Chasing in plastic pipes

John Rumm coughed up some electrons that declared:

I haven't but the bloke I work with has (I think) - I'll ask him tomorrow.

Cheers

Tim

I've done something a bit different. I threaded 15mm copper pipes inside 20mm plastic conduit, and plastered this into a wall. The idea was to allow the copper to move without it being stuck to the plaster. I put 135 degree bends into the pipe combination using a 22mm pipe bender to bring the ends out of the wall under the bath.

However, I still can't tell you about cracking as it's tiled over. PVC does have quite a large coefficient of expansion, so it may not be the best choice, although it probably doesn't heat up as much as the pipe itself.

I plastered two 15mm plastic radiator pipes into a wall for the cloakroom towel rail, no problems 2.5 years on!

Toby...

Splendid - that is the application in question - a pipe run to a small rad.

I was toying with the idea of injecting a bit of foam close to the pipes, and then some metal lath capping to allow the pipes to move in the wall - but was wondering if that was just making life difficult.

I just chased a groove (with a wall chaser) just wide enough for the two pipes, and popped them in. they go down the wall in the midle of the rad (So I didnt end up putting a screw through them!), then branch out either way, and just appear behind the valves, looks neat!

The wall is warm where the pipes are, so locating them again is quite simple!

Toby...

"Toby" wrote

I would expect that the depth of the chase will play a part in determining whether the capping plaster (and therefore the thickness of it) will crack or not.

Phil

Tim S coughed up some electrons that declared:

OK - had a word and he's happy I relay it here:

He put his plastic pipes in corrugated plastic flexi-conduit (from Wickes) to allow for movement. Says they're fine to date.

Cheers

Tim