Keeping up with the custom I follow every year, of gifting myself on my birthday, this year was no different. This year, I have gifted myself the following gifts
1. Light stands, for photography
2. Logitech : Ultimate Ears Mobile Boombox Bluetooth Speaker
3. Raspberry Pi 2 ( can’t wait to lay my hands on this little beast)
4. Tap
Yeah, and that’s what this post is about : the last item in the list, a beautiful looking tap.
I had an ordinary looking tap fitted in my wash basin. And even though the plumber was here some time back( probably an year back) and fixed the low flow of water, I was not satisfied. I tried removing the filter myself, assuming that, there might have been some block, but could not do so. Then it struck me that, I should order a new gorgeous looking tap and fit it myself !!
Checked out a few youtube videos about plumbing and then immediately headed on to ebay. All the good looking taps listed there was above 1500 Rs, which was clearly above my budget for an ‘experiment’. Then I thought of checking out snapdeal, and I got what I was looking for ‘Sheetal – Shine Pillar Cock’, for Rs 500. I ordered it immediately.
The tap arrived today, I opened it and it looked exactly as how I had imagined. Now came the challenging part : replacing the existing tap with the new one. Luckily I had the following in my house : pipe wrench, adjustable spanner, player and cutter.
I sat down and started analysing the whole structure, the inlet pipe, the outlet and tried to remember all the screws and how the whole basin was supported and so on. Once I got a basic idea, I started with the disassembling and this is how it looked.
I realized that, it required a good cleaning. So I started with scurbbing, mopping and wiping. Now onto serious stuff.
1. Firstly, I removed the basin from the hinges which was holding it
2. Then unscrewed the nuts from the inlet, both to the knob and the tap
3. Then I removed the outlet
I realized that the tap I bought, did not have the washer ( black color rubber thingie). And because of that, there was indefinite leaks. How much every I tried, water kept leaking and I flooded my room. I decided to take a break 🙂 ( You have no idea how this break helped me and cool off my head)
Mopped off, all the water, then I started again, this time I checked the existing tap and got the washer from that. Once I fitted the washer to the new tap, the leak stopped immediately !! Next step was to attach the new tap to the basin. Funny thing is, after I fitted the tap, I realized that you don’t have to remove the basin to fit the tap. I used the new round ( big one ) washer and nut from the new tap and I was able to successfully attach the tap to the basin, after couple of tries. I also remembered how SriHarish ( my colleague ) fit the whole setup in his house and that served as an inspiration for me.
And this is how the beauty looks like, and I am so proud of my work. I phoned my dad and told him about this. He was so happy to hear that and was curious to know how I had all the necessary tools to get this work done. I also told him, in addition to all the tools mentioned above( in the 4th para), I also had the crimping tool I used for crimping LAN cable and so on. He was even more happier. All in all, it was a beautiful way to celebrate my birthday, discovering skills in me, which I thought never existed. What an amazing way to spend the most special day of your life.
