While I've done my own research and i'm pretty sure i'm on the right track.....I want to cut down this 110mm soil vent to the height of my sink overflow, chuck an AAV on the top then box it in along with the cistern for the new toilet.....at the moment it goes up into the loft, but doesn't even break through the insulation....I can't imagine my solution to be any worse than it already is? Also, during my destructive mad moments i realised i have a radiator on the wall, the other side, (pipes wrapped in yellow tape) could i potentially tap into this and put a towel warmer /rad on the wall? I understand boiler capacity / ability might stretch it, but they don't pump out huge amounts of heat....? :> (there was a shower there, it was **** so i'm getting rid makes the room a lot bigger!)
Using an AAV to replace the soil stack monster is exactly what I would do (and have done in a few of houses to date). In fact, I've also done the other thing you're suggesting, which is to tap into an existing radiator flow and return to heat a new towel radiator. I have a single zone underfloor heating system that heats up a large spare room with the only downstairs bathroom, but I only used to turn that heating zone on when I had guests staying, which was not very often. This meant that the downstairs bathroom was unpleasantly cold during the winter for all the times that we didn't have guests. I installed a towel radiator off the same place from which I was getting heat for the UFCH system, and it now provides just enough heat to keep the chill off the downstairs bathroom. It is all in an extension, and is so well insulated that a 500W towel radiator is more than enough to keep the bathroom warm even on the coldest days.
In short, yes. - I'd keep the soil stack as high as possible. - a towel radiator is a good addition to a bathroom, as well as heating the room it also dries towels which, in winter, otherwise get damp and smelly.
Two comments: Is there a vent on the foul drains anywhere? You need one at some point and putting an AAV in place means you might stop venting. Towel warmers can put out just a small amount or can be as good as full size radiators - one of my bathrooms, 2.2x2.2m with a 1.8x0.9 window has a towel rail fitted and the flow is way down as it would become a sauna.
I'm pretty certain i have another soil pipe from the other side of the house joining up with this one at the front. This pipe already has an AAV on the top of it, so i can't see an issue hacking it down lower, i was primarily concerned with overflow. But i suspect as long as its higher than the bath over flow, which drains into this pipe, its good to go. From a heating perspective, i'm not expecting the towel rad to be working over time heating the bathroom. I've got a 600x600 Type 21 Rad ready to connect up once I've straightened up a wall and tiled. This should do the grunt work, being near the window. Having removed the shower, I've just got a shed load of space in the room. I don't really need storage as I've put a cupboard into the room using the wasted space behind a wall, so the towel rad was the next best idea.
Yeah, plan to do something so i can access both that and the toilet cistern. Or just keep a spare box of tiles in the garage in case i need to smash stuff again
thats ok to a certain extent but consider if you ever sell the property,you will need to disclose the plumbing has been diy altered and serviceable items hidden. or when selling put it all back to the way it was originally installed
A little seam of White silicone can look a lot like tile grout, easy to slice, remove and re do afterwards.
Yeah I did that under the shower tray in the En-suite I finished last year. Another of my little DIY projects where i gutted it, walls, floor and ceiling and started over. ) Fun!
Out if interest, you might see the hot water feed to the old shower is currently poking its face though the floor, gets downsized to 15mm then goes up the wall to the mixer.....I'll probably end up putting a digital shower over the bath, rendering this dead. I plan to just solder on a 22mm stop end under the floor and leave it, just in case we ever sell up and new owners want to put a shower back in. I'll also stop end the cold water feed coming down the wall and remove the mixer. Or do i just remove all the dead pipework?....I plan to tile the floor, it would be a ball ache to get to again... I think i probably answered my own question