How to unstick a bath tap

[erinaceus]

The taps on my bath are stuck in two places — where the shower head screws in, and the plunger that switches between bath and shower. I moved into the property three years ago and never got around to fixing this.

Is there a way to unstick it? My guess is it’s clogged up with limescale.

I want to replace the shower head and occasionally have a bath.

[dementedpixie]

WD40?

[WhoWouldHaveThoughtThat]

Spray with viakal and leave for a couple of hours.

[CovoidanceMechanism]

Viakal or any other limescale preparation, wait a bit, clean with old toothbrushes and dental floss after letting it sit, rinse (with shower or spray bottle of water ideally) repeat etc etc

[PigletJohn]

Taps are purposely made watertight, so there is a good chance that anything you apply to the outside will not get inside.

Post some photos please.

Unless you are fond of plumbing and dismantling taps it may be easier to get a new one.

[erinaceus]

Thanks folks. Images attached, apologies for grotty state!

[PigletJohn]

I can't see any nuts or knurled rings that you could unscrew. Are there any?

OOI, here are examples of other bath/shower mixers and their prices

[erinaceus]

You might not be able to see it on the photo but the pipe attached to the shower head screws into the back of the tap; on the top in the middle is the plunger to switch shower to bath.

(Or did you mean unscrew to remove the whole thing from the bath? I had a feel around and I can’t feel any, so I did wonder how one takes it out.)

Thanks for link, presumably they are some sort of standard width apart to fit on a bath(?)

[PigletJohn]

there might be a nut holding the plunger

(the mixer itself is held with nuts underneath)

apart from very old mixers, they are likely to be a standard width.

[erinaceus]

OK -- I can unscrew the plunger that switches between the shower and the bath and underneath that there is indeed a nut. However I think the plunger needs to go up and down to change between bath and shower and it doesn't move at all.

It looks like replacing is going to be the way forward as it's all completely solid.