Advice on Heated Towel Rail Replacement

[Bollykecks]

Hi,

Our heated towel rail has the pipes coming from the wall rather than the floor, similar to this one in the picture. We need to replace it, however our whole bathroom is tiled and try as I might, I can’t find a new one with the same size fittings etc. Is it possible to adjust the pipes that come out of the wall (after they’re out of the wall) somehow without damaging the tiles?

We’ve had the bathroom for about 6 years and have had problems for the last couple of years with different things. In hindsight we were very naive about the quality of it all so would prefer to replace the fixtures we have if possible with better quality, rather than rip the whole lot out and start again. Though this may have to happen if I can’t find another option.

Thank you

 

[oldbuffer]

1. Fittings for radiators (and towel rails) are pretty standardised.
1.1 There are inlet and outlet holes in the radiator, which are threaded 1/2" British Standard Pipe (BSP).
1.2 Radiator "tails" screw into these holes (sealed with PTFE or in some other way). The other end of the tail is either:
1.2a Compression fitting, being a plain 15 mm (usually chrome plated) tube onto which the valve is fixed with a compression fitting. OR
1.2b A "union" fitting, being a threaded end with a 3/4" BSP thread. The lip of the threaded end is normally slightly concave, and designed to fit into a matching convex end to the valve. The tail has a captive nut on it to allow the valve to be securely fastened to the tail.
1.3 The most common type of tail is the compression type, but union fittings are still used.
2. New radiator valves normally come with new tails, of whichever type.
3. If you re-use the existing valves, you need to remove the old tails from the old radiator and reuse them. Easy enough on the compression type, more problematic on union types if the concave and convex parts don't have matching radii.
4. I would suggest you change the rail and the valves. This just leaves the joints to the pipework.
5. You would need to match the pipe centres of the old with the new, and also make sure it stands off from the wall about the same distance as the old.
6. Your pipes are likely to be 15 mm in diameter, but could be 10 mm or 12 mm (microbore). Yous should check that the pipes have enough length to reach the new valves.