Blutide Crimson
Blutide Crimson Taps
Ten products carry the Crimson name and none of the titles names a finish, so this reads as a single finish line of everyday fittings rather than a designer range. Eight of the ten are taps: a 15mm pillar tap, a 15mm bib tap and an extended version of it, a 15mm under tile stop tap, a wall type bath mixer, a wall type sink mixer, a one hole sink mixer with a J spout and a basin mixer with a swivel spout. The other two are handle marker packs.
The basic taps, explained
Two of these terms trip people up. A pillar tap runs one temperature and stands upright through a tap hole in the basin, sink or bath, so hot and cold are two taps rather than one lever. A bib tap takes its water horizontally and screws into the wall face, projecting out over whatever sits below, which is why it belongs above a scullery sink, a laundry trough or a garden point. The extended bib tap does the same with more reach. The under tile stop tap is not for washing at all: it is an isolating valve buried in the wall so one shower or mixer can be shut off alone.
Red and cold handle markers
Two packs of handle markers are listed, five to a pack, one red and one cold. These are the small indices that tell anyone using the tap which side is hot and which is cold, and they tend to go missing on an older installation long before the tap needs attention. Five to a pack suits a guest house, a complex or a rental. Check the product page for what the pack fits.
Crimson next to Neap
Being plain about it: these two ranges are close to the same thing. Eight fittings appear in both, item for item, and the differences sit at the edges. Crimson is the one with the handle marker packs. Neap is the one that adds a prep bowl tap and lists its under tile stop tap in gunmetal, black and brushed brass as well as plain. If finish matters, look at Neap. If you want a straightforward set in one finish, Crimson does it in ten items.
Everything here is 15mm where a size is quoted, the standard domestic run in South African copper plumbing, so a plumber replacing an older tap is usually working to the same connection. For the rest of the brand, browse Blutide taps, the plumbing and wastes section for isolating valves and wastes, or start again at Blutide.