we bought some new taps for the bathroom and the sink ones went in fine
(apart from struggling to get some ptfe tape on the joints up underneath the
sink!). However when I came to put the bath taps in the nut on the water
pipes only goes a couple of turns up the taps thread before stopping (so the
pipe is loose). I dont want to force it and damage the threads, but what is
wrong here? The old taps are 8 years old, and look like the same 3/4" thread
when held next to the new one (pitch looks the same and thread profile
appears the same), but on both hot and cold the nut only goes up a couple of
turns. Any ideas before I trot off to the store tomorrow with tap in hand to
find something that will fit?

cheers

Dave.

In article ,
a wrote:
we bought some new taps for the bathroom and the sink ones went
in fine (apart from struggling to get some ptfe tape on the
joints up underneath the sink!). However when I came to put the
bath taps in the nut on the water pipes only goes a couple of
turns up the taps thread before stopping (so the pipe is loose).
I dont want to force it and damage the threads, but what is wrong
here? The old taps are 8 years old, and look like the same 3/4"
thread when held next to the new one (pitch looks the same and
thread profile appears the same), but on both hot and cold the
nut only goes up a couple of turns. Any ideas before I trot off
to the store tomorrow with tap in hand to find something that
will fit?

When the nut apparently bottoms does it feel as if
is stops hard (as if against a stop) or does it feel
as if the nut slowly grinds to a stop.

The hard stop, but still loose, could be that you do
not have the (fibre?) sealing washer in there.

The soft stop could suggest a crossed thread, or a
different thread on the tap.

--
Tony Williams.

a wrote:
we bought some new taps for the bathroom and the sink ones went
in fine (apart from struggling to get some ptfe tape on the
joints up underneath the sink!). However when I came to put the
bath taps in the nut on the water pipes only goes a couple of
turns up the taps thread before stopping (so the pipe is loose).
I dont want to force it and damage the threads, but what is wrong
here? The old taps are 8 years old, and look like the same 3/4"
thread when held next to the new one (pitch looks the same and
thread profile appears the same), but on both hot and cold the
nut only goes up a couple of turns. Any ideas before I trot off
to the store tomorrow with tap in hand to find something that
will fit?

When the nut apparently bottoms does it feel as if
is stops hard (as if against a stop) or does it feel
as if the nut slowly grinds to a stop.

The hard stop, but still loose, could be that you do
not have the (fibre?) sealing washer in there.

The soft stop could suggest a crossed thread, or a
different thread on the tap.

--
Tony Williams.

Does actually feel like a crossed thread, but I cant see it being as it goes
on dead straight. I went into B&Q with the tap today and found one flexible
tap connector which screwed on perfectly, but all the others (which appeared
identical) stopped after about a turn just like the nuts on the bath pipes.
I asked the assistant in there hoping he might help but he just reckoned I
shouldn't worry about the resistance and tighten it up - I havent tried this
yet.

Does actually feel like a crossed thread, but I cant see it being as
it goes on dead straight. I went into B&Q with the tap today and
found one flexible tap connector which screwed on perfectly, but all
the others (which appeared identical) stopped after about a turn just
like the nuts on the bath pipes. I asked the assistant in there
hoping he might help but he just reckoned I shouldn't worry about the
resistance and tighten it up - I havent tried this yet.


I personnally would go with this suggestion, if the taps are UK manufacture,
supply etc. then they 'SHOULD' be standard 3/4" thread. You can do a couple
of things first though. Try tigtening some connector to the taps whilst
they are not connected to the bath, this way it will be easier to see what
your doing and also to undo them later, have you tried lubricating the
threads with something like Vasalene (sp?) first to help the threads tighten
up.

HTH

John

Does actually feel like a crossed thread, but I cant see it being as
it goes on dead straight. I went into B&Q with the tap today and
found one flexible tap connector which screwed on perfectly, but all
the others (which appeared identical) stopped after about a turn just
like the nuts on the bath pipes. I asked the assistant in there
hoping he might help but he just reckoned I shouldn't worry about the
resistance and tighten it up - I havent tried this yet.


I personnally would go with this suggestion, if the taps are UK
manufacture,
supply etc. then they 'SHOULD' be standard 3/4" thread. You can do a
couple
of things first though. Try tigtening some connector to the taps whilst
they are not connected to the bath, this way it will be easier to see what
your doing and also to undo them later, have you tried lubricating the
threads with something like Vasalene (sp?) first to help the threads
tighten
up.

I was being too cautious - I just expected to parallel threads to go up and
down easily (by hand). Doing it up with a spanner has worked and doesnt seem
to have destroyed the threads in the process )