Plumbing: Getting close fit between elbow and shower wall

[jagerEd]

It seems that the 2" nipple for the hand-held shower elbow is about 1/8" too long. Thus when I tighten the Kohler 9664 elbow there is a 1/8" gap between the elbow and its escutchon. I have not been able to find anyone who can custom cut a nipple this short.

Two ideas come to mind. One is to get a chrome sleeve (this may be called a "cover casing" I'm told) and cut an 1/8" ring from it. This would tighten against the escutchon and show chrome in the gap. The other is to find a thicker escutchon. The one that came with the Kohler elbow is about 1/8" so a 1/4" one would, if it looked nice.

Any other ideas?

TIA

Ed

[Tom J]

There are 1 1/2 nipples and Close nipples that are shorter. Also there are shorter ells to go behind the wall, if you used a regular 90 degree ell, that will solve the problem.

Tom J

[jagerEd]

Thanks, Tom. I should have been more clear. The shower wall is already in place so it would be a MAJOR problem to change anything behind the wall. The 1

1/2" is too short.

Ed

[jagerEd]

Thanks, Jim. I will do that today if I can get the painters out of here.

Another idea occurred to me. Suppose I took the 2" nipple out, sawed 1/8" off carefully with a Dremal, and then ran a pipe thread die down two more threads? Since 1/2" pipe threads are 14 per inch this would put the elbow 2/14" =

0.143" closer to the wall. This would eliminate the gap and compress the escuchon by about 0.020". It may compress this much since it is fairly thin metal and dished. If the compression was too much for it, I could file off a little from the back edge.

The only problem is holding the 2" nipple while threading. Two thoughts on that. One is to screw it into a 1/2" steel pipe coupling, and grip the coupling in a vice. Or, I could clamp one of those "internal pipe wrenches" in my vice, then slip the nipple over it. I assume it would grip the interior of the nipple well enough to cut a thread or tow.

Comments and suggestions appreciated.

Ed

[Jim Mc Namara]

I'd either replace the nipple with a shoulder nipple or use a deep escutcheon like Speedy Jim mentioned. If you cut the existing nipple, you'll lose the tapered threads at the beginning of the nipple. You can tighten the nipple without the coupling - remember that this piece of pipe is not "pressurized" - by that I mean it does not require a seal you would normally have on the house side of the valve. A shower head stand pipe is no different than an open-ended drain pipe with pressure behind it. The pressure is not allowed to back up so a "snug" fit is all that's required versus a tight fit.

Jim Mc Namara

[jagerEd]

Thanks, Jim. Don't know what a shoulder nipple is but I'll ask when I go to a major plumbing supply house not far from me tomorrow.

I don't quite understand why I'd lose the tapered threads at the beginning. As I imagine the die working, if I cut off a couple threads then ran the die a couple turns it would add a couple new threads at the large end of the taper and cut a new face on all the threads back to the end of the pipe. So, yes, the threads are lost at the small end of the taper when I cut it off, but they are restored by the die. Maybe I didn't explain clearly enough what I was proposing to do.

But, a thicker escutchon is my first choice if I can find a decent looking one that's 1/4" thick.

I understand about the pressure. There will be some, as the hand-held shower head offers some resistance, but perhaps not much.

Thanks again.

Ed