A joint (or two) too far!
Ridiculous piece of plumbing for a concealed shower valve or am I being too fussy?
The studs had to remain in original position (approx. 175mm between them) to avoid disturbing the wall the other side and one had to be notched to accommodate the pipework and the valve had to be mounted in the horizontal orientation to avoid notching both studs. Fortunately, the studs were 100mm deep so notching one of them was not an issue. The original hot feed rose vertically just inside the left stud so shouldn’t have needed the ‘dog leg’ 90 degree joints (1 & 2). Straight joints above (3 & 4) also unnecessary as is that (5) on the cold feed. Both feeds rose vertically to the old shower valve position so virtually no extra pipe needed.
So the ‘plumber’ cut off too much original pipe for some reason and then ended up using far too many joints to extend the pipes (particularly the hot) back up to required position and introduced an unnecessary dog leg.
Bear in mind these are all hidden pipe joints and each joint is of course 2 potential weak points in this ‘mains’ pressure system irrespective of the cost of these press fit type joints (not sure of the exact make). So, by my estimation, at least 5 joints too many out of a total of 7! (ignoring the soldered joints). I can understand fitting concealed shower valves is tricky at the best of times but this does not seem to be what I would call good quality plumbing.
What do others think?
Ridiculous piece of plumbing for a concealed shower valve or am I being too fussy?
The studs had to remain in original position (approx. 175mm between them) to avoid disturbing the wall the other side and one had to be notched to accommodate the pipework and the valve had to be mounted in the horizontal orientation to avoid notching both studs. Fortunately, the studs were 100mm deep so notching one of them was not an issue. The original hot feed rose vertically just inside the left stud so shouldn’t have needed the ‘dog leg’ 90 degree joints (1 & 2). Straight joints above (3 & 4) also unnecessary as is that (5) on the cold feed. Both feeds rose vertically to the old shower valve position so virtually no extra pipe needed.
So the ‘plumber’ cut off too much original pipe for some reason and then ended up using far too many joints to extend the pipes (particularly the hot) back up to required position and introduced an unnecessary dog leg.
Bear in mind these are all hidden pipe joints and each joint is of course 2 potential weak points in this ‘mains’ pressure system irrespective of the cost of these press fit type joints (not sure of the exact make). So, by my estimation, at least 5 joints too many out of a total of 7! (ignoring the soldered joints). I can understand fitting concealed shower valves is tricky at the best of times but this does not seem to be what I would call good quality plumbing.
What do others think?
