Plumbing query

DBIreland

Hi all, long time reader first time poster.

Coming close to the end of a new build at the moment and the plumbers are in. The bath was plumbed in the last day or so and I can't for the life of me understand why there appears to be 5 pipes coming out of the ground and running to each tap.

The pictures below show the feed into the cold tap, this setup is replicated on the hot tap feed too.

Can someone explain why things are setup like this? I assumed that each tap would be fed by 1 pipe wither hot or cold. Don't want to ask the plumber for fear or sounding stupid (ohh the anonymity of the internet!!)

Thanks.

cnocbui

I think what you have is 3/4" feeds coming into the bathroom, with 1/2" pipes tapping into those feeds to take the water to other destinations such as bidet, toilet, sink, shower etc. This is probably to economise on the length of pipe required.

How many other water outlets are there in the bathroom or nearby?

DBIreland

In that bathroom there is also a toilet, sink and electric shower. There is another bathroom next to this room with a toilet, sink and another electric shower.

So these pipes are not feeding into the tap (in the bath) but rather taking water off to the other sinks and toilet?

Thanks

slavetothegrind

Not good at all, don't let them seal off that area you will need access to that
Would be amazed if it didn't leak sooner or later

DBIreland

Joeclif you have me worried now! I wasn't going to seal it permanetly, just put the standard bath panel that can be easily removed.

Is it a case that everything leaks sooner or later or is there something particularly wrong with the setup the plumber has put in? Is this setup a standard practice?

Thanks

cnocbui

DBIreland wrote: »

Joeclif you have me worried now! I wasn't going to seal it permanetly, just put the standard bath panel that can be easily removed.

Is it a case that everything leaks sooner or later or is there something particularly wrong with the setup the plumber has put in? Is this setup a standard practice?

Thanks

Looking at that setup, it looks to me like there is a bending stress on the whole rig, hence it being in an arc. I think best practice would have called for proper rigid metal manifolds secured to a wall.

The cold will probably be allright, but the hot would give me concern due to heat softening the plastics and the constant uneven bending stress being there. If you have the usual (awful) gravity fed system with just under a bar of pressure it could well be trouble free.

Should you ever fit a decent pump to give good pressure throughout, you might run into problems.

I fitted a 3bar twin pump with 3/4' pipework going to an en-suite shower using similar fittings and had a problem where the hot water connection eventually blew apart. I replaced the plastic T with a brass fitting and problem solved.

I would make sure that area can be accesssed fairly easily, just in case.

It is not 'inevitable that things will leak, probably only 1/3 of the connections in my house have given problems :rolleyes:.

As to whether that is standard practice, I would hope not, but plumbers in this country are generally.... I better not.