How to detach heads shower mixer, 2005 Bavaria.

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jonjo

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One of the metal braided plastic pipes feeding pressurized cold water to the heads combined tap/shower mixer on my 2005 vintage Bavaria is leaking. Access to the undersize of the mixer is too restrictive to get a spanner in place to release the pipe from the mixer.

So plan-B is to release the whole mixer/tap unit off the sink plinth but I cannot work out how to do that. The leaver mixer tap unscrewed without trouble and now I am looking at the mixer internals firmly anchored to the sink. There are 5 holes, 3 for water and the other two are 1" apart. Do I need some plumbing tool ( caliper/spanner) that fits these holes in order to rotate the mixer off some captive threaded plate that I suspect Bavaria have embedded in the sink plinth?

Or perhaps I have missed some nuts on the under side of the sink?
 
Yup you are correct guys, a better blind photo survey with my mobile phone revealed the two studs lurking amoung the pipes.

I was about to work out how to isolate the heads sink from the water pump so the boat had running water in the galley for swmbo's first easter visit.

The genteel mariners of Yarmouth seem perplexed by my french habit of doing the washing up on the pontoon in a bucket.

Right off to B&Q Newport for some box spanners.
 
Status: More destructive dissasembly of the shower mixer is going to be required.

Progress report...

  • I now understand why people buy box spanners, prevously I had ignored these viewing them as poor-mans socket sets.
  • I removed the two nuts keeping the tap/shower mixer anchored under the sink plinth.
  • Unfortunately a metal collar around the threaded stud that was above the now removed nut has seized in position on one side and is keeping the whole unit stuck in place.
  • Some strikes from a softhead hammer has loosened the unit but no amount of force will persuade the seized collar break free of the stud.

Next Step.

Some form of destructive removal is called for.

Option-1:
Cut the silicon sealant that seems to be keeping the mock granit plinth around the whole sink stuck to the vanity unit base and hope this will come free, thus allowing me to hack away at the seized stud and collar.
Option-2:
Buy some fancy precision cutting or grinding tool and dismember the shower mixer from above until it drops through. Fortunately there is enough movement in the mixer unit to allow me to slide a sacraficial metal plate between mixer and sink plinth while cutting takes place,

I have no experience with all these fancy power tools that dominate the shelves at B&Q these days. Would I be able to slice through the base of the mixer unit in a few 20 minute sessions?

p.s. don't expect to find box spanners at B&Q, obviously no profit for them in selling something so simple.
 
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Do you have enough access to get mole grips on the threaded stud to try to unscrew it from the mixer? Or maybe lock a couple of nuts together on the end of the stud and try to unscrew it?
 
Unscrew the stud, yes good one will try that tomorrow. Access has improved now that I can rotate the shower fitting.

I have a new plan C which is to cut the whole mixer unit out with a section of the mock granit plinth it sits on. Then I could fix a replacement teak plinth over the cutout and then mount a replacement shower mixer on the teak plinth. The current shower mixer is wrecked due to forces applied.
 
pvb said:
Do you have enough access to get mole grips on the threaded stud to try to unscrew it from the mixer? Or maybe lock a couple of nuts together on the end of the stud and try to unscrew it?
Click to expand...
Yessss!

That final prompt of encouragment has released the beast, gotta be worth more than a single beer should we ever meet. I no longer have to contemplate dismantling the boat around the stubborn shower fitting. The alloy collar was well and truely electrolytic corrosion bonded to the stud.

During the DIY mission I think I have completed a self certification course in keyhole cardiac surgery.
 
jonjo5 said:
Yessss!

That final prompt of encouragment has released the beast, gotta be worth more than a single beer should we ever meet. I no longer have to contemplate dismantling the boat around the stubborn shower fitting. The alloy collar was well and truely electrolytic corrosion bonded to the stud.

During the DIY mission I think I have completed a self certification course in keyhole cardiac surgery.
Click to expand...

Well done! Happy to help.
 
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