Spa bath help please

[leenowell]

Hi all,

I have bought a spa bath (Duravit Starck) from eBay and was wondering if an yone here could me with a few (perhaps basic questions please)?

1. On the side are 3 circular chrome rings. 2 are clearly buttons to switc h the jets on/ off but the third one seems to be connected via a pipe to th e pipe going to the side jets. Unfortunately this one is missing the chrom e bit (beneath is a black rubber thing...) so hard to see what it is for an d how it operates? Any ideas?

1. One of the buttons seems to stick down once pressed. There appears to b e a rubber seal that the chrome button hits (I assume to push air down the little pipe to activate the motor switch) and I was wondering if this is le aking and hence not causing it to pop back up. I have tried WD40 on the ch amber to easy the movement of the chrome piece but no joy. Any ideas? If it needs to be replaced, any idea what they are called as I can't seem to f ind them on the web.

2. The feet are essentially metal threads. Are they supposed to have rubbe r feet etc. on the bottom? Do spa baths have special types of feet to help limit noise transfer / vibration?

1. The 2 motors are wired into a waterproof junction box (although poorly - the outer sheathing has been stripped too far so you can see the individua l wires coming out of the box). Looking on the web re: the wiring, it seem s like there is much debate about whether the mains feed to the junction bo x needs to come from an RCCD outside of the bathroom or whether this can be in the bathroom itself - and in what zone. It seems fine to spur it off t he normal ring main as far as I can tell. Is anyone able to confirm which is required?

2. I have done a fair amount of house wiring in the past (before the new ru les!) and was wondering whether I am permitted to do this myself or whether I will need a qualified electrician to do it? If the latter, how much are they likely to charge? The bathroom and landing has all the floor up so r unning wires should be easy - I could run it ready for them if that would b e easier.

thanks in advance for your help

Lee.

[John Rumm]

Can't help much on the bath controls since I am not familiar with that bath. Can you not get and installation manual from the web somewhere?

The maker seems to have a download section for installers:

Electrical accessories in the bathroom need to be appropriate for the zone they are in and any special circumstance as well. Generally the space under a bath is considered "outside" of the zones so long as you need a tool to gain access to it (e.g. a needing to remove a screwed on panel etc).

More details here:

Yes you can DIY. Work in bathrooms other than like for like replacements is still in the scope of part P. Full details here:

Needless to say, most people in your circumstances would just get on and do the work.

(anecdotal evidence would suggest that the number of standalone applications made to building control for electrical work is approaching nil in many areas!)

[lee]

Thanks very much John. Unfortunately the exact model isn't on their website so wonder if it is either older or maybe imported or something. After a bi t more research it seems like the other control is to vary the power. Any i dea how this works? Just looks like a rubber diaphragm at the top.

Also, I have now discovered another issue. One of the connectors to the bot tom air jets is broken (it is a sort of tee where one of the junctions has snapped off). I havd just put some solvent weld on to see if it repairs it but not holding out much hope. Can they be replaced? The pipes going into i t are mainly flexible plastic and seem "glued" in. Also, there is a metal p ipe going into it and then a piece of hose to the trap. I assume this is to drain the pipework but can't see what stops this happening when filling th e bath. I assune once the air jets are on the pressure will stop it.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Lee.

[John Rumm]

Probably worth giving them a ring to see what they can provide...

You would have to talk to the manufacture again I expect. However you may be able to bodge something with some silicone tube of an appropriate diameter to join the broken bits back together.

The model I had seen did not have a drain as such (you needed to run the air once the bath was empty to purge water from the pipes)