Shower trap fitting problem

datadiyer · 1 Oct 2020

Hi all,
I put this iflo shower tray, but can't get the middle screw bit through the top of the tray and into the actual trap.
The tray is based onto a 12mm marine and 9mm ply glued and screwed together.
Before fitting tray into place, I cut out the 9mm around the tray to get the middle bit to have more bite into trap.
However, middle bit doesn't reach the trap at all. It's only 12mm it needs to feed through, what am I missing? Or has anyone encountered this before and have any ideas. I've tried a McAlpine trap which was the same.

Madrab · 1 Oct 2020

If I understand, are you saying the top tube locking piece isn't long enough to get down to the threads in the trap as the tray/adhesive/board is all too thick? From the 4th pic it look close enough or is it just the way the pic looks?

How much board and tile adhesive is the tray sitting on, is that roughly 40mm before it gets to the underside of the tray?? If so I'm not surprised it doesn't reach.

Mcalpine do longer locking nuts/tubes for their shower traps, but even then they only give another 10 odd mm so stretching the thickness to around 30mm.

datadiyer · 1 Oct 2020

Yes, that's what I meant, the top tube locking piece isn't long enough to get down to the threads in the trap as the board is too thick. There's no adhesive under the trap hole so it's only the 12mm marine ply creating the thickness. What am I missing here? Here's a better pic..

datadiyer · 1 Oct 2020

Plus the tray sorry adding thickness but it feathers down to about 2mm at the hole.

datadiyer · 1 Oct 2020

I must be missing something, the middle bit is just about biting into thread here and it's over 20mm which should work.

EDIT: Sorry, the thread is just resting on trap here. When screwed in 2 turns, there's barely 13mm gap.

Madrab · 1 Oct 2020

I don't see a seal in between the trap and the tray, is there one for it as that'll add to the thickness too.

Weird one, if, when the trap is pushed up against the boards underneath with the seal in there, then the thickness is around 14mm then there's nothing that should stop the tube threads catching.

It must be something that's being missed as I can honestly say it's pretty foolproof. The only other thing it can be is that the trap threads are over 20mm away from the tray. When you push the trap up to the underside of the tray, measure what you have from the top of the waste to the top of the threads.

Have you tried it the other way, insert the tube from the top and then offer the trap up to it?

datadiyer · 1 Oct 2020

Madrab said:
I don't see a seal in between the trap and the tray, is there one for it as that'll add to the thickness too.

Weird one, if, when the trap is pushed up against the boards underneath with the seal in there, then the thickness is around 14mm then there's nothing that should stop the tube threads catching.

It must be something that's being missed as I can honestly say it's pretty foolproof. The only other thing it can be is that the trap threads are over 20mm away from the tray. When you push the trap up to the underside of the tray, measure what you have from the top of the waste to the top of the threads.

Have you tried it the other way, insert the tube from the top and then offer the trap up to it?

I just had a look at a Mcalpine trap I bought, when screwed in 2 turns there's 20mm available thread, whereas the iflow one has barely 13mm available thread. Yes, sorry, there's a rubber seal to add also, so that would make it worse. I'm going to try the Mcalpine one now, report back in morning. Thank you Madrab, I'm very grateful. I thought I was going mad!

polesapart · 2 Oct 2020

The trap -McAlpine or Iflo regardless- needs to mate up to and seal against the underside of the tray itself, not the added ply support base.

More cut-outs required.

Elkato531 · 2 Oct 2020

polesapart said:
The trap -McAlpine or Iflo regardless- needs to mate up to and seal against the underside of the tray itself, not the added ply support base.

More cut-outs required.

Correct.

Whole heap of trouble further down the line if the body of the trap is not sealed to the underside of the tray.

datadiyer · 2 Oct 2020

polesapart said:
The trap -McAlpine or Iflo regardless- needs to mate up to and seal against the underside of the tray itself, not the added ply support base.

More cut-outs required.

Oh, right, I see. So there should be no support needed under the waste area? So I can cut away so the trap butts up to the underside of tray, hence allowing more thread? Unlike I've done already unfortunately ?

denso13 · 2 Oct 2020

datadiyer said:
So I can cut away so the trap butts up to the underside of tray

Yes, that's how it should be.

datadiyer · 2 Oct 2020

polesapart said:
The trap -McAlpine or Iflo regardless- needs to mate up to and seal against the underside of the tray itself, not the added ply support base.

More cut-outs required.

Could I get a longer threaded middle bit instead as McAlpine do them? :
https://mcalpineplumbing.com/traps/shower-traps-accessories/stw70lnlc-long-locking-nut

denso13 · 2 Oct 2020

datadiyer said:
Could I get a longer threaded middle bit instead as McAlpine do them?

Either way you need to remove the plywood so it is clear of the trap.

datadiyer · 2 Oct 2020

OK, thank you all. Best get Multi tool out ready for tomorrow. Can barely get under the tray so this will be a Saturday challenge ‍

. I'll post the end result for you helpful people

Elkato531 · 2 Oct 2020

If its possible at this stage it would be best to lift the tray to cut a bigger hole in the ply. Otherwise its very carefully with the multitool.

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Shower trap fitting problem

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