don't manage to take it apart the washer could be damage and the water not shut off. Good luck.

Thanks, moonlight. Well, the mock-up tool that I mentioned in my first post was essentially the spanner and box spanner arrangement that you describe with the addition of a clamp to screw the spanner and box spanner towards each other so that there was no torque on the basin or pipework below. I don't think that's likely to have pulled the innards up or down but who knows?

Thanks for the advice against using hot air. I think I'll have to try the boiling water idea despite not really knowing what's going on. Might wait till after the weekend - I don't like trying anything to do with plumbing out of plumber's hours!

 

[Ben-gee]

As moonlight alluded to , your contraption only needed to be out of perfect horizontal alignment to affect the upward/downward motion as the spanner’s brought together. In all likelihood this would have happened.

 

[plunger123]

I think I know whats happened here. Does the handle come off easy enough, ?This is a rising headpart. So you probably have an 18 tpi thread that is on the headpart. By trying to get the trim piece or shroud off you have actually turned the headpart out. If you continued you will find the shroud actually doesnt come off. The entire headpart will screw out the tap but the shroud will still remain intact. You could do that to get to the washer but it will prevent you from tightening up the gland. The simplest way to loosen the shroud is too shock it on the indexes (octagon piece) with a small nylon hammer or I just use the back of a screwdriver but I wrap some cloth on the shroud.
What has happened is you have actually inadvertently tightened the washer more by vitue of screwing the tap plus shroud out . It has pushed the washer down on the seat tighter. Are you sure the tap is open full when you tried to loosen it.
Heat from a heat gun will be very unlikely to damage the chrome and will also help to loosen the shroud. It has seized to the headpart.I normally just use a blow torch but I know how much to heat it.
Good luck .
Eugene from S Africa.

 

[hippo49]

I think I know whats happened here. Does the handle come off easy enough, ?This is a rising headpart. So you probably have an 18 tpi thread that is on the headpart. By trying to get the trim piece or shroud off you have actually turned the headpart out. If you continued you will find the shroud actually doesnt come off. The entire headpart will screw out the tap but the shroud will still remain intact. You could do that to get to the washer but it will prevent you from tightening up the gland. The simplest way to loosen the shroud is too shock it on the indexes (octagon piece) with a small nylon hammer or I just use the back of a screwdriver but I wrap some cloth on the shroud.
What has happened is you have actually inadvertently tightened the washer more by vitue of screwing the tap plus shroud out . It has pushed the washer down on the seat tighter. Are you sure the tap is open full when you tried to loosen it.
Heat from a heat gun will be very unlikely to damage the chrome and will also help to loosen the shroud. It has seized to the headpart.I normally just use a blow torch but I know how much to heat it.
Good luck .
Eugene from S Africa.

Hi Eugene I'm absolutely fascinated by your answer because I've tried to think from the beginning how the tap spindle could have tightened, feeling that that is key to the whole story.

So is what your are saying that the shroud has not started to come off the head part but that the shroud plus head part has all started to unwind in one piece from the base of the tap? I can well see that that would drive the washer into its seat and tighten up the spindle. And no, I did not open the tap at all before I started - I admitted that in my first post! Wish I had. But the shroud and head part wouldn't be designed to be joined would they? That would be a pointless design. I guess you're saying that they've got corroded together and that the whole lot has unscrewed (slightly, and with difficulty) from the base of the tap rather than the shroud unscrewed from the head. For that to be the case the shroud must be tighter on the head than the head is on the base, which I would never have dreamt of.

Have I got that right? If so, it's just as well I didn't get very far before stopping because - having also admitted I didn't have the water switched off - I'd have had quite a flood and a quick dash up to the loft to switch off the hot water!

As well as fascinated I'm annoyed with myself for not working it out myself - if you're right, that is!

 

[moonlight]

I would say this shroud will need to be unscrewed.