taking water feed from basin to supply new bath?

Discussion in 'Plumbers' Talk' started by gingertimmins, Dec 22, 2017.

  1. gingertimmins

    gingertimmins Member

    Hi everyone, first time poster here and to be honest, first time DIYer!*

    Here's my situation. Just bought a house and the bathroom, which is downstairs, has a basin, toilet and shower cubicle with electric shower.
    We would desperately like to put a bath in and get rid of the electric shower but there is only a set of hot and cold pipes for the basin. The shower is being fed by it's own cold supply but until I rip the shower tray out, I can't see where it leads to.

    So, my question is can I Tee off of the basin supply to provide the intended mixer taps/shower?
    The bathroom is small so distance between basin and bath taps would be about a 900mm run at most.
    Combi boiler is virtually brand new and pressure is great.

    A future project is to bring the bathroom to the first floor so for now we are looking for a quick fix rather than supplying the bath taps with it's own supply from the boiler.

    Hope this makes sense!

    Cheers,
    Chris

    *I'm pretty handy and have a lot of DIY experience, just never owned a house until now.
     
  2. terrymac

    terrymac Screwfix Select

    Yes ,and might be a good idea to keep the electric shower ,as back up for when combi fails , as they virtually all do at some point
     
  3. gingertimmins

    gingertimmins Member

    Great, thanks guys.
    I hear what you're saying about the electric shower but if you saw the thing you'd be keen to toss it out too. The previous owner was not the cleanest of people. Pretty disgusting to be perfectly honest.
    There's also still 4.5 years on the warranty for the combi.... I may not even live here by the time that runs out!

    Any recommendations on fitting? is it worth going with copper piping or the the plastic safe to use? screw on or push on valves?
     
  4. retiredsparks

    retiredsparks Super Member

    Stick with full bore everything..including the flexibles to the bath.
    You can get different internal diameters.
    use copper if you can
    RS
     
  5. terrymac

    terrymac Screwfix Select

    Wasnt suggesting you keep the one you have ,just as the electrics and water supply is there and you don't need to replumb hot to a thermostatic mixer. I don't use plastic supply pipes. Copper and soldered for me every time. And don't use flexis to a bath tap ,go right to em in copper ,you will get a better flow and fill the bath quicker.
     
  6. Speedy23

    Speedy23 New Member

    Yes you can tee off a (presumably) 15mm supply to feed a bath tap.......if you don't mind waiting an hour & half to fill the bath.......there is a reason most baths are plumbed in using 22mm pipework......
     
  7. gingertimmins

    gingertimmins Member

    Ahh I got ya! Actually not a bad idea... I'll run it by the missus!
     
  8. Isitreally

    Isitreally Super Member

    Most basins are feed from the 22mm bath supply in 15mm, as said above filling a bath from a 15mm supply might take such a long time the hot could be cold before its full. :p:p
     
  9. Isitreally

    Isitreally Super Member

    You never known though, it may have had a bath originally and is in fact 22mm close to the basin.
     
  10. His hot water is coming from a combi boiler which will be a 15mm supply from the boiler at mains pressure and be adequate.
    If he had a storage tank and cylinder then it would be 22mm feeds.
     
    retiredsparks likes this.
  11. terrymac

    terrymac Screwfix Select

    Quite right Deleted member 11267 , gravity fed at 0.5 bar ( if your lucky ) ,as opposed to five times that pressure from mains . at a flow rate of ten litres per min average ,will take ten minutes to put 100 litres into the bath.
     
  12. Pollowick

    Pollowick Screwfix Select

    That will start a long debate!

    I would suggest going for plastic push fit and my preference is Hep2O. They do almost every fitting/joint you need and sticking with one brand of pipe, fittings and inserts is easy.
     
  13. Have to disagree copper every time,it is a far superior and neater job with appropriate bends and sets pulled on the pipe/s, if required for a neat installation.
     
  14. chippie244

    chippie244 Super Member

    The OP wants a quick, easy, temporary fix so plastic push fit all day long.
     
    Isitreally likes this.
  15. Isitreally

    Isitreally Super Member


    Has he got a Combi boiler then??? Highly unlilely dont you think, having an electic shower.
     
  16. Pollowick

    Pollowick Screwfix Select


    The OP states he has a combi boiler, pressure is great and 4.5 years warranty left.
     
  17. gingertimmins

    gingertimmins Member

    Thanks for the additional advice everyone!
    Just to clarify, it's a combo boiler, about 6 months old.
    The guy installed it presumably to help sell the house, along with double glazing. The shower is ancient.
     
    Johnst1a likes this.
  18. Just to clarify, the answer to your op is yes you can. You can also disregard the comments of isitreally who is clearly clueless. The rate of bath filling will be limited by the flowrate of the combi and not by the 15mm pipework. Everything else is just personal preference. Copper's neat, plastic's quick but ugly!
     
    Deleted member 11267 likes this.
  19. Isitreally

    Isitreally Super Member


    Why thank you, I clearly didn't see that he had a combi, but you are welcome to your opinion.
    Had he not had a combi I would of course been perfectly right, so not clueless as you stated, but again you can have an opinion Just make sure its right before posting it for the world to see, because that only makes you look like a big head, but a big head who was wrong in his opinion.
     

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