Water dripping through bath tap holes

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diychicken

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Hi,

I've fitted a metal Kaldewei bath with a Bristan Quest mixer tap. The tap holes were pre-drilled and the centres are fine. I tested the electric shower above and water leaked through the base of the tap and through the holes, onto the floor. The issue is that the holes in the bath are 35mm diameter and the tap tails are about 27mm diameter (3/4"). The tap comes with a disc with its own seal that sits at the base of the tap and would seal the area around the hole, but only if the tap tail was exactly in the centre of the hole - which it wasn't.

I thought I had a solution when I spotted Split Klick washers in toolstation, but they don't work as they seem to rely on the bath/sink material having some thickness whereas the metal bath is only a 1-2mm thick - so if I put the split klick washers on from underneath, it pushes the tap up.

So, I'm trying to think of a way to ensure that the taps are centred (and remain centred) in the holes.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Many thanks.
 
I'm not a pro but we had a similar issue, the bathroom fitter just piled a ton of silicone on which worked but looked terrible.
My wife was more annoyed than me about how it looked so she removed the tap, scraped it all off and used some rubber mat cut to the tap shape to seal between the tap and the bath. Worked a treat and no leak since. And we didn't need to get it centred perfectly.
Not sure where you'd buy rubber mat from, we had some already, it's only about half a mil thick.
Good luck!
 
use the split washers to centralise taps then underneath you fit 3 /4 inch " top hat " washers, and then the securing nuts.
 
Thanks @John D v2.0 . I was thinking the same about creating a custom centraliser. I had a luck through my accumulated tub of spare parts and nothing jumped out, but I'm sure I could find something to fashion a centraliser. I'm thinking that I could get a washer the same size as the washer underneath and trim down the outside to reduce the outer radius as the inner radius matches the tail. Like maybe a 3/4" plastic washer like http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Plumbing/Washers+Fixings/Pillar+Tap+Washer+34/d20/sd2703/p39854. Looks like it may be thin enough to not impede the tap above and washer below.

@terryplumb are you referring to the Split Klick when you say use the split washers? The main ring of those washers doesn't touch the underside of the bath as the three nubs touch the tap above due to the thin bath. As I understand it, the top hat washers are used to prevent over-tightening of the nut against the underside of the bath. Is that something that I'd need for a steel bath?
 
@diychicken to be honest we didn't worry about centralising them, we just made something that would seal regardless of whether it was centralised. The rubber mat is the same as the footprint of the double tap so seals perfectly to any hole.
However there's probably a proper way to do it, we were just working with what we had on the old tap.
PS i never knew you could do that mention thing!
 
sorry misunderstood your problem ,you mean the lugs are too long for the thickness of the bath. just cut them down , hacksaw or flush cutting pliers if you have them .
 
@terryplumb no worries. I'd thought about that, but the lugs cut back in at the base for some reason so it may lose the snugness. http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Plumbing/d20/Washers+&+Fixings/sd2703/Split+Klick+Washer/p93139
But if I don't use them, then they are going to waste if I don't at least try and see how they work out.

@John D v2.0 I see what you mean about your situation. On our taps, there is a disc that has a seal that would do the job, if it was centred :-). And I don't want them to wander over time if they get knocked.

I've found an unused cloakroom waste u-bend in my box-of-bits and the outer radius of 33mm and an inner radius of 29mm. So taking a bath-material depth slice of that would help take some of the wiggling away.

So, plan for tomorrow - I'll trim down the lugs and see if that is still workable (may be tempted to cut the lugs off at the point where they cut back in, then superglue them back onto the main body of the washer).
If that fails, I'll give the "slice-o-pipe" a go. If that fails, I'll buy a plastic washer and trim the outer material off so it fits in the hole.

Many thanks to both of you for your help.
 
Just a quick follow up to say what I did to resolve my issue. So far, it's looking good.

I trimmed down the lugs on the Split Kick washers so that they helped keep the tap centred as well as it could. So, I had tap, it's washer ring at the base, the bath, then the split kick, then the back nut. Tightened it all back up and tested by spraying the taps from above, and ...... it started to leak. I think there may have been two factors in play - 1) the split kick are made of hard plastic - so not sure how good of a seal they create; 2) the holes in the bath are relatively close to where the bath level where the taps go starts to curve away - so maybe the combination of the shape of the surface + the solid split kick didn't work? Anyway, that didn't work.

However, when I took the back nut off one of the tails, because the other tail on the block was still in its hole and secure, the tail was now centred. I removed the split kick washer and replaced with the regular washer that came with the tap and tightened up. Then repeated on the other side. And all, so far, is good. And I know that the tails are centred.

Thanks again.
 
maybe you didn't take enough off the lugs on split kick s. the rubber seal on the bottom of tap should make the seal to top of bath. but if your sorted ,great leave it be. regards terry
 
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