Octagonal box spanners?

[David Taylor]

Hi,

I am in NSW, AU, trying to replace the washers in some shower taps but have not been able to find a tool to undo the nuts holding the handles on. I can perhaps brute force it but this is a rented property so don't really want to do that!

The nuts are octagonal! They have a slot in them but the tap spindle is in the way of putting a piece of metal straight across and through the slots.

I visited two hardware stores today and neither of them had seen these nuts or had a tool for undoing them.

Such a tool must exist - what's it called and where can I buy one? I can make one but it seems a faff for what must be a big slotted screwdriver. An octagonal box spanner would be better, the slots already show damage from previous use.



Regards, David.

 

[oz-plumber]

Just put a screw driver in one side of the slot and undo.
They shouldn't be done up very tight.

 

[snowhead]

I doubt you'll find a suitable box spanner, if it did exist it would be from the shower manufacturer, but I also doubt you'll get the spanner on the nut.
The centre plastic is perfectly shaped to fit it.

Is the centre plastic spring loaded so you can push the plastic in and away from the nut?

As Oz-P or
Or 2 screwdrivers, 1 each side.
Or make a tool from a flat piece of steel,

 

[Gasmk1]

Homemade split nut driver - Make: - https://makezine.com/2010/06/17/homemade-split-nut-driver/ called a saw blade screwdriver you may have to make your own

 

[David Taylor]

Thanks snowhead, I didn't want to spend the time making the tool - my shed is out of commission at present!

oz-plumber was right, the one I just undid was not too tight so a screwdriver was sufficient. I assumed by the chewed up condition that it would be tighter than it was! I only did it up finger tight figuring the plastic tap cap would keep it in place afterwards. Never seen those before and can't figure out why anyone would make an octagonal nut, other than to be a jerk.

Of course I had neither the same sized washer or fibre washer, despite having multiple sizes of each. Still, the leak has either stopped or slowed down enough I can't see it.

How important is cleaning the seat when changing the washer? I'm always worried I'll make it worse by raising a burr with the tool.

 

[oz-plumber]

All the fibre washers should fit also.

As for reseating the tap, i only do it if you can see or feel burrs on the seat.
Reseating tools, use them lightly. Yoo only get a certain amount of goes before the breach is worn too far.

I've seen plumbers put the reseating too on a drill and go full wack.