It is unlikely that anyone needs to explain what a mixer or faucet is. This thing is indispensable, and when it becomes worthless, a completely justifiable question arises: what to do? Try to replace it with your own hands or is it better to call the plumber? But in the management companies have to wait in line, and the plumber "from the side" will charge you a lot of money for this simple work. So what to do? Is it possible to replace the crane with my own hands, without experience of such work? We’ll talk about this.
About varieties of mixers
To figure out whether we can do everything ourselves, we should study the varieties of plumbing fixtures through which water is supplied to the sink, bathroom, etc. Basically, they are of two types - desktop and wall. In the desktop, the water supply to the device is carried out using two armored hoses, screwed into its lower part, which, after replacing the mixer (tap), 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 pipes protruding from the wall. These devices are most often equipped with bathrooms. To begin with, we will tell you how to change a table tap in the kitchen.
Often the problem of a mixer breakdown lies in the fact that the gaskets in the faucet box are loose or the faucet cartridge simply became unusable, which did not completely block the water flow, as a result of which your faucet constantly “drips from the nose”, or moisture oozes from the mixer valves . But let's say that you want to change the crane due to a change in design, or because it has cracked, that is, the breakdown is critical and cannot be repaired. Or maybe you just got tired of the look of the old mixer. In this article, we will discuss not repair, but the replacement of a crane.
Replacing a kitchen faucet
Despite the fact that the faucet itself is called “desktop”, it “sticks out” not from the table (although this also occurs if the sink has a peculiar design and is built into the countertop in an unconventional way), but from the side of the sink that is pushed to the wall or from its far corner .
What tools and supplies will we need in order to replace the device without running every five minutes to the store or the pantry where the home tools are stored?
A list of what you need to replace a table crane
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 brands or manufacturing countries. We limit ourselves to the fact that we advise you to choose models that are not too cheap, which, for all their beauty, are most likely made of metals or alloys that will not last long. What should be prepared for the crane replacement procedure yet:
- Eyeliner hoses. Most likely, hoses will also be included with the mixer, but in 70% of cases they turn out to be 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.
- The spanner is 10 open. Cape 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 schemes, or all at all in English or Chinese. Therefore, we decided to publish instructions for replacing the faucet in the kitchen with a detailed description of the actions that will fit any table faucet, regardless of the company for which it is manufactured. So:
- We start by shutting off the water supply to the mixer by means of shut-off valves. Most likely, they are located right on the pipes to which the water hoses to the mixer are screwed.If not, you can block the central taps of your riser. It is necessary to block both hot and cold water, otherwise replacing the tap in the apartment may result in a flood.
- 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 from the wall to open access to the bottom of the mixer.
- Next, using an adjustable wrench, unscrew the nuts of the hoses from the pipes.
- Then we unscrew the large clamping nut that holds the mixer on the sink. This is also done with an adjustable wrench.
- As soon as the nut is unscrewed, the mixer will be removed from the hole in the sink. Dismantling completed. If old water hoses are needed, they can be unscrewed with a 10 key.
- We clean the edges of the holes in the sink for the mixer so that there are no specks or deposits that could prevent the gasket from snugly against the surface. In older models of faucets, the kit includes the usual round rubber gaskets. In newer ones, they are replaced by rubber rings, which are inserted into the body of the mixer from the side adjacent to the surface of the sink.
- We screw the hairpin, or if there are two of them, then the hairpins, through which the mixer will be held on the sink, in its nests.Studs can be screwed in manually or using pliers. This must be done carefully so as not to damage the thread.
- We also screw the thread of each water supply hose into our socket in the lower part of the mixer using the same key for 10.
- We insert the rubber ring into the hollow specially designed for it and install a new tap on the sink hole, from where we dismantled the old mixer, pushing the ends of the supply hoses into the hole itself.
- Below, having inserted a rubber ring-gasket into the clamping washer around the circumference, we put it on the screwed-in stud (or studs) and tighten the clamping nut using an adjustable wrench. Now the new faucet holds well on the sink.
- We fasten the other ends of the water supply hoses to the tap to the water pipes.
- Open the water taps and check for leaks. If water oozes somewhere, hold out the nuts.
- We put the sink in its place or push the sink cabinet against the wall and use the benefits of civilization.
Other type of clamping mechanism
There are models of mixers in which there is a thread in the lower part, and the clamping nut has to be screwed onto the lower part of the mixer itself. But these models are outdated. Now in the lower part of the mixer there is a pair of holes for the studs, through which the tap is pressed firmly to the sink. Sometimes a hairpin may even be one.
You can also learn how to change a table-type mixer from the next video.
Replacing a wall tap
As already mentioned, such faucets are mounted in bathrooms. Replacing the faucet in the bathroom is less time-consuming, since there is no need to bother with the supply hoses, because they are not provided in this case in principle. To dismantle the faucet, 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 crane;
- adjustable wrench;
- flat sharp screwdriver.
Step-by-step instructions for replacing the faucet in the bathroom (wall)
Everything is simple here, so we will refrain from detailed descriptions. In order to replace the tap, you need:
- Shut off the water supply, as in the first case with a table crane.
- Remove the mixer cover with a screwdriver.
- Remove the nuts connecting the water supply pipes to the mixer. The crane will be in your hands.
- We fasten a new mixer in its place.
- We put a decorative casing. How to remove it and put it in place is written in the instructions. The configurations and solutions for devices of different configurations are different, so it makes no sense to describe this procedure. Suffice it to say that this is an easy task.
- We open the water supply and check. If oozing - pull up. All. You can use it.
About replacing a crane in the riser of an apartment building
Often, a faucet starts to leak or completely stops functioning normally, which shuts off the apartment’s water supply. In this case, the replacement of the tap will depend on the material of the pipe and the type of tap itself. The situation is complicated by the fact that here you have to (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 drain the water from the system, otherwise the water in the system of the upper floors will merge into your apartment. In the basement for such purposes there are special "plugs", unscrewing which, all this can easily be done.
But the main difficulty is that you need to ask permission from the management company, and no one will give it to the ordinary tenant. They will probably send their specialists to replace the water tap.
In conclusion - on the replacement of the main crane in the layering to a private home
If this is a crane that is installed during the tap from the central street water supply pipes, it will be necessary to block the water on the house throughout the street. And in order to block the water on the whole street, you will have to call the workers of the water utility.
The replacement of the tap, in the case of plastic pipes, is carried out using special soldering irons (if the tap is also plastic), or using the same adjustable wrench. He unscrewed the clamping nuts, inserted a new valve, changed the gaskets in the nuts and tightened it. He opened the water, checked, if it does not flow, you can use it. In the case of metal pipes, tow or its synthetic substitutes are often used. But, as a rule, the work on replacing the cranes on the riser or the laying on the house is carried out by the plumbers of the water utility or the management company. It’s best not to mess with this, otherwise you will definitely be fined.