How to tighten flexible hoses to a Mondella sink mixer?

[DocAdkins]

Purchased this mixer but can’t see how you can properly tighten the two flex hoses to the mixer body. Previous mixers I’ve installed had the inlet tails at the base of the mixer, but this Mondella Resonance mixer has the inlets right up inside the body (about where the spout arm is). No way to get a spanner or grip up in there. Do I need to disassemble the mixer body to reach the two inlet points? Appreciate any help.

[JacobZ]

Hi @DocAdkins,

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community and thank you for your question.

I note that there are two taps that are extremely similar in name and design. Can you advise whether you have the Mondella Resonance 40mm Pin Lever Sink Mixer or this Mondella Resonance 40mm Chrome Pull Out Sink Mixer?

Could I ask you to upload some photos of the tap so I can help troubleshoot?

If the inlets are up inside the tap body, I would assume that you can remove a piece to allow access to screw in your inlet hoses. Do you see a grub screw anywhere on the tap body?

Let me know if you need a hand to upload some images, I am happy to help.

If we can't troubleshoot the problem from your images, I am happy to make a trip in store to investigate.

Jacob

[DocAdkins]

Hi JacobZ,

Thanks for getting back to me. Did my photo of the box not load?

Anyway, it’s the Pin Lever one.

I’ll check for a grub screw when I get home. There was an allen key in the box but the printed instructions just say “1. Firmly tighten the flexible hoses into the inlet tails at the base of the body”. No mention of accessing the grub screw.

[JacobZ]

Hi @DocAdkins,

Yes, your photo of the box was uploaded, but I'd need to see the actual tap itself because all the information on your tap shows the inlet ports as sitting below the base of the tap.

If they do not sit outside of the housing like in the above image, you may be either missing a part or there is an issue with the tap itself that I'd need to see to diagnose and troubleshoot.

If these inlet points have been pulled up inside the tap, then you may be able to unscrew the end of the tap where you can see the join here and push the hose back through the tap.

Give this a try and let me know how you go.

Jacob

[DocAdkins]

Thanks Jacob. You’re right, my fitting looks nothing like your photo re the two tails. They are way up inside my fitting. Unfortunately the mixer was already installed into the Practa kitchen benchtop so I’ll need to get it back out from there to have another look at it. Will let you know when I get a chance to do that.

[DocAdkins]

Update: I took the mixer back to Bunnings and decided to spend a little extra and buy a Caroma mixer instead. It has the tails right at the base of the mixer so easy to tighten the flexible hoses.

Appreciate your help with this Jacob, and also appreciate Bunnings help in swapping over the mixers.

[JacobZ]

Hi @DocAdkins,

Thank you for the update.

I hope the new mixer goes in without any issues.

Let me know if there is anything else I can assist with.

Jacob

[RichardT]

Yep this whole range that is on the shelves in 3 stores Ive been to does not have the tails installed into the tap. Whats on the display is slightly fifferent to whats in the boxes. new part code. I think Mondella have messed up.

[JacobZ]

Hi @RichardT,

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is wonderful to have you with us.

Can you advise which specific stores you have visited so we can reach out to them?

Also, the specific tap in question. Was it the Mondella Resonance 40mm Pin Lever Sink Mixer? Or the Mondella Resonance 40mm Chrome Pull Out Sink Mixer?

If there is an issue with these products, I would like to pass on the information as soon as possible so we can work with Mondella on a resolution.

Jacob

[RichardT]

Hi Jacob

The stores were in WA: Harrisdale, Midland and Armidale.

I had a look at numerous versions of the Mondella stuff, and a lot of it appeared to be missing these tails within the body of the tap.

The one I was trying to buy was the Mondella Resonance 40mm Pin Lever Sink Mixer

But what is on the shelf in all the stores is not what is shown in the picture.
The parts on the shelf are identical in terms of the overall size, lever, swiveling and rotating tip but do not have the same base attachment.

They've all got an attachment method like you can see in this image:  https://www.bathwaredirect.com.au/blogs/news/3-simple-steps-for-how-to-change-a-mixer-tap

and no way that you could get the ~80mm up the shaft to tighten up the provided flex hoses due to missing tails.

I think the black ones were ok at least in the stores that had them, but I wasn't after a black one.
There was also an identical part that had a longer lever handle on it but there wasn't any of that in stock when I came across it.
I think I've had this problem before with stuff from Mondella.  The last tap I tried to change ages ago had the same problem but at least with that one the 50mm tail/flexible hose parts you had on the shelf fixed the problem. Made the included flex hoses useless though.