Changing your Tap Sizes

Hi All,

My new neighbour has just moved in and was having trouble with his tap fittings for his garden hose, washing machine and dishwasher.

He told me of his problems and I offered to help. I found that some of his tap fittings were ½ inch and some we ¾ inch we analysed this as follows:

His top loader washing machine had ¾ inch connections but his hot and cold taps had ½ inch connections.
His dishwasher had ½ inch connections but his hot and cold taps had ¾ connections.
The taps for his garden hose were ¾ inch and the hose pipe was ½ inch with Gardenia quick couplings fitted to the hose pipe.

We counted how many ½ inch and ¾ inch fittings were needed to fix the problem taps:
The total was:
5 x ¾ inch taps
4 x ½ inch taps

This is what we did to fix the problem:
Instead of changing the taps I went down to my local hardware shop and got:
9 x ¾ inch to ½ inch galvanised female reducers
5 x ¾ inch galvanised nipples
4 x ½ inch galvanised nipples
1 x PTFE thread sealer

I went home and got my pipe wrench and went over to neighbour to fix the taps.

The process went as follows:

1. Clean the threads on the tap with a cloth.
2. Put thread sealer around the tap.
3. On each ¾ inch tap, screw in the ¾ side of the reducer with a pipe wrench until tight.
4. Put thread sealer on one side of the ½ inch nipple and screw in using a pipe wrench until tight.
5. Fit appliance hose, ensuring the rubber washer is in place on the pipe connection.
6. Turn on tap and inspect for leaks. If leaking, tighten leaking connection.

Reverse the procedure to remove the taps.

This exercise did not take a lot of effort and the costs of changing the tap fitting sizes saved my neighbour a lot of money and time.

The main advantages are:

1. No need of a plumber
2. If you change your appliance or increase your hose size, all you have to do is remove the reducer and the tap is back to normal.