How do you install this sort of bath?

[ProDave]

I have been offered a new, unused bath very cheap. It's probably this one https://www.bathstore.com/products/london-free-standing-bath-576.html  If it's not that exact one, it is very similar, it certainly came from Bath Store.

 

The person who has it for sale has decided not to fit it because it requires a "flexi" waste hose which he did not like.

 

It comes in 2 parts. The surround that you fix to the floor, and then the bath drops into it and sits on feet. He mentioned inserting the bath then sliding it sideways to lock it in position?

 

Firstly this waste thing. What is a flexi waste (I can make a pretty good guess) and are they a problem waiting to happen or are they in fact okay?

 

I had a thought of inserting the bath first and fitting a solid waste from below, perhaps with a top access shower trap?  I am not sure if I can do that as there is a joist immediately below where the waste would come out, so it would only have the gap between the floor and the bottom of the bath to fit in, and I don't know how big that is.  (the seller can't do that as he has already boarded the ceiling below)

 

And secondly the taps? I assume these are also connected with flexi pipes so you can connect them and then lower the bath in?  I am sure I read on this forum (probably in @Onoff epic bathroom thread) about top access tap fittings.

 

The bath as it is is not presently drilled for the taps if that is relevant.

 

[Tennentslager]

There's a installation video on the bathstore website

 

[Onoff]

Flexi waste is nothing special:

 

 

I used a waste similar to the video @Tennentslager posted:

 

 

If the bath isn't drilled then I wouldn't. Have deck mount taps on the wall and fill via the overflow.

 

If you must have traditional taps then as mine were to the wall I made them removable using an Easy Fix kit: 

 

https://www.tapwarehouse.com/product/bath-tap-easy-fix-kit-bef001?gclid=EAIaIQobChMItePf7eLF1gIVQuEbCh1_EwzrEAQYASABEgKc4fD_BwE

 

(Can't believe you didn't want to wade through my thread! )

[Bitpipe]

We have a free standing bath that came with a very flimsy and quite narrow bore flexi waste. Plumber took one look at it and laughed.

 

Because there was not much clearance under the bath, we needed to cut a square out of the newly tiled floor to allow a proper u trap to be installed. Still had a bit of flexi to meet the main waste but post trap.

 

Looked at HepVo but he did not like the idea of this sitting horizontally as it could easily clog open (hair) and then let smells back.

[ProDave]

Thanks @Tennentslager Interesting video.

 

Having watched that, I have concluded it will be impossible to fit it the way they say, as the flatish side with the taps is going to go against a wall so it will be impossible to do the "lift it on blocks and connect" trick.

 

I have now measured the bath and there is about 150mm from the bottom of the bath to the floor.  That should be enough to fit a normal rigid bath waste, fit the bath in position then fit the solid waste from below without a flexi.

 

I can't fit the taps in the wall. Due to a pinch point, that wall is not having any service void at all, so it will have to be deck taps with flexi pipes going down through the gap between the bath and the panel and out under the floor to connect to copper, using the top access devices mentioned in case the tap ever needs replacing.

 

Anyone see any issues with that proposal?

 

 

[ProDave]

One more "concern" and that again comes back to the way you fit this sort of bath and the fact access is at best "difficult"

 

The pop up waste.

 

Now I have had a bad experience with a pop up waste failing, and needing to be replaced.  It was an annoyance, but not a big job in a conventional bath with a side panel that you just remove for access, but when you have to lift the whole bath out to replace it, it goes from an inconvenience, to a major PITA.

 

So what alternatives are there to a pop up waste?  I don't think a plug on a chain will cut the mustard with SWMBO (though for reliability and servicing cannot be beaten)  What about rotating wastes? I have seen them on basins, where a flat disc pivots in the middle and you just push one side to open it for emptying. Is such a thing available for a bath? or any other types of modern waste that don't rely on a flimsy mechanism (i.e not pop up actuated by twisting the waste fitting)

[Onoff]

You turn the big knob on the overflow on mine and it has a rigid control "cable" that operates the pop up waste. As you know I've spent ages on mine so I can get to everything relatively easily.

 

Better so far than the push to shut / push to drain sprung waste in the upstairs basin, that's carp!

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, Onoff said:

You turn the big knob on the overflow on mine and it has a rigid control "cable" that operates the pop up waste. As you know I've spent ages on mine so I can get to everything relatively easily.

 

Better so far than the push to shut / push to drain sprung waste in the upstairs basin, that's carp!

That's the point, with this sort of bath, you can't "get to everything easily"

 

The previous pop up waste we had an issue with, one day it just would not pop up. Upon examination, it used a solid cored bowden cable type mechanism from the rotating waste "knob" to the waste mechanism. BUT the inner cable was in compression to push the waste up, not tension, and had buckled at the short exposed section.

 

This taught me several things. NEVER trust a "designer" to have even the most basic understanding of mechanical principles. Always allow easy access to repair or replace components like this. If you can't get easy access, design a system for in situ maintenance.

 

I have come across what are know as "click clack" wastes, you push it once, it pops up, you push it again, it pops down. Then there are the complaints, you sit on the plug and your bath empties.

 

I could design something myself, like the mushroom vents of an mvhr where you rotate the plug and it rises on a screw thread. Easy, simple, top access, nothing to go wrong. surely someone must make something like that?

[Ferdinand]

I would make the whole thing Incredibly simple.

 

My posh one died and I use one of these or similar. It may be the sort of thing from The Range or Pound Shop. I normally keep a couple in stock for tenants, and if it is good enough for my Ts then it is OK for me.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chrome-Plated-Plug-Handle-Waste/dp/B009YTQ88G

 

If you want a flippy one flip-top is the phrase:

 

There are such plugs around including a few for baths:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=flip+top+%2Bbath+waste&client=safari&hl=en-gb&prmd=sivn&source=lnms&tbm=shop&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiryq2jnMbWAhUkOsAKHQk3DYgQ_AUIESgB&biw=1024&bih=672

 

F

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2017 by Ferdinand

[ProDave]

Thanks @Ferdinand  As always it's knowing the correct name for something.

 

This should do the job with no hidden mechanism to go wrong and should not pop up should you sit on it http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BATH-WASTE-SWIVEL-FLIP-PLUG-TOP-CHROME-BRASS-BATH-WASTE-OVERFLOW-FACE-/391493900884?hash=item5b26dada54:m:mPyBjeg1TnJ4ImX7r8krstA

 

[Nickfromwales]

I've fitted umpteen of these flexible wastes over the last 10+ years without a single issue, complaint or failure. They're actually extremely reliable when fitting the likes of McAlpine. 

I kept two spare boxes of tiles for my bathroom, tiled over a 3-way diverter valve and boxed and tiled my bath panel over a click-clack waste and combination overflow filler. 

The simple fact is, almost every outlet valve and tap is now serviced / overhauled from the top / front, with the exception of say an overflow filler. The only thing I've been impressed with is @Onoff's bath tap retaining do-daa so you can make the taps off over the bath and offer them back down once tested. Sweet.

I will say that I'd only ever fit deck taps ( not a pair of single stand alone taps ) so you cannot ever have them rotate and come loose, a comm problem simply alleviated by fitting a deck ( one-piece ) tap. 

+1 on the flip waste, just done one and I'm sold on the idea. 

Edited September 28, 2017 by Nickfromwales