The turn of the tap?

This was something that should have been done over year ago as that was when it all started, at my flat early one weekday morning.

My work shift (I work from home) was barely two hours old. With the aim of obtaining that vital mid-morning cup of coffee in mind, I was in the process of filling my dilapidated kettle at my kitchen sink.

I twisted the cold water tap, and to my annoyance it just kept on turning! It looked as if the threads in the tap handle connected to the water valve (that allowed it to be turned), had broken.

There was definitely no cold water coming out anyway. The hot tap was OK though.

Arranging a fix for this got waylaid as around this time I moved back to my family home to help care for my mother, so to cut a short story even shorter, my cold tap was still in the state where it just gave a waterless spin.

Here’s a pic of my then kitchen sink mixer unit:

Going green?

The offending cold water spinner is the tap (I think you call them faucets in the US) on the right hand side.

Before you say it, I know the tap unit is a bit of a horror show to behold – all I can say is that it deteriorated pretty quickly into the state of decrepitude it is in now shortly after I bought the flat!

The green stuff on the end of the mixer duct is most likely to be lime scale – I had tried many cleaning products over the years to try and shift it but to no avail.

My most recent cunning plan was to tackle both the problems of the spinning tap and advanced mixer-duct-decrepitude by replacing the whole mixer unit.

A friend of mine recommended a plumber, who eventually agreed to do the job after some protracted haggling over parking arrangements.

Here is the end result:

Taking a shine?

I thought it was a pretty good job! I now have cold water quite literally on tap!

That was one result worthy of celebrating, and I did that by finally making that cup of coffee that I had attempted all those months ago. I was also able to use the brand new kettle that was a thoughtful Christmas gift from the end of 2022.

For me it represents a bit of a fresh start – I am hoping to avoid the new tap unit deteriorating into the shocking state of its predecessor.

Another thing is that fixing this issue was one of my 2023 New Year resolutions – it looks as if this one can be ticked off now, albeit rather late in the day.

It’s a case of one down, one more resolution to go …