Isolating valves on basin - is there any point?

[Albumen]

I'm just about to fit a pair of new taps to an upstairs basin. While I'm at it I'll take off the flexible tap connectors and replace with soldered copper.

There aren't any isolating valves at the moment. But is there any point? This is the highest water in the house. I did one tap last night, and it's trivially easy to turn off the stop cock and open all the taps. That's what I did last night and not a drop came out, apart from what was held in the tap itself.

Is there some situation I'm missing where isolating valves might be useful? A new basin would probably entail pipe rearrangement anyway. And if I wanted to decommission the basin supplies for a bathroom rearrangement, I'd just cap the supplies.

Although I'm confident of doing compression joints, I've done plenty, it is still another weak(ish) point in the system, compared to soldered copper.

Thanks for advice.

P.S. I've read the very many discussions on flexible connectors, and please, I don't want to resurrect any of that. I'm a belt and braces man, and this is a pedestal basin, so as easy as it should be to bend/solder copper to get it out of the way. Yes, I've got a pipe bender, good soldering torch and I've done a lot of it.

 

[pete50]

It's your choice really but an isolating valve on the cold means that I don't have to cart back and fore to the main isolator under the kitchen sink or outside. I have a hot water tank in my loft so turning off the hot water means a trip up the loft. An isolator in the hot pipe means I can do it at the basin. I have fitted isolators on all my feed pipes over the years. They are all compression and have never leaked not even recently when I redid my kitchen. Personally I would trust a compression joint over a soldered joint. bottom line is that it is up to you.

 

[Albumen]

Thanks for the reply. I've no tanks in the loft, we've a combi boiler, no HW tank, no top up tank (or whatever it's called) As I said, I'm fairly confident of my compression joints, once I'd got the hang of them I've not had a leak. And these will be highly visible and accessible, so if there's a bit of weeping at first easy enough to nip up. One advantage of all copper is I can paint them. Although this is a pedestal, the pipes don't come up in the 'void' in the stand, though they are 'behind' it. But the basin is side on to the door, so plumbing is visible as you come in. No big deal, but all copper would mean I could tart them up a bit.

 

[Madrab]

Strictly speaking the need for ISO/Service valves are for the conservation of water as well as ease of servicing the outlet they supply. Saves the need to drain down the pipework, especially when soldering.

 

[Albumen]

Though the amount I'm going to 'waste' will be minimal. However much water is contained in 20 feet (?) of 15mm copper pipe.

Though I have had a second thought. Which is that this will involve soldering onto existing pipework, which goes down into a (now) inaccessible void. I'm pretty sure that I made the changes of direction under there with bends, rather than elbows, but I worry about a) heat disturbing those joints and b) the problems that you sometimes get with soldering pipes that have some, even just traces, of water in them. So on second thoughts I think I'll do the tap connector and various bends in soldered copper but make the final connection to the existing via a valve. It also means I can thoroughly clean excess flux out the soldered pipe work I do make.

 

[Keithmac]

All mine are isolated now including toilet.

Having moved into a house with pretty bad plumbing the ease of just turning one pipe off is worth the effort!.

I've found new compression fittings a pain compared to 10 years ago but once there water tight they only give bother if disturbed.

Having pulled a few olives off I can't see the possiblity of a catastrophic failure on a compression joint!.

 

[endecotp]

Isolators mean that your other half can start cooking the dinner while you go to B&Q yet again to swap the thingy for one of the right size when you discover it's wrong after already removing the old one.

See also: why you should always have a 15mm pushfit stop end in your pocket before you start any plumbing job.

 

[Madrab]

Though the amount I'm going to 'waste' will be minimal. However much water is contained in 20 feet (?) of 15mm copper pipe.

Multiply that by 25 million odd homes , millions of commercial properties and industries etc..... if none of them had ISO/service valves and then drained down every time work was done, that's quite a lot of water wasted methinks. That's why it's in the regs.

 

[banjodeano]

Multiply that by 25 million odd homes , millions of commercial properties and industries etc..... if none of them had ISO/service valves and then drained down every time work was done, that's quite a lot of water wasted methinks. That's why it's in the regs.

but then i suppose if you calculated all the energy used to make all those compression joints, would there actually be any benefit?

 

[Madrab]

but then i suppose if you calculated all the energy used to make all those compression joints, would there actually be any benefit?

Probably not but given they are 2 completely different resources, created by different processes and the fact that there are major water shortages and droughts every year, that's why it's in the regs. This isn't an argument about energy conservation, this is about conserving drinking water.

I'm only pointing out why they should be used and I certainly know which one my body could do without.

 

[aptsys]

It's worth installing isolation valves. Always think of the next person!

Though the amount I'm going to 'waste' will be minimal. However much water is contained in 20 feet (?) of 15mm copper pipe.

About a litre