Hand made copper tap - swivel action?

[minmax89]

Hi everyone!

I've just made a kitchen tap for a customer. She's delighted with it as it is but its wrecking my head that it doesn't swivel. I can't imagine a fitting that I could have soldered in that would give a water tight swivel action and equally as important, keeps that all copper look.

Then I saw a pic of a hand made copper tap on instagram and it looks like it has one? Could I be right??

This is the copper tap I made:
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And this is the one on instagram:
Oliver Archibald on Instagram: “Built my self a tap. #plumbing #copper #Featherfinish #plumbproud #art #propercopper @archieplumbing #StupidFackingTap #properCopper…”


And before anyone comments on mine I did want to make it out of end feed fittings but here in Ireland everything is imperial so I only had 3/4" pipe and 3/4" solder ring fittings. The plumbing shop had to 'order in' the end feed and they were 22mm. The guy said "just fill it will solder"! So I didn't.

Cheers!
Adam

 

[minmax89]

Stop the press!

Its a Yorkshire tectite fitting isn't it!

Would this work long term though???

 

[Welder]

Well spotted!
Yes & No. IT will work well IF you blather it with a high tack silicone grease. It will be tight at first but should ease up.
However, it will need replacing every so often so make sure whatever you use is properly demountable so it can be replaced.
BTW could not see yours!

 

[rpm]

Not everyone does face ache!

 

[Welder]

Another way of doing it would be to use a compression coupling and instead of an olive use an O-ring or two. Drill & tap one face of the nut to take a grub screw. Tighten the nut so that the O-rings are compressed 'just enough' and then use the grubscrew to lock off the nut.

 

[minmax89]

This was my one

 

[Welder]

Sorry to be picky, but are those stop cocks WRAS approved or cheepies?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Looks good

 

[rpm]

Sorry to be picky, but are those stop cocks WRAS approved or cheepies?

And they are upside down.

 

[minmax89]

And they are upside down.

Not sure they are. The arrow on the side is pointing up.

 

[minmax89]

Sorry to be picky, but are those stop cocks WRAS approved or cheepies?

I can imagine they are cheapies!

 

[Aire]

Looks good, I hope you installed check valves

 

[rpm]

And they are upside down.

My error.

 

[minmax89]

Looks good, I hope you installed check valves

As in non-return valves or isolation valves?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Looks good, I hope you installed check valves

If balanced pressures not needed

 

[minmax89]

If balanced pressures not needed

Well the hot is gravity (about 5m head) but the cold is pumped from a well.

I did want to put non-return valves though but the pressure in the hot ain’t great and I thought they might not work?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

You could get the cold pushing the hot back up so I would fit one

 

[minmax89]

You could get the cold pushing the hot back up so I would fit one

Yeah that’s what I thought. How much would a non return valve restrict the hot pressure though?

 

[Riley]

Probably noticeably but it still needs one

 

[minmax89]

Probably noticeably but it still needs one

Okey dokey. I’ll fit one on the hot side. It’s not finished yet anyway as the customer is oiling the oak counter for the next week

 

[Welder]

edit

 

[rpm]

Edit

 

[rpm]

Edit

 

[WC1]

Looks very smart, well done! As you're not having to solder in situ some end feed couplings next time would be killer?

 

[minmax89]

Looks very smart, well done! As you're not having to solder in situ some end feed couplings next time would be killer?

Yeah that was my intention but In Ireland nearly everything plumbing is imperial. I got end feed fittings (which were 22mm) but they were quite loose on the 3/4” (21mm) copper pipe so I had to use the 3/4” solder fittings. Shame really

 

[WC1]

No worries. Hats off to ya!

 

[minmax89]

No worries. Hats off to ya!

Thanks pal