Hello Plbg community,

I am currently working as a mechanical technician whilst studying Engineering at Open University in the UK. I have to come up with a project proposal answering the question of designing or redesigning a component or product for increased usability.

From my experience both at work and home, I have had difficulty loosening slip nuts connecting pipes together under sinks and hard to reach areas in some cases due to lack of access, inability to get a wrench around the nut or the nut seizing etc.

My initial idea for a project proposal is to redesign the slip nut for easier installation and removal that can be retrofitted on to existing plumbing.

However I need to gauge if this is a real life problem not just for myself but for all range of users from professional plumbers to first time DIYers.

Is this a common occurrences, an annoyance or not an issue for people? I wish to hear your opinions and suggestions of this perceived problems.

Many thanks,

John Johnston

If you're talking plastic slip nuts, I've never had difficulty removing them, and I've dealt with many thousands of them.
If you're talking metal slip nut on galvanized piping they can be difficult to unscrew, I usually just crush them with a pair of channel locks and then they fall off in pieces.

i too have never had trouble removing plastic slip nuts. the same can be said for solid brass nuts as well. as for the white metal or pot metal slip nuts they are trouble. always have been and always will be. BTW, they are illegal under my code.
an oscillating saw will split a nut when they are difficult to remove.

An actual tradesman plumber has no difficulties removing ANY 'slip nut'.

==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Slip nuts are "penny" items that with the right tool can be removed easily. Because they are cheap, they can be destroyed just as easy and replaced with a new one.

It is difficult for me why one would labour for more than a minute, let alone a whole university year on such a study.
I do wish you lots of luck on your study.

Best Wishes

tight slip nuts have NEVER been a major problem, at least not to the point where I would change to some more expensive alternative. Then too, in many cases the person installing the slip nut may NOT be the one who has to remove it so it is not his problem anyway.

I am a homeowner, not a plumber, but I agree with the plumbers. Although I used to fight with the metal slip nuts all the time, the plastic ones never cause a problem, and I now know just to destroy the metal ones if necessary.

But you have done the right thing, seeking feedback on your idea before starting the design. What other problems need solving? What OTHER tools do plumbers or homeowners need under the sink?

My ideas:

1. As you said, space is always limited under the sink. It is frequently hard to use tools down there, and near impossible to get leverage. New sink faucet sets come with a plastic installation tool, which looks like a long plastic socket, used to tighten the installation nut against the underside of the sink. If you do not have this tool, you need a long wrench or pliers of some sort to repair or replace the faucet. There is a thing called a "basin wrench" that I have used successfully, but a better design could be useful.

2. Five times in the last ten years, a hose bib or shut off valve has started leaking at my house. This requires you to turn off the water supply to the house to replace the washer, which is a quick repair. But twice I had to replace the whole valve, which is not so easy, sometimes requiring two pipe wrenches and a friend to help. If there was a reliable way to catch the drips coming out of a shut off valve for a few days, until you can track down the right replacement valve and pipe wrenches and friend, that would be cool.

3. It is somewhat rare to see a sink pop-up stopper work properly. Often the rod is bent, or the pop-up doesn't pop-up, or doesn't go down, or whatever. A better solution is needed.

Good luck!

2. A hose thread cap will work.
3. A push to close pop up assembly eliminates linkage + rod problems.

fellow DIYer here.

Agree that slip nut removal is typically a challenge for even DIYer.

On the under sink nut, I have a basin wrench and it works sometimes. There are some mounting rings that are very "shallow" and the basin wrench could not get a good grip on. Now most of the time nowadays if you are taking a faucet off you are replacing it. I am not taking one off for repair. So what I do is I grab the faucet from up top and gently rock it back and forth a bit not too strong to crack the sink or anything but enough to create some looseness. If the sink faucet is in the kitchen and you have one of those cheap metal escutcheon that would flatten it and relieve the pressure on the nut. More times then not by doing that the nut on the underside can be hand turned. However if the nut is fused onto the thread due to corrosion, now you have a loose faucet that turns as you turn the nut hahaha. But more and more of the newer faucet say from Grohe use this new way where you hand tight a mounting nut from below, and then two tensioning screws that goes through two holes on the ring, using regular screw drivers. Those are really easy to mount and unmount.

On the bib or shutoff valve issue. If it's a leaking hosebib, you just use a 5 cent hose cap until you can fix it. If it's a shutoff valve in the bathroom or kitchen and you have already taken apart the tubing it feeds, just put it the tubing back, there is another open/close mechanism down stream whether it is the lav faucet or toilet fill valve or shower valve. If you have already taken the entire shutoff valve off, then you need the appropriate sized cap on the tubing, most likely either a 1/2" threaded cap or sharkbite end cap. However most times you can visually tell what the connection is and can just go buy the right valve to begin with. If there is paint on the connection I have to clean that up to see what's I am dealing with.