I recently had a pump for the en-suite fitted and could kick myself for not doing more research up front.

I had naively assumed the plumber would just wack it in the loft above the shower. but he pointed out that the head was marginal and I'd probably have a frozen pump in the first winter. It was much better off in the airing cupboard. I agreed and let him egt on with it.

When he'd just about finished (including new 15mm cold feed from the tank in the loft and the hot feed a 15 mm T off the 22m hot water from the hot cylinder) I suddenly realised that the airing cupboard backs onto the main bathroom which currently has no shower but its likey to get one next year. so 'cos I got a cheap pump it wont do both showers and the plumber (correctly) did the feeds in 15mm.

Next year I'll probably bin that pump and have to get it all re-done in 22mm and a bigger pump. :(

Piss Poor Planning....

Deano

Nick...

I told you about that one the other day... across the bus lane at the lights... Im fairly sure its trade only, but i know people with accounts so can probably sort you out..

David

Mathewson and Rosemond are a good 200 yards away from me! They're open to the public too, thankfully, and have everything I need. They recommend warix valves rather than sussex, and have 'em in stock.

Marvellous, things are looking up :D

chiark
never fitted a fully pumped bathroom suite so cant help you on that,makes a interesting read though:)

Also if your going to put a bigger tank in the loft/roofspace,make sure it will fit through the access hole,as weve had some very tight squeezes.I think you can buy collapsable (sp?)tanks which squeeze together and then return to shape in situ.

have fun:)

Duncan

Cheers for that - fun eh?

This tank is called a loft tank and a selling feature is that they have specially been designed to ensure easy entry into lofts.

Apparently. ;)

Ta,
Nick.

lol...

will be interesting.. :D

David

Can i watch:D

oo er..

each to there own..

Nick...

One thing, make sure you have everything you will possibly need before you start, as most places will be closed. :D

and you dont want to be without water over christmas.

David

Yeah, I've learnt that one the hard way. ;)

Fitted the kitchen over easter sunday, didn't I? Couldn't finish the taps for want of a straight through connector of any kind...

I'm starting to feel that I have a plan for the plumbing now.

What's everyone's opinion on the best type of connections to use? Push fit, compression or soldered? I wouldn't have considered pushfit, but the pump actually comes with pushfit connectors installed so it must be fairly OK!

David/Steven: do you have a pipe bender I could borrow?
Ta,
Nick.

Lost it when we moved house, fairly cheap from bandq or screwfix.

I have recently used the polypipe and push fit joints, as i could not be ar5ed doing a "tidy" job, given the state of the house, and knowing it would need to be altered soon.

Hmmm... Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... I could be persuaded to go down that route............

push fit is more money but quicker... I allways use end feed solder.. just use solder ring fittings on copper... nice and cheap.. and easy just clean the pipe with wire wool, and the inside of the fitting... smear a bit of flux around it and then warm with a blow torch until warm throughout or crispy on top :D

David

Nick...Your disgusting tank on the right is due to the way it is plumbed in, the draw off pipe shouldn't be teed into the link between the two tanks as it will always bias the tank with the ballvalve in it and the water in the other tank will go stagnent. The correct way would be to connect the draw off pipe into the tank without the ballvalve so that water is drawn through both tanks, as you are now fitting a new larger single it won't be a problem but thought you might be interested.
The fittings on the pump will be John Guest/Speedfit, all pushfit fittings these days are very good and lend themselves to DIY work. Sometimes a blowtorch in a loft/airing cupboard or tight corner can be scary even for a professional.
The tank kit from screwfix I have to say is very well priced for what you get.

Mog

Russell..What colour is the water when you bleed the rads
What is actually in the header tank.
The above will influence my response and don't put corrosion inhibitor in just yet as you will be wasting your time until the system is clean.

Mog

Thanks again Mog, it is indeed John Guest speedfit on the pump. Know any good suppliers on-line?

Nick..Plumbcenter sell Speedfit but not online, Screwfix would probably be the best bet.Don't take this the wrong way but your tank stand could do with some diagonal bracing...50+10 gallons is one hell of a weight up in the air..
Regards
Mog

Mog, emailed you offline, don't want to hijack the thread !

Thx

Russ

Oh, I realise that I need to rebuild the support - 50 gallons is 225-odd kilos, which is a ****load on what's there. So that's being rebuilt.

I'll go to the plumb center tomorrow as I need a load of wierd and wonderful connectors for the Grohe shower and taps. I need a 3/8" male connector to go into the taps, and quite a few 1/2" male connectors which I can't find anywhere.

Cheers again,
Nick.

Nick ..Plumbcenter will definately have what you have mentioned.Also if you are going to pump 3 bar through the basin taps/mixer make sure that the tap outlet is of an aireated deign,this should show up as a very fine metal gauze on the outlet otherwise when the taps are turned on someone will get very wet feet....

Mog

Ta - it's a grohe sentosa basin mixer designed for high pressure with aerator and all that sort of malarky. The fun bit is the 3/8ths male connector that I need - Plumb center it is then :D

TO SAVE A BIT OF MONEY WHY DONT YOU REMOVE THE CR@PPY TANK,TAKE IT OUTSIDE AND JETWASH IT.BEFORE FITTING IT BACK IN PUT A TEE PIECE IN THE PIPE CONNECTING THE 2 TANKS AND USE THIS AS THE COLD FEED TO YOUR PUMP.

Already bought it. To be honest, I really wanted to fit something that had a bylaw 30 kit in it, as we're going to be cleaning teeth with that stuff. If crap got in before, it'll get in again...

Quick update: shower and bath now removed, started laying everything out... Only trouble has been a gate valve to the hot water tank which stuck closed - managed to drain everything down and replace that with a working valve. God only knows what's happened to the original one. The spindle turns, but the gate doesn't move...

the Gate valves spindle sometimes snap inside,you can keep turning and turning.
Usually happens when you switch valve off to change a imersion heater,nice easy job,done in 10 mins......come to switch valve back on and hey presto it wont switch on!!!!!
so that easy job turns into a hour of a job,draining the tank and pipework and installing a new valve!!!


ahhhh,the fun of plumbing:):):D:D

That's almost exactly what happened. Turn hot off so I can drain down and cap off the supply to the bath. 10 minute job. then turned into an hour's job draining everything down... D'oh!

you have started then, let me know if you need help

The thing I'll really need help with is messing around replacing the storage tank. I've done all the plumbing downstream of the pump now, so it's the next bit that'll be "fun"

I'll give you a bell tomorrow :)

Cheers,
Nick.

Cheers Nick, enjoyable afternoon yesterday:D.

After effects of Curry's, Beer, Game Pie plus Blow Torch in Confined area......... Dangerous:D

Cheers for all your help Steven (and Emma), it really was most appreciated.

I'm just cutting the bath now - gulp!

WTF are you Cutting the bath for:confused: