Flexible hoses on towel rad is it ok...?

[mmmadman]

Hi all......

I will be fitting a towel rail type rad inplace of my existing rad.

As it will only be a few inches away would it be ok to use flexi hoses, they will be under the floor and only the connection will be seen as it comes out of the floor into the rad valves...?

is this ok or classed as bad practice...?

Many thanks, cheers...

 

[justlead1]

Bad practice. But then i am not doing the job.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

i think you've answered your own question.

 

[easyt]

As a DIY man - if I had a longer length to thread between joists and avoid removing a lot of floorboards I would consider plastic. As it is a short length and access is not a problem I would definitely use copper. I can't see any benefit in plastic in this situation.

My local bathroom showroom and plumbers merchant sells pipe by the metre and so would buy a metre of pipe.

 

[Gray0689]

If you want it to look like a child did it !!!!!
Otherwise use chrome copper looks a lot beter

 

[Paulplumb]

Besides it looking awful I didn't think you could use flexi hoses on heating anyway.

 

[mmmadman]

i think you've answered your own question.

I think I have.........lol......

 

[Gray0689]

Paulplumb
Check out you tube
Polish plumbers
In fact everyone who not seen this take a look you won't belive it's true

 

[Dannypipe]

I've seen that video....it's mental. Some of it's quite imaginative. Awful, but you can't fault their imagination!

Trust me, worth a look on Youtube.

 

[johnmcginty]

I absolutely love that low level pipe how on earth did they think the customer would be ok with that.

 

[Dannypipe]

Yeah that low level flush pipe is the nuts! I love it. Just genius...terrible genius but I would never have thought of it!! LOL.

 

[Guest123]

It's not all Polish plumbers who make a pigs ear of jobs. By far the worst I've seen is from 2 guys who went on a fast track plumbing course and well became "plumbers" in er 4 months! One connected a 15mm gas pipe to the cold water mains and the other connected a WC waste to the rain water drainage system. Scary stuff but these damn courses are promising the earth to the unemployed etc. that it's possible to become a plumber in 4 months and earn 60 grand while doing so.

Rant over.

 

[Paulplumb]

Cheers Gray, that video made me chuckle

 

[elkay16]

you should never use flexi on heating pipes to radiators. especially on open vented systems as the flexis are so restrictive in their internal bore.
Crikey not to mention how unprofessional it looks

 

[Phil]

I agree but the main reason is that they burst!

 

[Mario 1]

"Would you have it in your house?"

 

[stevetheplumber]

If you want it to look like a child did it !!!!!
Otherwise use chrome copper looks a lot beter

not if its a white towel rail

 

[Guest123]

No way. The temperature in a central heating system for one thing exceeds the recommendations of the manufacturers of flexis and secondly, remember that flexis are basically a rubber hose encased in a metal braid. Heat will cause deterioration of rubber over time, causing cracking especially where the flexi is bent. Washing machine manufacturers recommend that rubber hoses be changed every 5 years, so I'd like any towel rail that I fit to last a lot longer than that!
Remember to use rust inhibitor after installation as towel rads are made from mild steel and can corrode quite quickly with little leaky pin holes appearing.
Best to do it right with chrome copper and chrome valves. You wouldn't feed spam to a Crufts champion eh? LOL

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

I would steer far away from it and do it in painted copper or chrome pipe

Flexis are bad news

as mention the water circulating the heating system will eat away at the internal rubber hose plus they look very unsitely when visible

It has the signs of cowboy or bodge DIYer all over it

 

[orangepeel]

Whilst I wouldn't use flexis on a heating system myself, playing devils advocate, why is it acceptable to use rubber sealing rings on push fit connectors but not use rubber on flexi hoses. Granted that the rubber on an 'o' ring will be of better quality.
PS I don't like pushfit plumbing either but they say that many 'Pros' have been converted to them.

-Neil

 

[Guest123]

The "O" ring in push fit fittings is a different grade of material than a rubber hose and doesn't completely rely on it's composition to make a seal. A rubber hose carries water through out its length while an "O" ring doesn't and both rubber hoses (flexis) and most push fit fittings are NOT suitable for central heating systems due to the temperatures. The types of push fit fittings that are suitable for central heating systems are marked as so in the manufacturers catalogues.
Flexis are just rubber hoses with a steel braid for strength and often with the cheaper imports, the rubber is of a poor quality and will crack through time.
DIY'ers love them, because they don't know how to do real plumbing.