Plumbing Towel radiator - chasing pipes

[kevin_robson]

I will be plumbing a towel radiator into my bathroom in a few weeks after getting it replastered.
The radiator will be about 2ft off the ground so I'd prefer to chase the plumbing into the wall and replaster over it, rather than having pipes running up the wall. It is a solid brick wall so it cant run up behind it.

The plaster will not be thick enough for 15mm pipes to be chased in, but I saw some 10mm microbore copper pipe last night. They had adapaters to go from 10mm to 15mm.

Can these pipes be used for central heating or does it need to be 15mm? Will resticting the diameter affect the flow around the heating system or will it be adequate? Are there any gotchas with burrying pipes under plaster (I will ensure any joints are soldered)

 

[kevplumb]

use 10mm hep2o and no joints in the plaster

 

[kevin_robson]

Thanks
Is there any reason why I couldn't/shouldn't use copper 10mm pipes though? I assume these would be easier to bend to where I want them?

I take it the smaller diameter will not to any harm to the heating system and not greatly affect its performance?

Cheers

 

[ricarbo]

Plaster is aggressive to copper, so it rots the pipe. Copper expands when it's heated so the plaster falls off. So you need to wrap the pipe to isolate it from the plaster, chemically and spatially. 10 mm pipes will be ok with a low output rad, but insufficient for a bigger one, so the answer depends on the output of your rad

 

[kevin_robson]

That makes sense. Glad I asked as didn't reaslise that.
It will not be a radiator as such - will be a towel radiator. Probably about 4ft * 2ft in size. I guess this doesn't class as a 'large' radiator? BTU output is about 2500.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[kevin_robson]

I've had a better look at the hep2o website, and will unfortunaly have to rule these out. I will need a very tight right angle bend which is not possible with these without using a joint.

With copper I would have used a soldered right angle bend and plastered over, or is even a soldered joint not recommended? If I did use copper, is there any sheilding I could use to overcome the problems with plaster and heat mentioed earlier.

Any other ideas?

Thanks Again

 

[ricarbo]

If you google 'copper development association', the uk site not the american one, you will be able to get detailed advice. But I think I would either put the 15mm pipes inside a 22mm pipe or I'd wrap it loosely in plastic bubble wrap. Or, I might not bury the pipes, but get some chromed copper pipe as used for showers - not sure if you can make soldered joints on this though. Where the buried pipes come out of the wall I'd use chromed plastic collars.

 

[kevin_robson]

Thanks Again.
The depth of the plaster is not quite thick enough for 15mm pipes unfortunatly - I was going to go for 10mm pipes anyway. Even with bubble wrap I'd be struggling.

Chrome was my backup plan - I dont believe you can solder but it wouldn't matter if they were coming up the outside of the wall as I could use compression joints anyway.

I will have a look at the website you suggest anyway and see if they have any other ideas.

 

[kevplumb]

you can solder chromed copper

if you clean the chrome off the jointing area

you can get chromed yorkshire elbows here

 

[ricarbo]

i didn't say about the soldered joints - my understanding is that plaster is even more aggressive to these than copper. So they are to be avoided.

 

[kevplumb]

not bury the pipes, but get some chromed copper pipe as used for showers - not sure if you can make soldered joints on this though.

must be my eyes

how is the plaster going to affect it if it's surface run