Flexible connection to electric shower.

[pw1123]

Evening all.

I have a situation where upon offering up a replacement electric shower in order to mark my fixing holes, the distance between the elbow joint and the tiles means that the shower unit does not sit flush with the wall surface. I bought a second, different, shower and have the same issue.

There is no play in the pipework so now into the realm of getting a plumber out to chop a 5mm slice out of the feed pipe and re-solder to move the elbow closer to the wall.

What would be the best way to alter the pipework to future-proof the water supply for any future shower replacement where this wall to inlet distance may vary? I'd like to not be tied to any one particular manufacturer because of this.

Initially I dreamed up a solution whereby a flexible hose is run from the stop-check valve under bath, up through the partition wall to terminate at a compression elbow on the shower side of the tiles, with the hose passing through a rubber/silicone grommet to maintain a seal to avoid potential water ingress into the wall - this would allow the elbow joint to move in/out from the wall surface to meet the shower inlet no matter how far away from the wall this is.

The downsides to this would be:
1. Sourcing a long enough flexible hose that doesn't contain materials which may degrade/leak or cause bacterial concerns.
2. Potential noise source where the flexible hose passes through noggins within the stud wall.

Any comments or thoughts on possible alternatives?

Cheers.

Pedro

 

[oldbuffer]

1. Never use a flexible hose where its hidden. If it fails, you won't know about it until it has done a lot of damage.
2. My understanding of your post is that the cold feed pipe runs behind the wall to which the shower is attached, then comes through that wall and has an elbow (up, down, left, right?) to feed into the shower unit. The elbow is too far from the wall to enable the pipe from it to connect into the shower and the shower to then sit flush on the wall.
3. You need the elbow removing, the pipe shortening by a fraction, and a new elbow attached.

If you can get at the back of the wall, use copper pipe where you would otherwise have used a flexible hose. Even so, it would be best if the joints were soldered and I guess from your posting this is not one of your skills.

You could consider running it in plastic pipe, JG Speedfit or Hep2O for example, but you'd need to check whether the fittings would be too bulky to enable you to get the shower flush with the wall.

I think you'd be well advised to get a plumber in. It might be possible to unsolder the existing elbow, shorten and clean up the pipe, then replace the existing elbow with a compression elbow.

 

[pw1123]

Oldbuffer,

You're interpretation is spot on: cold feed for shower is T-d off the bath tap supply (mains fed, no tank), through an isolation valve, and then up inside a timber stud wall to the penetration at the shower location. The pipework is 15mm copper and is presented at the shower pointing upwards - the two right angled joints facilitating this are soldered. Onto this is fitted a 15mm compression elbow to connect to the shower inlet to the right. This elbow is too far off the wall for the shower unit to connect to and also be flush to the wall.

I have a plumber coming in to (hopefully) chop a section out and re-solder the feed pipework to move the elbow closer to the wall. I'm happy enough with copper and compression joints when there's room to manoeuvre but you are correct that this is beyond my level.

This shower replacement is purely because the old one failed. Later this year the bathroom will be getting completely redone, including new plasterboard and skim on the shower wall before new aquaboard goes on. At that time I'd like to get the pipework altered such that there is inherent flexibility around the shower feed to avoid any issues like this with future shower replacements - not all inlets are the same distance away from the wall so ideally the elbow will be able to move a bit closer or further away to suit.

I agree a flexible hose wouldn't be ideal but in my dream state that's what my brain came up with.

If I got the pipework changed to plastic and increased the size of the penetration though the noggins a little, do you reckon it would achieve the flexibility I'm after? I'm conscious that this may leave the pipework under tension however...

 

[OwainDIYer]

Could you put the new shower on a spacer plinth of something waterproof to distance it from the wall surface?

 

[pw1123]

Owain,

That is an option for now...

Would still prefer a flexible arrangement for post refurb though. Guess I can pick the brains of the plumber who comes next week too, see if he's done anything similar in the past for anyone.