Right, now I'm back home after Christmas and have measured the hole centres ready for the new mixer tap-cum-shower attachment. They're
180mm apart, so it does look like a standard measurement.
Next question: I slipped off the side of the bath to have a butchers and lo and behold, the existing taps have braided hoses! So, correct me if I'm wrong, but this should make installation of the new mixer even more of a doddle, no?
Can I re-use the same hoses? What about new sealing washers? Plumbfix, maybe?
That rings a bell. When I was drilling my tap holes on a new bath, it occurred to me to space them to whatever seemed like a "standard" for mixer taps, in case anyone wanted to change them later.
I took the dimensions from a few mixer taps online and it did seem that they followed a fixed spacing for the most part.
Yep. The washers should be standard - even B&Q will have them, or buy a small mixed kit of plumbing washers ahead of time.
IIWY, I'd replace them (or, better still, re-do in copper.) I'd always wondered how well they last until the ones on a friend's bath taps both ruptured within a year of each other at about 7 years old. The remains around the burst point looked like something from Alien - the braid was quite shredded.
The pipes to send one into instant depression are those convoluted crinkley ones, IE bend once and leave, then in ten years it gets a pin hole leak. I had those in my kitchen and it was the hot one that went first, ouch.
The 3/4" ones for bath taps are available in standard (narrow) bore hose, and a wider hose. If you have a low pressure (loft tank) supply for the bath, get the wider hose.
One of mine that was 3 years old blew under the kitchen sink. It caused a right bloody mess. I recently had a new set of taps fitted on the kitchen sink, the other hose was very close to blowing at just over 4 years old.
My mother had one blow around six months ago (a 15mm one under the sink). Horrible flood mess requiring insurance claim, new carpet and floors in bathroom and kitchen. Still not finally finished.
The braiding looked as if an explosive had gone off inside. Mostly looked perfect but one patch in the middle was destroyed.
I would never now re-use one, and would always wish to use something else. If the water is off anyway, replace.
Flexible and long-lasting, the dishwasher/wm hoses have been around for decades and follow a design which has been proven over the years - although cheapy imports might not be so good. The latest generation of braid-covered single flexible inside tube don't seem to be as good, despite appearances. I was fooled by them, too, associating the design with well-made similarly covered brake hoses and that led me to the assumption that these would be similarly long-lasting. Oh, how wrong that was. The cheap nasty ones are just as good-looking as the more expensive ones that will will last for decades, but I don't really want to be the one that finds my kitchen or bathroom flooded because of a burst flexy, fitted to save me half an hour of pipe-bending or soldering years ago.
They were probably Chinese Crap. I used to sell UK manufactured ones to WRC Standards. Never experienced a problem over thousands sold. We, (the company I worked for), had a guy from Liverpool University test some Chines Hoses and he found bits of tobacco and other rubbish in the rubber. The internal bores wre rough and supported Legionnela.
But how can one tell if it's Chinese "crap", given that pretty much everything is made in China anyway nowadays?
I was in B&Q this morning and looked at the new flexible 22mm connectors for my new mixer tap/shower attachment for the bath. Didn't think of checking where the connectors were manufactured. Are Plumb Centre ones any good?
The company I worked for did supply Plumb Centre who saw the sense in stocking WRAS Approved Tap connectors of proven provenance. Dont know whether they still do.
Yup, they do 'look' like they should be strong / reliable.
Oh.
However, I wonder if the usage may make the weaker ones fail (sooner)?
I'm thinking the worst case might be a ceramic hot bath tap on a combi system where:
1) It's always sitting at mains pressure (?)
2) It runs hot.
3) It runs for a long time (filling a bath).
4) It is turned off quickly (ceramic tap creating a surge load as the water is brought quickly to a halt).
I did buy a couple of 30cm x 15mm compression couplers (not tap connectors) but they seemed 'too cheap' so I've not used them. Hopefully the ones I fitted on the (upstairs, tank fed) shower will be under less stress than the ones on the hand basin and both under less stress than the hot tap on the sink (higher pressure than upstairs) or cold on the sink (constant mains pressure).
The ones I fitted on the (awkward) shower were about 6 quid each from a local plumbers merchant? Could that make them 'good' ones, till I get round to replacing them all with copper that is. ;-)
Not saying you are wrong. BUT ( :-) ) - the only one I have seen which was completely blown was on the hot tap in a kitchen, supplied by a vented system, has an ordinary (non-ceramic) tap, seem to run at a very ordinary temperature. And not used intensively.
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