In advance of getting my Aqualisa Quartz digital shower with integral pump I read somewhere on the internet about it needing 22mm pipework for pipe lengths over 2m. So I installed the tricky bit of pipework leading up to the shower head in 22mm pipe. I've now got the shower and the instructions say to use 15mm copper pipe on the outlet and 22mm pipe on the hot and cold inlets. Will it be a problem that the outlet pipe is 22mm? I could fit a reducer and take it down to 15mm but at least one metre of it will be in 22mm as it is difficult to get to now. I'm not sure if the larger pipe will reduce pressure at the showerhead although I can't see why it should! The processor unit has an integral pump which I believe is 1 bar. Thank you.
If you want the shower to work as intended by the manufacturer then you have to follow their instructions. Having said that you will need to reduce your 22mm twice once at the outlet and again at the processor. Only issue I can see is you have a length of 22mm in-between which could potentially take some of the pressure away from the shower head.
Thanks for the reply Dave. I've had another look and I could get the length of 22mm pipe down to as little as two foot length. Or I could possibly route a 15mm pipe all the way via another route - which I'm considering as I want to get the installation as correct as possible. If the two foot length of 22mm was going to make negligible difference I would go with that but I'm not sure.
Hi Bruce. All you need is 15mm betwixt the mixer and t'head, but having 22mm there will cause no issues whatsoever. As Dave says, the 22mm pipe will need reducing to 15mm at each end just to suit the fittings, but that's all. Really, don't worry. The only detectable issue it'll cause is that the mixed water will take around one second* longer to get to the shower head, and hence on to your head Having a section of 22mm pipe there will not affect either the flow or the pressure - both of these factors will be determined by the 15mm ends, the shower head and the mixer. Not by having a larger pipe in t'middle. (I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm not...) * One second is a pure guess - but you know what I mean...
Hi Devils Advocaat Thank you. That is reassuring. I decided today that I could position the processor much closer to the shower room so I have done that. It seems that it's a good idea to avoid long runs on the outlet so I have certainly achieved that. I had a bit of a nightmare today as I must have disturbed the existing Essex flange slightly and it started leaking. The gasket appears to be made from a material similar to cork! I fitted this in 1990 when I installed my previous power shower. I can't remember it being cork-like at the time but I thought they would have had a more hi tech sort of seal in 1990! I managed to stretch a rubber seal over the nut and large washer and it's sealed the leak. I also coated it with some boss white.
Tee-he, usually the case that one job leads to another... Really, not an issue having a couple of metres of 22mm pipe on the outlet of the shower between the controls and the shower head; it won't make any detectable difference at all. It won't affect the pressure or flow rate an iota. The only thing that'll change - to an undetectable degree - is the time it takes the hot water to get from the controls to the 'head - by a teeny, tiny, weeny, itsy, bittilly, twiddilly fraction of a second.
Forums
Facebook
Twitter
You Tube
Instagram
Shop