Replacement Tap Caps

[rimo911s]

I have Victorian style chrome taps in my bathroom - the white caps (that say Hot and Cold) on both the basin taps and one of the bath taps have fallen off and gone missing (kids!! :x ).
I can't seem to find anywhere that supplies replacements - everyone wants to sell me new taps for loads of money when I am sure these caps can only cost pence.
Any suggestions please? Thanks

[rimo911s]

Still hoping someone can help me here? :)

[Barry Bunsen]

Hi
I cant offer much help Im afraid. Its sadly a throw away society. Its often cheaper to replace taps than to repair them. I doubt the parts you want are stocked anywhere as spares like this are not readily made. Nobody expects anyone to want to buy them.
You might be lucky at somewhere like a boot sale, there may be some local hardware shops left with a box of bits round the back, you could contact the manufacturer of a firm that still makes similar taps, or perhaps buy the cheapest set of taps with the part that you want. Not ideal but its the world we live in - at least until all the resources run out.

[htg engineer]

You'll struggle to find the Hot and Cold caps for the taps.

Do you mean like these:
http://www.ukbathroomstore.co.uk/victor ... rrency=GBP

or

http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/victoriana- ... 7813/10001 - not bad only £13

You may have to buy whole taps. You could try stores that stock them and see if they have any damaged taps where you could take the caps off.

I know someone that took a knob off a display gas cooker in an electrical shop - because his broke !!! not that i'm condoning stealing.


htg

[BoyElectric]

I may be able to help . . .

If you know the manufacturer of the taps, phone them and they'll probably send you some for free or at worst the price of the postage. They do cost pence to make, so it's unlikely they'd charge you, but if they do, I wouldn't pay more than about 50p per cap - still far cheaper than buying new taps!

If you don't know the manufacturer then it's not a huge problem. Many taps are mass produced in China and sold by "manufacturers" here as their own. Many of the parts are almost identical and therefore interchangeable and tap constructions haven't changed much over the years, so parts from newer taps will often fit older ones too.

If you can find a set of taps in a shop with the same caps, find out the name of the manufacturer (usually on the display or box), get their number off the internet, phone them up and ask for some replacements. You'll need to tell them which model of tap you (don't) have (and where you didn't buy it!) and they should send you some. A bit cheeky I know, but it's not really fair to expect you to buy new taps either. If you're feeling REALLY cheeky, ask them to send you a couple of spares . . . in case the kids pinch them again.

I needed a new set of crossheads for a Victorian kitchen mixer tap which was only 10 months old. A shop ordered the tap from a catalogue for me but when I went back to report the fault they no longer had the catalogue and were unable to tell me who made it. They offered me some "standard" replacement heads, but as I no longer had the receipt I would have had to pay £40 for 2 crossheads that didn't really match for a tap which was 10 months old and only cost £60.

I looked around numerous shops to see if I could find my tap and get the manufacturers name but no luck. However, I did find several which were VERY similar so I thought it was most likely the heads from those taps would fit mine. I made a note of the manufacturers name(s) then did exactly as I suggested above and 2 days later I had a new set of crossheads - free of charge and no postage either! I wasn't sure if my hot and cold caps would fit (they did) so I said mine were a bit worn and they sent some as well - In fact, they sent me about 5 pairs!

By pure coincidence, these caps are for Victorian style taps. They're white plastic, marked "Hot" and "Cold" and they screw in to the head. If there's some way you could post a picture of your one remaining cap and they look similar, I'd be happy to send you a couple of pairs for free if you PM me your address. I'll still have enough spares to outlive the tap.

I wouldn't suggest nicking them off the taps in the shop as the shop wont be very happy and I'm pretty sure they glue them on now. Been there, tried that :lol:

And I think htg must know my mother. I recall she once purloined a replacement cooker knob from a display model in an electrical shop :wink:

[rimo911s]

Boy Electric you may be my saviour! I tried to PM my address to you but it seems PMing is disabled on this forum.

DIY DOCTOR NOTE: Please be aware we do not allow the posting of email addresses and information in this forum as this can leave mail address owners open to spam attacks and abuse. If you would like to contact a forum user please do so through the web site using DIY Doctor as a middle man. Please visit our contact us page for this: http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/contact/index.htm

[BoyElectric]

Rimo - I've sent an email to the admin asking if they can forward my email address to you. Hopefully you'll get this shortly . . .

[swedeovich]

Hi i have exactly the same problem as rimo911s. We just moved into a new house - the taps are fine but we are missing the hot cap. Any ideas on where you can buy/get these??
cheers

[Johnh19]

This link may be useful in finding top caps Google "taprefurbishment.co.uk/?p=274"

[getting there]

Go to the shops and find taps with similar indices. Note down the telephone number of the manufacturer and give them a ring. They usually order these for you. Aprox. cost of about 50p each. Just had some delivered. Saved me a fortune on new taps and plumbing costs.