Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

[CXR100]

if you get a tap that has loosened up because of a split top hat and you cant undo the water connection or cant get to it easily (i have had this happen before) . instead of undoing the water connection , jest unscrew the backnut a bit down the tap thread . then cut a 1 1/2" (ish) square piece of ply and drill a central 20mm hole in it, then cut from side to the hole as to create a kind of C piece of ply that can be slid easily inbetween the bottom of the sink and he backnut , then tighten in back again , this acts as a tophat without the need to dissconnect the tap if you cant turn the water off or something!

 

[CXR100]

if you get a snapped lockshield pin because somebody has closed it too tight with a wrench and you cant open it again because it has snapped too low to the gland , jest undo the gland nut totally then you have much more of the pin to hold with pliers to open it again , obviously you would jest replace the lockshield , but this trick has helped me out before, dont know if its just common sence but i struggled for a while trying to open it before this idea came to my head!

 

[CXR100]

im a maintance plumber at the moment, i often get broken trv heads because somebody kicked them by "accident" or something, i work for somebody else so i keep a small box of various old heads in my van for a quick replacement, my pocket personally would not benifit from a draindown or whatever for a valve replacement! i get them from other guys in work that do heating replacements!

 

[CXR100]

spray shower door runners with silacone spray , does a hell of a diference ! they run much smoother!!! also gives the van dashboard a lovelly smell & shine!!!!

 

[mikegas]

if you get a tap that has loosened up because of a split top hat and you cant undo the water connection or cant get to it easily (i have had this happen before) . instead of undoing the water connection , jest unscrew the backnut a bit down the tap thread . then cut a 1 1/2" (ish) square piece of ply and drill a central 20mm hole in it, then cut from side to the hole as to create a kind of C piece of ply that can be slid easily inbetween the bottom of the sink and he backnut , then tighten in back again , this acts as a tophat without the need to dissconnect the tap if you cant turn the water off or something!

You can get split top hats mate

 

[mountainman]

Or make your own using one of these tools.

 

[PlumberTiler]

always dampen tile before drilling a hole into it

 

[Pipedream]

if you get a tap that has loosened up because of a split top hat and you cant undo the water connection or cant get to it easily (i have had this happen before) . instead of undoing the water connection , jest unscrew the backnut a bit down the tap thread . then cut a 1 1/2" (ish) square piece of ply and drill a central 20mm hole in it, then cut from side to the hole as to create a kind of C piece of ply that can be slid easily inbetween the bottom of the sink and he backnut , then tighten in back again , this acts as a tophat without the need to dissconnect the tap if you cant turn the water off or something!

You could try a Split Klick top hat washer, does the same thing

 

[hmfc]

Never start a bathroom until you have all the sanitaryware on site ,even if your merchants guarantees it will be there on set day !!

 

[GQuigley67]

this doesn't really work if your a sole trader but more of an employee

if while your cleaning up and a customer tells you "don't worry about that i'll get that" and you leave assuming the customer is quite happy cleaning up the remainder of the mess no matter how small, INSIST that you finish up cleaning up and its part of the job.

This happened to me before it was 7pm and the following day I got pulled up from the boss because customer complained about the mess I left.

Trust no one!