advice needed

[voivod]

Have been asked to do the hot water cylinders and finish(7) bathrooms in a large house.
House was preplumbed 4 years ago....but no finishings done.
Was goting to fit a large cylinder in a plant room for hot water ...that is pumped to house via rehau underground pipe and returned by same .
Plastic pipe is ok for a return on hot water ?
Also after further investigation ...discovered that the towel rails are on the hot water circuit. Am also worried about this as was under the understanding this was illegal now for heat. Also for the legionella purge angle...

 

[Ermintrude]

Doh! I'd be re doing some of it. Can't u fit cylinder in house and use pipes from plant room as primaries? Assume they 22 or 28mm?

 

[voivod]

76mm hot and 50mm return ...its a BIG house/hotel/lodge thing.
Is a purpose built plant room .
Had original plans from 5+ years back . and is showing the towel rails to be don like that .
Have been readiing up...and (as per usual) on internet etc I get conflicting views...
is ok to fit rail after taps...then nope get rid of them ....
also rehau plastic is ok for return ...but then other say plastic pipe is wrong .
all internals are in copper ...and lots of rooms finished decorating. o ripping out and redoing are a no no

 

[Rybo_1]

When they say towel rails on the hot water they dont
mean on the domestic feed to outlets. It's teed in before any valves meaning that it will come on
in the summer with the hot water when the heating won't be used

 

[Ermintrude]

I would say it's not acceptable as it's basically un insulated pipe. If you need lots of water hot your cylinder be pulling its pudding all day long and rooms will over heat aswell.

76mm flow and 56 primary return u got some atags ?

 

[voivod]

Been reading up and as long as after tap draw offs on each leg . And return is above 55' then is supposedly ok . Does that seem right ?
atags ?
all pipework is lagged internally
was a commercial firm who did drawings and initial pipework
But that was 5 years ago...

 

[missplumb]

you cant run the same water that comes out of your taps through towel rails, whether its after the last draw off or not!!!! its on a secondary return that goes back to the cylinders (or more likely calorifiers).

 

[voivod]

Installation
Radiators - Contact details for Feature Radiators
I havent fitted towel rails on a hot water circuit for 20 years .
But have just taken on this job ...and the full layouts are already done .drawn and fitted by a commercial installer.
The towel rails that are specced are stainless steel .
Just dont want to start ripping apart finished decorated rooms to alter it all.
I agree is not best practise NOW ...but the hot water side will be pumped and heated 24hrs a day.

 

[Ermintrude]

Call building inspector he will tell u score

 

[voivod]

good idea sir . Thank you

 

[missplumb]

i never thought i'd see the day when manufacturers are saying to use tap water in a radiator circuit. It goes against everything i learnt at college back in the day!!!

 

[tamz]

As its more than 5 years the building warrant on the original will have expired. The rules have changed since then so as said best speak to BC

 

[tamz]

i never thought i'd see the day when manufacturers are saying to use tap water in a radiator circuit. It goes against everything i learnt at college back in the day!!!

You will learn there are many ways to skin a horse :smile:

 

[oz-plumber]

I wouldn't try and re-invent the wheel on this one.

As long as the towel rail are copper, brass or stainless there should be a problem with them.
Most new towel rails are made of mild steel and would perish in a short amount of time with potable hot water flowing through them constantly.

Too good an opportunity to give away for something that was one legal and may now be due to regulation change within the previous 5 years.

Someone else will jump on the chance and do it anyway if you give it the flick due to towel rails.

 

[voivod]

changing it to on rad circuit.

 

[newcastle phill]

Cant be doing much for energy efficiency