A few questions on shower install..

[kaseryn]

Not sure if this will be the right section but i'm sure it'll get moved if it aint!

In the near future i want to redesign my bathroom and have a lot of scope. I have concrete floors and breeze internal walls. I want to knock a cupboard through into the current bathroom area and create a large 3 sided area for a shower and move the toilet/sink etc. Atm i've got a combination boiler so am i right firstly in thinking i'll be fine with a simple mixer shower?
When i come to install it i'll be faced with the breeze blck wall.. but would like a hidden or flush type look.. so is it best to box the wall out to get that depth or are these things small enough that you could bury them into the wall? When you fit them is there much adjustment or play with the final finish depth? It would be a major pain to do it all and find your tiles were going to be 5 or 10mm too low/high eh.

I've never done any pipework before.. is the soldering easy or is there a knack to it..? If its to be boxouts.. whats the best way of doing that? WPB and timber or ply stiffeners/backing? Or conrceteboard? On a similar theme i'd like the toilet to be hidden too... how much is involved in the boxouts with that so it would take the weight.. ?

Sorry if im in the wrong section!

 

[donametchi]

you can fit a mixer valve to a combi as long as you buy a mixer to suit a combi.will tell you on the box.you will need to take into account the gyprock depth along with the tile depth.soldering is ok make sure you get a full run on solder use yorkshire rather than end feed fittings.it might be easier to use speed fit and plastic pipe but make sure and use the inserts.use wall plate elbows and the shower you buy will tell you of clearences so pack the elbow out if you want using hardboard and wrap the shower mixer valve threads with ptfe tape.run your pipe work and maintain clearences.blank off wall plate elbows and pressure test before fitting gpyrock and tiling to test for leaks for obvious reasons.ps make sure your pressure is up for the supply to shower also.good luck.you will get clearences from install instructions.

 

[skylark]

I had a 20 year old Aqualisa gravity fed Mixer shower built into the wall of the shower cubical and fed from pipework in the loft above. A couple of plastic components broke and the flow rate was poor.

I contacted Aqualisa and all parts, bar one, were still available for my particlar type and the prices did not seem outrageous. My concern was that as other plastic components were of the same age, they may soon also fail. Their technical advisor agreed that was a risk. He was happy to sell me the replacement parts, but suggested I thought of getting a new one.

That made sense, but after removing the existing system I had a big hole in the wall. I was very fortunate to have a pack of the same wall tiles in store and so I could repair the wall without having to re-tile the entire bathroom, but you need to consider this risk. I did not fancy having to tile around the new fitting either.

I chose to install an Aqualisa Quartz system. This places a single vertical rail down the wall from the loft which supports the shower head and flexible hose. Inside is the water supply pipe and the cable from the circular control at the bottom. In my opinion it looks very smart. My kids love the blue flashing LED lights!

All I had to do was fix the control box (about the size of a brick) in the loft, connect it to the original H&C pipework, connect it to a new fused spur outlet and connect the box to the suppy pipe.

I am no professional plumber, so I normally use copper pipe and push-fit or compression fittings. I have a simple wheel pipe cutter, a wrench, a roll of PTFE tape, some wire wool and a bendy spring. It is more expensive than soldering, but how much plumbing do I do? Just shop around a bit for your fittings. In spite of the need for some pipework "knitting", I found installing this system very straightforward.

It works very well - the temperature is well controlled and the flow is plentiful, even without the optional pump switched on - and if I ever have to maintain or change it, I will never have to touch the wall tiling again.

I would thoroughly recommend it if your physical arrangement is similar.

 

[kaseryn]

Thanks for the rplies..

Skylark, my mains isn't gravity fed and i have a lot of pressure, so hopefully a straight mixer will work well for me. I take your advise on the plastics though... those compression fittings you mention look nice and easy, but if its not too tricksy i'm game to try the soldering mularky..


Donametchi, i think I get most of what you're saying - after a few readthroughs! Yorkshire fittings are ones with solder rings right? Arent all solder fittings like that now? Do you need to run the torch all around the joint to get a good fit.. any tips in that regard?

As this is a concrete floor and breeze block walls will it need tanking?