Connecting new bath and shower with speedfit / copper

[Delie]

Hi guys,

Hoping someone here can help

I'm currently in the middle of refurbishing our bathroom and I've now finished all of the tiling / flooring / ceiling / etc, and I'm ready to start fitting the bath/shower/sink/ toilet in to a room which is pretty much bare.

At present, I've only got the 22mm hot feed, and 15mm cold feed poking in to the room and i've stripped out all of the very old plumbing that was in place previously. Other than the hot/cold feed, I've also fitted a couple of pipes in place for the new shower mixer bar, and that's it. Here's a really rubbish diagram I knocked up this morning.

http://www.delie.co.uk/images/p1.jpg

The wife wanted the taps on the side/back of the bath so I've already drilled and mounted them (yes, I realise this causes headaches, but nothing is ever easy in my house ). I'm considering fitting Speedfit pipe tails to the bath before I position it in place and then hooking them afterwards. I'm also thinking about using speedfit for hooking up the hot/cold feeds to the shower.

I've not started any work yet, so before I do I thought it would be a good idea to post my rough thoughts to the forum to see what you guys think. Here's what i was thinking about:

http://www.delie.co.uk/images/p2.jpg

What do you think? I could do the shower connection with copper joints + solder instead of speedfit pipes to be fair, but when it comes to the bath taps, I'd rather use speedfit pipe tails, because it would give me some flexibility / room for error. I had to do the shower pipe elbows with solder so i've had some practice, but I could do these separately before they were mounted so it was relatively easy and I knew I could easily start again if I messed up. For complex tasks, and being an amateur DIY plumber, I think i'd prefer to use Speedfit.

Anyway, If anyone has any suggestions/advice to help me out a bit, it would be very much appreciated! If I'm going massively wrong anywhere, please let me know

Thanks,

Andy

 

[kbdiy]

I can't see your pics for some reason so can't comment on them but was a little concerned that you mention a 22mm hot feed and 15mm cold? Are these the main supplies to the bathroom? If so it may be hard to get a balanced flow for the shower as the flow rates will differ. Hot and cold feeds to a bath would normally be both in 22mm and dependent on the type of shower both hot and cold feed should match. You may have already considered this but just wanted to highlight it.

 

[Delie]

Hi, thanks for your reply. Yes, the room has a 15mm cold / 22mm hot feed. I'm not sure why, but this is just how i found it when I bought the house a couple of years ago.

Also - I've uploaded the pics somewhere else. Hopefully you can see them now?

Cheers,

Andy

 

[kbdiy]

Yep pics working ok now.

As I said before my main concern would be the mismatch of hot and cold feed sizes. How are they served - via separate hot and cold storage tanks, combi boiler and mains, or what?

Also as the shower is in the middle of the draw-offs (after the bath and before the toilet & basin) I can't help thinking you may get issues with the shower not coping with another tap being opened somewhere.

 

[Delie]

Hi, up until 5 months ago we had an electric immersion boiler upstairs, and a separate cold water tank in the loft. We had central heating fitted in November and we've now got a combi-boiler and no separate storage tanks. Unfortunately though, I'm not in a position to change the cold/hot feeds at this time, so I'm going to have to work with what I've got for now

Thank you for your comments on the shower being in the middle of the draw-offs, you make a good point. I think this is probably something we'll have to regulate on our own. Not ideal, but we'll have to be become concious of the fact that that drawing from the taps/toilet is possibly going to impact the shower.

Do you think the speedfit tees with speed fit pipe to the shower feeds is a sensible option, or is it worth getting soldered copper pipe / elbows on there if I think I can do a decent job of it? I suppose i'm a little weary of speedfit, even though I've not had any bad experiences, but yet I'm also weary of soldering too much as a novice - I'm possibly pushing my luck i think

 

[kbdiy]

For me, it's solder all the way, where practical, but that's just a personal preference. I know that once I have made a solder joint, that's it for keeps. But that is because I have had many years practice and experience at doing it.

I haven't used Speedfit so not in a position to comment, I just prefer the security of solder.

Hope you plans work out ok.

 

[Delie]

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah - I think I might try using soldered joints for everything other than the bath side taps and see how it goes. If I'm not competent enough I'll probably opt for the speedfit route.

Either way, I think I'll have to stick with speedfit for the side-mounted bath taps, because it'll be a nightmare otherwise (especially given that I'm very much a novice)

Anyway, thanks again - very much appreciated

 

[longdogs]

What worries me (maybe I'm just reading your post wrong) is that you say you have completed all the tiling before installing the bath? Is that correct? Only the bath should be installed first unless of course it is free-standing.

 

[Delie]

Hi squeaky,

I should have clarified, I've done all the tiling - except for the final half-row above the bath - so that i can tile down on to it after it's fitted

Cheers,

Andy

 

[longdogs]

Hi squeaky,

I should have clarified, I've done all the tiling - except for the final half-row above the bath - so that i can tile down on to it after it's fitted

Cheers,

Andy

Phew! that's good news. Can I offer you a tip? Something I always do but you might have already thought of it:

After fitting the bath, I normally seal the bath to the bare wall with a good clear sealant first before tiling, and then finish off with the main sealant after tiling is finished (half filling the bath with water of course).

 

[Delie]

Definitely going to be doing this, thanks for the advice