Bath taps - 15 to 22mm

[Harni]

Hi all,
First post here. Ive been reading around the forums a lot lately and have been very informative! I think i know the answer to my question here but just want confirmation.

We are redoing our bathroom and relocating the bath. Currently the cold water supply (mains fed) is a 15mm pipe tee'd off to the bath then steps up to 22mm so the plumber who installed the bath originally could use a 22mm to 3/4" flexi on the tap. This i was just going to do away with the 22mm when i extend the pipe and run it all in 15mm to a 15mm-3/4" flexi.
The hot tap is another matter. The hot supply to the bath was originally run in lead pipe and has been connected to a very small length of 22mm copper with a lead locker again when the bath was changed years ago. Again, i think the only reason the 22mm was used was because the plumber only had 22mm-3/4 flexes in his van! Will i be ok to go from the lead locker in 15mm straight to the tap same as I'm planning to do with the cold feed?
Hot water is fed from a Wocester combi boiler so mains fed and the hot water feed from the boiler is 15mm so i don't see any need for any 22mm pipe in the hot water supply but just wanted to be sure before i start!

Thanks!

 

[kris]

Hi Harni and welcome to the forum, yes 15mm will be sufficient for both your hot and your colds, your combi boiler only puts out a 15mm hot so thats fine , Just like you were suggesting run the 15mm right to the bath and use 2 flexis ( tap end 22mm and other end of flexi is 15mm), you get these flexis and it will save you buying 22mm flexis then reducers to go with it, good luck

 

[Harni]

Hi Harni and welcome to the forum, yes 15mm will be sufficient for both your hot and your colds, your combi boiler only puts out a 15mm hot so thats fine , Just like you were suggesting run the 15mm right to the bath and use 2 flexis ( tap end 22mm and other end of flexi is 15mm), you get these flexis and it will save you buying 22mm flexis then reducers to go with it, good luck

Spot on thanks for your help!

 

[plumben]

The hot supply to the bath was originally run in lead pipe and has been connected to a very small length of 22mm copper with a lead locker again when the bath was changed years ago. Again, i think the only reason the 22mm was used was because the plumber only had 22mm-3/4 flexes in his van! Will i be ok to go from the lead locker in 15mm straight to the tap same as I'm planning to do with the cold feed?

Using 15mm-3/4 flexes will be fine however I would strongly advise removing all lead pipe work!

 

[Harni]

At the moment thats not possible until the kitchen below is redone. Feed comes into the house, feeds the kitchen in copper then up stairs to the old airing cupboard where the combi is now located and then into the bathroom then back down to the hot water tap in the kitchen. Backwards way of it all being plumbed but its due to the plumbing being altered over the years.

 

[Toxic Ted]

Just bear in mind that the 15mm flexi's are more restrictive than the 22mm.

 

[Harni]

Wonder if thats why it was done then? In all fairness, we do get really good pressure and flow on the bath taps and shower head and once its done, we are planning on using a slightly bigger shower head so don't want to loose any flow.

 

[plumben]

Your always Bette using copper and tap connectors instead of flexes

 

[Harni]

Whys that Plumben? So that the internal diameter doesn't drop?
Not questioning you. Im a DIYer incase you hadn't guessed so I'm really keen to learn these things!

 

[plumben]

No worries, the internal diameter on flexes can be really small, also flexies can kink and break,
where as 15mm copper with reducers to 22mm tap cons will give you better internal diameter and flow rate won't be affected

 

[Harni]

Thanks. Ill look at doing that then. I have bought everything but the tap connectors as I'm not starting it till Wednesday so will get them tomorrow! Like i say, we are really fortunate in having good pressure and flow and want to keep it that way especially with a bigger shower head off the taps.
Thanks for all the advice all!

 

[Harni]

Right another quick question which I'm again sure i know the answer to but just want to check.
Just gone to isolate the water so i can start ripping the old bathroom out to find the main incoming stopcock is dripping ever so slightly. Its been years since I've done any plumbing so trying to drag up my old knowledge here but am i correct in thinking i can undo the gland nut, pack it with PTFE and retighten the gland nut?


You can just see its dripping from where the gland nut is mainly where all the crud has built up which i need to clean off. On another note, anything i can use to dissolve that? i was just going to scrape it off!

Thanks all

Edit: i can't post pics yet it seems

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

I think the ability to post pics is set open after 10 posts from memory

yes, that is how you repack the gland, If it needs a good clean up its much easier to just replace, they are only a few £.

 

[Harni]

Thanks Tom. Due to the location of the stop tap, i would like to avoid replacing it if possible. Its really a pain to get to and the bottom compression nut is covered over by the back of the cupboard. Ill have a quick go at cleaning up and if not, get it replaced.

 

[plumben]

you can tighten the gland nut this sometimes will stop the drip