Hiding and capping pipes

[bobbyp]

Recently I had a very bad plumber experience. Had a system boiler removed and replaced with a combi. I've recently removed the old airing cupboard to discover that he had left a few wonderful features:

1) The cold water mains riser into the roof space for the shower runs along the front edge of the airing cupboard. This is now in the middle of the room.

2) The hot water feed from the old tank has been cut and capped approximately 6" above the level of the floor boards, again in the middle of the room.

I'm keen to fix all this but I have a few questions.

The hot water cap is about two foot from a T junction, one leg goes off to the new combi and the bathroom, other leg to the kitchen. Is it ok just to cut and cap closer to the T junction and below the floor boards? This will leave a leg of the T with no flow through it. The T is soldered and I don;t fancy removing it and replacing with an elbow (poor soldering skills)

The other question is about the cold water riser. Can I run it in a chase in the wall? The wall is going to be hacked off and hardwalled so this seems like an ideal thing to do. Do I need to run in conduit?

Any advice appreciated.

Cheers
Bob.

 

[Softus]

1) The cold water mains riser into the roof space for the shower runs along the front edge of the airing cupboard. This is now in the middle of the room.

I don't think he did anything unreasonable there; or did you tell him that you would be removing the airing cupboard?

2) The hot water feed from the old tank has been cut and capped approximately 6" above the level of the floor boards, again in the middle of the room.

This is A Bad Thing, because the ever-present risk of Legionalla in stagnant water at an unhealthy temperature.

The hot water cap is about two foot from a T junction, one leg goes off to the new combi and the bathroom, other leg to the kitchen. Is it ok just to cut and cap closer to the T junction and below the floor boards?

No, for the same reason as above. Replace the tee with an elbow. If you don't like soldering then use a compression fitting. If there isn't enough pipe to make onto with a compression fitting, then cut one section back far enough to add a coupling with a new length of pipe that will reach the elbow.

The other question is about the cold water riser. Can I run it in a chase in the wall?

Inadvisable. Better to build a low profile pipe case. Don't neglect to insulate the pipe to (a) prevent condensation and (b) to keep it below unhealthy temperatures.

 

[bobbyp]

Thanks for the advice. The annoying thing is that we'd told him we were shifting the airing cupboard. At first he forgot completely to put in the riser for the shower, had to get him back to do that.

I'll go for the elbow and run the cold up in a box in the corner.

Cheers for the speedy response! I've no problem doing the work but its what to do that always gets me!