R
rapple
Like many I have a gravity fed system and upstairs only have about 1.8m from bottom of header tank to bath taps However when I moved in I was surprised to find that the main piping was done in 28mm upstairs to within 3m of the baths and basins at which point it went to 22mm to bath and 15 to basins with 22mm and 15mm inlets to the taps as appropriate. Now the taps were fairly old on the bath and the whole system gives a really good flow rate so the bath fills in under 5 minutes, unlike some of our neighbours where they have fitted newer taps and it takes upward of 15 minutes.
I was very surprised to find that even fitting a shower to the bath taps i.e reducing the effective head to 1m the flow was still reasonable. It's no power shower but it pushes the water out.
Bottom line is that I am converting the ensuite from shower cublice to a bath plus shower. To try to retain fast fills and get a good shower I am a) raising the header tank by another 1.5m as I have the headroom to do so and b) trying to plumb to the taps/valves in 22mm pipe. I managed to find a 22mm inlet and outlet shower mixer valve but the best I have found for the bath taps are two separate taps with 22mm inlet and 15mm outlet (to feed on into a bath filler. In both cases though the flow to a part of the 22mm hole is restricted. For the taps it's the internal design that blocks it, for the shower mixer, in each hole there's a brass plate as part of the moulding that's only partly cut away. They're not consistent blockages so I can't work out whether it's just poor manufacture or they are all deliberately covered up by different amounts. See picture - hot in left, cold in middle, out right
I've almost given up on trying to find a matching modern looking set of taps that will give me 22mm throughout.
2 questions therefore:
1) Does anyone know of a manufacturer/product line where I can find taps with 22mm in and out. I'm trying to match the Sottini Alchemy range, so a plain circular top would be OK.
2) Do you think it would be ok on the mixer to drill out the inlets and outlets to be full size (removing and replacing the valves and cartridges from the mixer while doing the drilling of course.
I was very surprised to find that even fitting a shower to the bath taps i.e reducing the effective head to 1m the flow was still reasonable. It's no power shower but it pushes the water out.
Bottom line is that I am converting the ensuite from shower cublice to a bath plus shower. To try to retain fast fills and get a good shower I am a) raising the header tank by another 1.5m as I have the headroom to do so and b) trying to plumb to the taps/valves in 22mm pipe. I managed to find a 22mm inlet and outlet shower mixer valve but the best I have found for the bath taps are two separate taps with 22mm inlet and 15mm outlet (to feed on into a bath filler. In both cases though the flow to a part of the 22mm hole is restricted. For the taps it's the internal design that blocks it, for the shower mixer, in each hole there's a brass plate as part of the moulding that's only partly cut away. They're not consistent blockages so I can't work out whether it's just poor manufacture or they are all deliberately covered up by different amounts. See picture - hot in left, cold in middle, out right
I've almost given up on trying to find a matching modern looking set of taps that will give me 22mm throughout.
2 questions therefore:
1) Does anyone know of a manufacturer/product line where I can find taps with 22mm in and out. I'm trying to match the Sottini Alchemy range, so a plain circular top would be OK.
2) Do you think it would be ok on the mixer to drill out the inlets and outlets to be full size (removing and replacing the valves and cartridges from the mixer while doing the drilling of course.
