Not another building project

[stevewool]

13 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Steve... If it were me, I would fix the problem properly now while you still have tiles available and the guys who did the work. They should remember how the pipes fit in the walls so easy to find. Yeah...it's a hassle.

My thinking, too, is that, if you fit a proper valve there, you can always, easily service or replace the shower head assembly without having to shut off the entire house supply. While you are at it, have you considered installing a tap down low for filling buckets for general washing? Just some ideas for you...

That is what needs to be done, yes a ball ache but I would regret it if it was not done proper, we have a tap further down the pipe and this was where my first thought was for the valve, but that would be more work, so it’s going to be messy for a few hours, lucky we have another shower in the house to use for a day or so.

[hk blues]

Are you going to install a heater to the shower, Sreve?

[stevewool]

5 minutes ago, hk blues said:

Are you going to install a heater to the shower, Sreve?

Not yet, we will be in the house for nearly 2 months then after that it could be a few months to a year before we are back again , we have a budget and the money is going fast and still lots to do , the cold shower is still a novelty for now.

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, stevewool said:

Not yet, we will be in the house for nearly 2 months then after that it could be a few months to a year before we are back again , we have a budget and the money is going fast and still lots to do , the cold shower is still a novelty for now.

The reason I asked is that you could have installed the on/off valve at the shower heater so no need to bust any tiles.  We now have 2 valves - one on the wall and another at the shower heater - we leave the shower heater one open all the time.    

[Mike J]

17 hours ago, stevewool said:

it’s fitted on the metal shower head and it’s blue and red , we forgot to fit a valve to the pipe that is buried in the wall behind the tiles

When you posted the CR pictures with the red arrows I wondered about that.  But then I just assumed I could not see them.  Reminds me of the tiler who tiled right over the outlet in the wall where the lav would drain when we did a CR remodel.  I caught it before the motor dried and it was fixed.  A few other screw ups and I brought in the contractor/plumber who had hired him.  The contractor brought in a new tile guy who fixed the remaining errors at the expense of the contractor.

[Tommy T.]

2 hours ago, hk blues said:

Are you going to install a heater to the shower, Sreve?

Another thought just occurred to me, Steve. If you tire of cold water showers some day, do you have a power point installed in or near the shower for a water heater? If not, now might be the time to consider it if you will be having some tiles removed/broken up and making a mess?

HK... as usual, you make some good points here...

9 minutes ago, Mike J said:

When you posted the CR pictures with the red arrows I wondered about that.  But then I just assumed I could not see them.  Reminds me of the tiler who tiled right over the outlet in the wall where the lav would drain when we did a CR remodel.  I caught it before the motor dried and it was fixed.  A few other screw ups and I brought in the contractor/plumber who had hired him.  The contractor brought in a new tile guy who fixed the remaining errors at the expense of the contractor.

Your shower looks exactly how I would expect from you, Mike - businesslike, neat, efficient and elegant.

Why did you choose to do the outside plumbing rather than inside the wall for the shower fixtures? L and I are having a discussion about which way to go - mainly for aesthetics, but also for practicality... We both think the embedded would look a bit less busy but we are not set in our ways here yet.

[Gary D]

The showers here don't seem to be set up for internal plumbing, at less the unit I'm installing isn't. I am taking the power internally though.

[Mike J]

36 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Another thought just occurred to me, Steve. If you tire of cold water showers some day, do you have a power point installed in or near the shower for a water heater? If not, now might be the time to consider it if you will be having some tiles removed/broken up and making a mess?

HK... as usual, you make some good points here...

Your shower looks exactly how I would expect from you, Mike - businesslike, neat, efficient and elegant.

Why did you choose to do the outside plumbing rather than inside the wall for the shower fixtures? L and I are having a discussion about which way to go - mainly for aesthetics, but also for practicality... We both think the embedded would look a bit less busy but we are not set in our ways here yet.

Outside the was is pretty much the standard for this type of shower.  The main valve has three settings in addition to pressure and temperature:  handheld shower, rain shower, and a nice spigot to fill a tabo bucket.  The valve also allows you to mix cold water with the hot water from the on demand heater.  The plumbing from the main valve up to the shower heater is buried in the wall, as is the supply line to the valve. If you go this route make you plumber pressure test the joints prior to doing the tile work.  The hand shower is also handy to use when cleaning the inside of the shower and when bathing our dog.

So you have:

Cold water supply line to main three way valve (in wall)

Cold water supply line to heater (in wall a T from the cold supply)

Cold water flex line to heater (out side from above)

Hot water flex line from heater (out side from above back into wall)

Hot water to the main three way value (in wall)

This makes for a nice clean installation and allows you to easily replace the shower heater if required.

When is say "above" I mean in the above line of the explanation

Edited December 27, 2019 by Mike J
Explain use of "above"

[Gary D]

2 minutes ago, Mike J said:

Outside the was is pretty much the standard for this type of shower.  The main valve has three settings in addition to pressure and temperature:  handheld shower, rain shower, and a nice spigot to fill a tabo bucket.  The valve also allows you to mix cold water with the hot water from the on demand heater.  The plumbing from the main valve up to the shower heater is buried in the wall, as is the supply line to the valve. If you go this route make you plumber pressure test the joints prior to doing the tile work.  The hand shower is also handy to use when cleaning the inside of the shower and when bathing our dog.

So you have:

Cold water supply line to main three way valve (in wall)

Cold water supply line to heater (in wall a T from the cold supply)

Cold water flex line to heater (out side from above)

Hot water flex line from heater (out side from above back into wall)

Hot water to the main three way value (in wall)

This makes for a nice clean installation and allows you to easily replace the shower heater if required.

Keeping mine much simpler, cold line embedded to bucket tap. From tap embedded to wall spigot and flexi hose to shower stop valve.

[Tommy T.]

5 minutes ago, Mike J said:

Outside the was is pretty much the standard for this type of shower.  The main valve has three settings in addition to pressure and temperature:  handheld shower, rain shower, and a nice spigot to fill a tabo bucket. 

I think I understand your setup fairly well now - thanks for your detailed description! Is this sort of selection available - do you know - if the mixer/valve is a type that is set into the wall? From what I have seen, the in-wall versions only seem to permit rain shower or handheld but no spigot selection. There does not appear to be any that offer the same 3-way selection that you describe - and that I have seen - when shopping for fixtures. I know I can make a spigot selection with another in-wall valve, but then it starts to get more complicated and expensive - especially if we want (as we do) the choice of getting hot water to the spigot for cleaning things with bucket water...