Getting water upstairs - external pipe?

[Jimk]

Fred Dibnah?

[R D S]

At work... Downstairs was refurbed some years ago prior to us owning it, i'm trying to sort a bog upstairs out but it is becoming apparent that none of the myriad of pipes upstairs are connected to mains water.

It doesn't need to look pretty and a pipe run internally is going to cause a large headache so i'm thinking couple of holes through the wall and a well lagged pipe outside?

I can't see too much of a problem? Plastic or copper?

Or not?

[nomail]

Have you checked the roof space to see whether there's a header tank?

[spuorgelgoog]

Trace heating tape?

Someone I knew had their bath hot tap run in this way.

Owain

[Roger Hayter]

Do you live near the Mediterranean or further south? If so, it might be an idea.

[Tim+]

Do you have a header tank? If so you have at least one mains feed upstairs. Fit a T to the mains feed to the tank, disconnect the cold outlet that feeds your gravity CW supplies from the header and and join the ends. Voila! Bob?s your uncle.

If you haven?t, ignore the suggestion. ;-)

Tim

[Roger Hayter]

It would be unwise to do this without reviewing whether cold taps need restrictors, cistern inlet valves need changing, and whether there are any mixing valves on showers or hot water supplies. And new leaks are not impossible.

[R D S]

Theres's no tank anywhere, and i'm pretty sure now there's no mains water beyond the ground floor.

If I find out the soil pipe is no longer connected (cos the drains in the yard have been redone too), i'll go ballistic!

[Jim Stewart]

have a smell of it ...

[Roger Hayter]

Oh, and I forgot the hot tank. That may not be rated for the mains pressure.

[Roger Hayter]

Is there any sort of water upstairs? If not, what are the pipes for; if so, where does it come from?

[R D S]

It's a shop with a two floor flat above (is that a flat?).

The bottom floor has been gutted and redone, in a way that's as if the other two floors don't exist.

And no provision to easily use the above floors in the future. The guy who had it refurbed did so in the knowledge he'd be selling it in a few years, so has plainly pinched every penny.

[Tim+]

Point taken. I assumed that ?gravity CW feed? would be understood as the feed to all the CW taps and cisterns, not the HW tank. But maybe not everyone would interpret it that way.

Tim

[Tim+]

Ah, I though when you said ?no mains water? that your taps and cisterns were gravity fed from a tank. My mistake.

Tim

[Roger Hayter]

I wasn't sure, hence the second thought!

[tabbypurr]

If you do you'll need a frostproofing system you can rely on for it. I've not tried taking flexible plastic tubing, sealing the ends & dumping it in cu pipe, but expect it would suffice to protect against freezing.

Drainback can also protect against frost. You'd have a tank upstairs fed by pump on ground floor inside. That would be fed by a very small tank downstairs. Now when the pump stops the water drains back down the pipe, leaving it empty. I'd still lag it to avoid ice building up.

Another option is running current through the cu pipe when its temp drops to 5C. Via a transformer of course, or using insulated heating tape.

None of these options are BR approved though. It could worry prospective buyers, among other things.

[Roger Hayter]

Is the soil pipe external or internal? If the latter, there would be a useful compartment to run other pipes through.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

Well if there is water for a gravity fed tank in the loft, it has to have a pipe going upstairs somewhere. Its surely not spirited up there by some mystic, although from the amount of rain recently who knows. I think it was suggested to me that I could get mains cold into my bathroom simply from the loft pipe to the tank. Brian

[Tim+]

We?ve already covered this Brian. There are NO live pipes of any sort upstairs.

Tim

Brian Gaff \(Sofa 2\) snipped-for-privacy@bluey> Well if there is water for a gravity fed tank in the loft, it has to have a