Hardly anyone needs to be explained what a faucet or faucet is. This thing is irreplaceable, and when it becomes unusable, a completely justified question arises: what to do? Should I try to replace it myself or is it better to call a plumber? But in management companies you have to wait your turn, and a plumber "from the outside" will take good money from you for this simple job. So how to be? Is it possible to replace the crane with my own hands, without experience in such work? Let's talk about that.
About types of faucets
To figure out whether we can do everything ourselves, we should study the types of plumbing locking devices through which water is supplied to the sink, bathroom, etc. Basically, they are of two types - desktop and wall. In desktop water supply toThe device is carried out using two armored hoses screwed into its lower part, which, after replacing the mixer (faucet), is under the sink. Most often, such devices are installed in kitchens.
In the case of wall-mounted, no hoses are needed. The device is mounted directly to the pipes protruding from the wall. Bathrooms are most often equipped with these devices. To begin with, we will tell you how to change the tabletop faucet in the kitchen.
Often the problem of a faucet breakdown lies in the fact that the gaskets in the faucet box have leaked or the faucet cartridge has simply become unusable, which did not completely close the flow of water, as a result of which your faucet constantly “drips from your nose”, or Moisture oozes from mixer taps. But let's say that you want to change the tap because of a design change, or because it has broken, that is, the breakdown is critical and cannot be repaired. Or maybe you just got tired of the look of the old faucet. In this article, we will discuss not repair, but the replacement of the crane.
Kitchen faucet replacement
Despite the fact that the faucet itself is called “tabletop”, it “sticks out” not from the table (although it also happens if the sink has a peculiar design and is built into the countertop in an unconventional way), but from the side of the sink pushed up to the wall or from its farthest corner.
What tools and consumables will we need in order to replace the device without running every five minutes to the store or to the pantry where home tools are stored?
List of what you need fortable faucet replacements
First of all, you should take care of buying the mixer itself, which you will mount in place of the old one. We will not advertise either brands or countries of origin. We will limit ourselves to the fact that we advise you to choose not too cheap models, which, for all their beauty, are most likely made of metals or alloys that will not last long. What should be prepared for the faucet replacement procedure yet:
- Inlet hoses. Most likely, there will be hoses with the mixer, but in 70% of cases they are shorter than necessary. Therefore, you should buy those that will get from the mixer to the water supply pipe.
- Adjustable wrench. You can gas, the main thing is that it opens to a considerable width.
- Open-ended key for 10. Exactly open-ended. The cap will be useless.
- Pliers.
Step by step instructions for replacing the faucet in the kitchen (desktop)
Most often, the mixer already has its own instructions. But often the information in it is not enough - the manufacturer limited himself to a list of equipment and a couple of diagrams, or everything is completely in English or Chinese. Therefore, we decided to publish instructions for replacing the faucet in the kitchen with a detailed description of the steps that will fit any desktop faucet, regardless of the company that made it. So:
- We start by shutting off the water supply to the faucet using stopcocks. Most likely, they are located right there, on the pipes to which the water supply hoses to the mixer are screwed.
- Any specialist will say that in order for the dismantling of the old and subsequent installation of the new device to be most convenient and comfortable, it is best to remove the sink, that is, pull it out of the countertop. If you are too lazy to do this, you can simply move the sink cabinet away from the wall to open access to the bottom of the mixer.
- Next, use an adjustable wrench to unscrew the nuts of the supply hoses from the pipes.
- Then unscrew the large clamping nut holding the faucet to the sink. This is also done with an adjustable wrench.
- As soon as the nut is unscrewed, the faucet will be removed from the sink hole. Dismantling completed. If old water supply hoses are needed, they can be unscrewed with a 10 key.
- We clean the edges of the sink hole for the faucet so that there are no specks and deposits that could prevent the gasket from fitting snugly to the surface. Older faucet models come with the usual round rubber gaskets. In newer ones, they are replaced by rubber rings that are inserted into the body of the faucet itself from the side adjacent to the surface of the sink.
- We screw the pin, or if there are two of them, then the pins, through which the mixer will stay on the sink, into their sockets.
- We also screw the thread of each water supply hose into its socket at the bottom of the mixer using the same 10 key.
- Insert the rubber ring into the hollow specially designed for it and install the new faucet on the sink hole, from where we dismantled the old faucet by pushing the ends of the supply hoses into the hole itself.
- From the bottom, inserting a rubber ring-gasket into the clamping washer around the circumference, put it on the screwed stud (or studs) and tighten the clamping nut with an adjustable wrench. The new faucet now holds well on the sink.
- The other ends of the water supply hoses to the tap are fastened to the water supply pipes.
- Open the water taps and check for leaks. If water oozes somewhere, tighten the nuts.
- Put the sink in its place or move the sink cabinet against the wall and enjoy the benefits of civilization.
If not, you can turn off the central taps of your riser. You need to turn off both hot and cold water, otherwise replacing the tap in the apartment may result in a flood.
Studs can be screwed inmanually or with pliers. This must be done carefully so as not to damage the thread.
Other type of pressure mechanism
There are models of faucets that have a thread at the bottom, and the clamping nut has to be screwed onto the very bottom of the faucet. But these models are outdated. Now at the bottom of the mixer there is a pair of holes for studs, through which andthe faucet is firmly pressed against the sink. Sometimes there can be only one hairpin.
You can also learn how to change the table type faucet in the following video.
Wall faucet replacement
As already mentioned, these faucets are mounted in bathrooms. Replacing the faucet in the bathroom is less laborious, since there is no need to mess with the supply hoses, because they are not provided in this case in principle. To dismantle the tap, it is enough to remove the decorative casing of the mixer (if any) and unscrew the clamping nuts equipped with gaskets. In this case, you only need:
- new faucet;
- adjustable wrench;
- flat sharp screwdriver.
Step-by-step instructions for replacing a bathroom faucet (wall-mounted)
Everything is simple here, so we refrain from detailed descriptions. In order to replace the faucet, you need:
- Turn off the water supply, as in the first case with the table tap.
- Remove the faucet cover with a screwdriver.
- Unscrew the nuts connecting the water supply pipes to the mixer. The crane will be in your hands.
- In its place we fasten a new mixer.
- We put a decorative casing. How to remove it and put it in place is written in the instructions. Configurations and solutions for fixtures of different configurations are different, so it does not make sense to describe this procedure. Suffice it to say that this is a no-brainer.
- Open the water supply and check. If it oozes, tighten it up. All. You can use.
Replacing a faucet in the riser of an apartment building
Often, the faucet that shuts off the water supply of the apartment begins to leak or completely ceases to function normally. In this case, the replacement of the faucet will depend on the material of the pipes and the variety of the faucet itself. The situation is further complicated by the fact that here it will be necessary (in the case of apartment buildings) to go down to the basement and completely shut off the water supply to the entire riser. After that, you will have to bleed the water from the system, otherwise the water in the system of the upper floors will all merge into your apartment. In the basement, there are special “plugs” for such purposes, by unscrewing which, all this can be easily done.
But the main difficulty is that you need to ask permission from the management company for this, and no one will give it to an ordinary tenant. They will probably send their technicians to replace the water faucet.
In conclusion, about replacing the main faucet in the branch with a private dwelling
If this is a faucet that is installed when branching off from the central street water supply pipes, the house will need to turn off the water throughout the street. And to turn off the water on the whole street, you will have to call the workers of the water utility.
Replacing the faucet, in the case of plastic pipes, is done using special soldering irons (if the faucet is also plastic), or using the same adjustable wrench. I unscrewed the clamping nuts, inserted a new tap, changed the gaskets in the nuts and tightened it. I opened the water, checked it, if it does not flow, you can use it. Whenmetal pipes often use tow or its synthetic substitutes. But, as a rule, plumbers of a water utility or a management company perform work on replacing taps on a riser or outlet to a dwelling. It's better not to get involved with this yourself, otherwise you will certainly be fined.
