Stainless Steel Hosing

[Veggie Dave]

I always find it strange when plumbers say stainless steel braided flexi pipe looks amateurish.

Technically it may be inferior to copper but the simple truth is copper pipes are ugly.

You have a new bathroom, with shiny tiles, bright white grout, chrome heated towel rack, chromed shower, chromed trap under the sink, chrome basin and bath taps, the ugly soil pipe boxed in (in fact, you probably have everything that the toilet needs to function boxed in) ... and then you have two bits of copper pipe that are slowly changing colour, that stand out like a sore thumb and probably have at least four soldered elbows, too, because the fitter can't use a bender properly.

 

[PlumbingBud]

Well I, for one, know how to use a bender. Most of the taps I have fitted recently have had hoses with them and small-bore screw attachments.
Bath taps are another matter....

 

[Mike Jackson]

I've seen too many flexis burst to like them. If everything on show in a bathroom is in chrome I'd rather see chrome pipe than flexis.

 

[WaterTight]

Yeah, the existance of chrome pipe sort of negates this otherwise good argument.

 

[Veggie Dave]

Yeah, the existance of chrome pipe sort of negates this otherwise good argument.

No, the argument is that people saying the use of braided hosing is amateurish is complete rubbish. Of course, chrome pipe is another option (my preferred option) but that has nothing to do with the original premise. :tounge_smile:

 

[dancinplumba]

i have to agree with you veggiedave, a nice s/s flexi looks good compared to a bit of copper. but not with the plastic ends or built in plastic iso

 

[Best]

A flexi says to me that the fitter was a diyer or else couldn't be bothered doing a nice copper bend.

 

[SimonJohns]

Flexis have their place.

For eg

 

[dancinplumba]

Flexis have their place.

For eg

absolutely

 

[nickelarsed]

Well I don't claim to be the most experienced but I was told that flexi's can burst, although I haven't seen that, and also that they restrict flow so always use copper when you can, and use the bender. I thought that's why it looks amateurish when you see lots of them, not necessarily because they were ugly.

 

[dancinplumba]

they can split and they can restrict, it depends on their use, installation and quality, but thats a diffrent thread imo its wether they look amateurish and ugly in use, agree that too many is diyerish. but in the right number and position, thats debatable

 

[tamz]

copper pipes are ugly.

I think you may be in the wrong line of work here if you think that.

Surely you can't seriously imply that a bit braided flexi, tied in a knot (as they usually are) looks better than a nice bit of copper, cp or not.

Standards and customers expectations of work have went seriously downhill in the past 20 years.

They do have their place to make life easy but usually under a sink or behind a ped where they are not seen.

 

[Gray0689]

Personally I use flexi hoses nearly all the time but and it's a big but if something is on show then no I dont then it would be chrome copper
But nowadays nearly everything I'm fitting is wall hung units so everything is hidden away back to wall WCs and the like most taps I fit come with flexi hoses as standard
Yes they are mostly small bore but then most things are only being made for high pressure systems nowadays I have fitted hundreds of flexi hoses and have only seen one burst and that was in a working kitchen that the tap had been leaking on to it for years and had literally rusted through it
And as for it being DIY lol I don't agree with this at all but I wouldn't as I use them lol
And opinions are like (rude word for anus lol) we all have our own
Ps copper is not ugly it's beautiful if done right

 

[Mike Jackson]

A flexi can look nice if the rest of the pipework is correctly positioned and clipped. The problem is most DIYers use them to get from the old pipework position to the new tap/cistern etc. because they can't or can't be bothered to do any copper work.

 

[Veggie Dave]

Surely you can't seriously imply that a bit braided flexi, tied in a knot (as they usually are) looks better than a nice bit of copper, cp or not.

I like what you did there - rather than compare corrected installed copper pipe to correctly installed braided hosing, you chose to compare badly installed, amateurish hosing to well installed copper. That's not exactly fair, is it..? :icon12:

If customers like copper pipe so much why do we spend so much time boxing it in? A couple of months ago someone posted a pic of an UHWSC they'd installed that was, quite simply, a work of art but even that install will have lost its beautiful copper shine already and will have started to look 'dirty'. Yes, you and I both know patina isn't dirt but all a customer sees is discoloured pipework, not that you'd use hosing in this instance, obviously, before anyone thinks I'm suggesting you can or should. :icon12:

When the customer is sat in his bath and can see his basin what do you think he believes looks nicer? Patinered copper, shiny braided hosing or shiny chrome pipe?

And if braided hosing is so ugly why have custom car and bike builders used it for decades?

But the point is, all aesthetic arguments aside, using braided hosing isn't amateurish, it's just another weapon in the plumber's arsenal that, like everything else, if used properly is an excellent option.

Standards and customers expectations of work have went seriously downhill in the past 20 years.

Sadly very true...