Using python siphon with Ikea faucet ??!!

[Fletch]

OK, so we just renovated our kitchen and now have faucets in our kitchen and main-floor bathroom from Ikea. It turns out that both faucets use a "Tom Thumb" inner thread size, which is metric and classified as M18x1 - see here http://www.neoperl.net/en/oem/products/aerators/sizeshousings.html

However, my Python now doesn't work, and the only adapters they had at Home Depot are still too big to fit into the 18mm opening of the faucet. I have googled for hours but can't seem to find anything that would work, or at least not anything practical.
Has anybody else dealt with this? Or do we just need to make sure we have a North American faucet if we want to use a python?

Btw, I bought the Python "universal adaptor" and it doesn't work either - the large rubber gasket is not big enough to fit over the outside of my faucet.
I have been using the backyard hose outlet, but that still means I have to use buckets to fill up the tank, which means my water changes are not getting done often enough . . .

Help please!

Patrick

[Mike L]

sounds like a pain. Have you called the company and asked if they have something that would adapt. Also might want to call a plumbing place like Boone and asking if the can help. They sell European faucets and might have something for you. Barring that a machine shop would be able to make one for you I'm sure

[lucius]

Can you post a pic of the faucet?

[Fletch]

Sorry to leave the thread dead so long - I do appreciate the replies. I'm on vacation and haven't been near a computer.
I do realize that getting something custom made by a shop would be ideal in some ways, but the downside is that I can imagine paying the price of a new faucet. Which makes me ask myself whether or not I should just get a new faucet (problem: my wife likes this one).
Lucius, here are some pics - it's the Ikea Elverdam faucet (the one without the extending part).
I'll update this if/when I find a solution as I know there are many others in Ottawa with Ikea faucets and aquariums.

[lucius]

I'm looking at the Python universal adapter and I'm fairly certain you can DIY something similar but bigger.  As I mentioned in another post, Lowes has a fairly good plumbing section and I'm fairly certain they have these flexible couplers available.  You just have to figure out the right size for your faucet and then find a way to attach the male hose fitting to the other end.  I'm thinking a rubber seal with lots of silicon would work.

[Fletch]

Minor update - I talked to Boone plumbing and Preston Hardware - both told me I was not going to find a metric faucet adapter anywhere. Went to Lowes this evening and the guy in plumbing was very helpful, but we couldn't find anything that would fit properly. The rubber adapters like the one Lucius showed above are only available in sizes much too large for the python adapter (and my faucet). There were some 1" ID hoses for pools or washing machines which would almost work (with clamps obviously), but the guy was convinced that even with silicone the 7/8" OD python adapter would leak if put in there.
After talking with my wife (and pointing out some unrelated flaws with the Ikea faucet) I think we are going to return it and get something N American. If I would have had any idea this would be so complicated I would never have got the Ikea one in the first place.
Caveat emptor!

[Mike L]

Just be aware that some North American companies are going this route as well with their faucets.
MIke

[Fletch]

Hi Mike et al.,

The search for a new faucet continues! I have been going through the kitchen faucet sections of Home Depot and Lowes with my python adapters (I have the brass adapter that came with it, plus the other brass adapter designed for slightly smaller threads) and have so far come up totally empty. Many of the pull-down faucets (and pull-downs / pull-outs are about 80% of kitchen faucets nowadays) do not have removable aerators, and those that do always seem to have a size that doesn't work. I haven't tried them all yet ,but it's pretty frustrating.
I called Python Products and had a good 15 minute chat with the guy there. He said that the adapters I had should work with most of the major faucet brands, including pull-down faucets, but that he was aware that many manufacturers had started using a slightly different size, I believe he said 55/64", and that if this got to be an issue then they would look at producing another adapter, but that at this point they didn't think it was necessary.
So I finally decide to just get a standard (non-pull-down) faucet. I found one (Moen Arbor 7790), even found a great deal on Amazon . . . then an hour after making the order, I read a review by someone who bought it this May, explicitly to use with their Python . . . and it doesn't work!
So I'm back to square 1.

[lucius]

Can you not get a regular faucet for your bathroom instead?

[Mike L]

Where is the tank located. I am assuming  that it is close to the kitchen. Pm me with your phone #. I have some info that might help