Outside Taps
Hot or Cold Outside Taps – Supply and fit
Garden tap
Outside/Outdoor Taps hot & cold
If you’re looking to have a new outside tap fitted for your garden, then you’ve come to the right place! I have fitted over 600 to date!
With the recent sunshine (at the time of writing this 🙂) setting us in the mood for more Summery activities, we think about the things that can be achieved by having an outside tap on your home.
Whether it’s watering the flowers or washing the car, there are so many things that can be done with an outside tap that just isn’t possible without it!
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Important Info
TAP LOCATION
Note, that the price is based on fitting to the same wall as the water supply.!!
So for example the kitchen sink would be on the same wall/side of house as the wall that you want the outside tap.
Or some other suitable source of water.
FROST DAMAGE
On ALL my installs I advise customers of two methods to ensure that the tap does not freeze and ultimately become damaged.
The first is that they can turn off the isolator which I install on all outside taps.
Then open the outside tap to drain off the water so that it cannot freeze.
The second, and highly recommended, is to get a cover for the tap.
This stays on all the time when not in use and "helps" keeps the tap from freezing.
Whenever someone contacts me saying they have a dripping tap or it does not flow properly when turned on, 99% of the time the tap had been exposed to low temperatures and frozen.
This in turn has caused damage to the internal parts of the tap.
Unfortunately, there is no alternative but to replace the tap.
This service is available via my booking page.
(Save yourself some money - Get A Cover!)
STOPCOCK
It is important that you know where your stopcock is that shuts off the water to your home. If for no other reason you should know where it is in an emergency.
But I will need to know where it is and it must be full operational for me to be able to do the job – please test if possible.
Outside Tap- FAQs
After installing over 600 outside taps I have been asked a number of questions.
The short answer is YES. You need a Hot & a COLD outside tap.
Furthermore they need to be within a reasonable proximity to each other. It is no good having one tap on the back of the house and the other on the front for example.
I can, in most cases install one or both of these taps if you do not currently have either of them.
NEW: If you are looking for a THERMOSTATICALY controlled tap I have a new service you may be interested in.
Check out “My Dog Shower” here – Outside Dog Show
These are great for cleaning your dogs outside BUT also great for such things as filling hot tubs as it is quicker and more cost effective to use warm/hot water than trying to heat cold water using electric. And what about cleaning the car and paddling pools etc. etc.
I have tried to keep the price as low as I can based on the cost of (ever increasing) parts and taking into account my labour costs.
The price is currently £70 - Supplied and Fitted
If you want a HOT water tap its the same price. WARNING – HOT Means HOT and it is NOT thermostatically controlled !
HOT WATER CAN & WILL SCALD.!!!
If you would like two taps fitted at the same time and same property it would be £130
Well as I say, and make it very clear when I am installing an outside hot tap – They are HOT !
Sounds obvious but if it is not temperature controlled then, just like it would inside the house it can, and will scald!! So if you are planning on using it for washing the dog you need to be able to control the temperature.
Now there is a way to sort of mix the hot and cold using a hose pipe and joining them together. BUT, this does not “control” the temperature. It just mixes the water. It can be very difficult to maintain a proper mix to maintain anything close to a suitable temperature using this method.
Also, another reason is that if you just use the hot tap to fill the pool or jacuzzi for example, you run the risk of damaging your hose pipe, especially the newer non kink flexi hoses. These can be damaged at too higher temp.
These are great for cleaning your dogs outside BUT also great for such things as filling hot tubs as it is quicker and more cost effective to use warm/heated water than trying to heat cold water using electric. And what about cleaning the car and paddling pools etc. etc.
I do NOT use these outside tap kits!
IF they do seem to work on installation you are running the risk of issues down the line – That’s a Guarantee not just an opinion!
The screw on pipe cutter make a tiny hole which means you will not get best water pressure.
This hole makes a flap of metal which often closes after time. The other thing that quite often happens is the hose pipe splits. IF you are luck you are around to switch of the mains.
YES – Using a regulation Double Check Valve all brass tap – The check valve is used to prevent a back flow of water re entering the mains system (as per Water Regs) Many other people do not use these, to cut costs. SO be mindful of this when looking at price.
A check valve is not to prevent freezing!
Yes – I install an isolator so that you can cut off water to the tap should you need to, say for example in winter to prevent freezing, expansion and damage. However people forget or may not be able to get to the isolator easily, so I HIGHLY recommend getting a suitable cover for your tap to prevent freezing!
Yes, absolutely it can! I always advise customers when I have finished my installation to isolate when not in use. It is a simple matter of using a flat head screwdriver to turn the valve a quarter turn. In this Country, you never know when the temperature will drop to freezing point. So to avoid damage, isolate and then open the tap to empty.
HOWEVER, as I also advise customers, most people either forget, cannot be bothered or sometimes cannot easilly get the the issolator to turn off so I STRONGLY advise getting an outside tap cover. This will, in most cases prevent the tap from the worst of our weather.
As advised to avoid freezing but MORE IMPORTANTLY if you have had a HOT outside tap installed. If it is a HOT tap it is a safety precaution! Read more about HOT tap installs above.
My installs Include a quick-fit connector to allow for easy hose connection. A quick-fit connector, also sometimes known as a Hozelock connector, is basically just something that goes on the end of the tap so that you can easily connect your hosepipe to. Many other fitters fail to supply one of these. (be mindful of this when comparing prices Which means you may need to go out and purchase one.
Your Postman can fit an outside tap if he wants. In other words, you do not need to be qualified or be a specific trade or person to do so. Whether they are capable or competent is a different matter.
Also worth considering when you see some dubiously low prices advertised….
Do they have Public liability insurance?
What type of parts are they using?
Will they return if there are any issues?
Are they legitimate or just a Facebook chancer
Benefits Of An Outside Tap
There are so many things that an outside tap is useful for but we can only mention a few in this article! Take a look at our short list below of some things we couldn’t do without!
- Washing the car with a power hose attachment
- Washing down pets after a muddy walk
- Watering the flowers without having to refill a watering can several times over
- Cleaning bins & other grime from things you don’t want to clean in the house
- Cleaning bikes, scooters & other mucky items
- Giving builders access to water without having to run a line straight from the kitchen tap (This is useful for any building work that is going on for your home)
- Filling the paddling pool in the Summer (Limited use we know)
There are so many different uses that you may have for an outside tap. We’ve found that it’s just a nice option to have rather than having to scramble a DIY fitting on the kitchen tap which ends up spraying water everywhere.
Outside taps can be fitted to any wall that has access to a water line in your home. The most common place for an outside tap is usually outside of the kitchen window since the sink is placed behind the wall, giving access to the rising main. This gives you easy access to the tap as well as a nice high-pressure since it’s coming from the mains. If this isn’t the way your home is arranged then our plumbers can figure out other options to move forward.
British Standards state that any outdoor tap must have check valves installed. It’s the check valve that ensures that water can only flow one way which is from the mains. This is to avoid any contaminated water getting back into the main water supply, possibly tainting the rest of the water supply. Since the outside tap is close to the garden, dirt & other contaminants are able to get into hoses/piping which could return into the mains without a check valve.
Another word about push fitting – SO this is something that may or may not be of any interest to you and feel free to skip this section. I often get people (plumbers mainly) arguing the toss about using push fitting. Rest assured these are absolutely perfect for this job.
There is only a small minority of plumbers and other individuals who like to go on about the use of these fittings and their reasons are varied included but not limited to – Being just old school traditionalist who only use copper. They do not realise that the pressure rating is MORE than adequate for a domestic environment. They simply do not know even how to use them. Or they just like to have a dig and a moan.
For your information –
Push fit fittings are now very common, yet some people do distrust them. A pushfit fitting was pressure tested on a piece of copper pipe to almost 50 bar (724 psi) before it failed. So for all the people that do not trust push fit fittings you can be certain that they can hold considerably more pressure than you would ever get in a domestic plumbing situation. (Domestic pressure Min approximately 14 psi or 1.0 bar but can rise to about 5 or 6 bar in some places)
Get in touch today, to get your New OUTSIDE TAP supplied and fitted.
I supply and fit these outside taps and plumb them into the pipework. I do not use the “kits” with a hose pipe and that screw into the pipe. I will not use them as they are inferior to plumbing in properly.
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