pipes to towel warmer through breezeblock/plaster wall

[DH05]

Hello: I installed a chrome towel rail on a breezeblock and plaster internal wall. Pipes chased and tunnelled through wall from void in floor and emerge from wall to reach the radiator valves two inches or so away (coming straight out of the floor is not an option). All pipes are copper 15mm (wrapped in that sticky tape) except last stub to the radiator which is chrome. All joints are soldered except last elbow inside the wall to the chrome pipe is compression. A plumber who saw the work said I should not have compression joints buried in plaster because stresses from future maintenance of radiator could cause leaks. He said use solder elbow or plastic push fit. Is this good advice and worth redoing the work? Questions:
a) If I solder, I'll need to have other end of pipe in the radiator valve for alignment purposes. Won't heat 2 inches away damage compression fitting on the valve or the valve itself? Obviously won't use chrome for that pipe.
b) if use plastic elbow, won't stresses of future maintenance in 15 years cause potential leak of O ring anyway? By the way, how do you safely bury plastic couplers in plaster?
Thank you in advance!

 

[kevplumb]

a / no

b / dont use pushfit on chrome pipe unless you remove the chrome

dont like the idea of burying comp fittings

if you must bury the pipe etc make sure it is well wrapped

 

[bathjobby]

All fittings should be accessible. Under floor boards, behind panels etc, are all accessible, buried in plaster are not. Have you considered getting your self a pipe bender and using that to form the pipe where it need to go through 90 in the wall ?

 

[DH05]

bathjobby: thanks for comments. I agree with all you say, but there just isn't any practical way to avoid couplings of some kind inside the wall (otherwise would need to damage tiles and other things I can't easily replace). If I grudgingly accept the need for an elbow in the wall, what's the best (or the least bad) solution: plastic, solder or compression? And is a compression coupling, if done carefully, really likely to be a problem later on?

Kevplumb: didn't know about chrome with plastic push fits. Thanks for pointing that out. As I said to bathjobby above, of the three couplings, what's your view of the lowest risk buried in a wall?

 

[kevplumb]

soldered

 

[bathjobby]

Whats wrong with using a pipe bender.

 

[DH05]

Thanks, all. I've removed the chrome pipe. I've replaced the compression fittings with soldered fittings. Next time, I'll see if there's a way to route the pipes such that everything inside the wall is free of joints. And I conclude there isn't much enthusiasm out there for plastic push fits