What type of shower can I have?

Ganga

On a normal shower set up does the drain end of the shower tray not sit under the shower head? 

Gavin83

Ganga said:

On a normal shower set up does the drain end of the shower tray not sit under the shower head? 

Some shower drain instructions will actually advise you to keep the drain away from the shower head as the water from the shower head can actually affect flow rate.

The positioning doesn't really matter though, assuming the tray is flat. Water will flow downhill and precast shower trays will have a slope built in heading towards the drain. 

sho_me_da_money

Gavin83 said:

I can see what they've done here. I'm assuming originally the hot pipe came out of the hole to the left of the cold pipe. For some reason they've needed to replace this so they've taken that out and put it to the left instead. I expect that's why there's a coupler on the cold feed too as it's the original connection, someone deemed it too short and they've soldered on an extension.

Either way it's lazy and it needs correcting. Before you carry on any further get the pipework sorted. Assuming you can see the pipes under the shower tray it's likely the easiest solution is to remove the tray and switch the pipes over somewhere so the existing cold feed is now hot and vice versa.

Finally he's right about the waste access, it's certainly easier if it's on feet. However you're the customer and if you want it flat on the floor then he should be prepared to do that. However you do need to consider what you'll do for future access.

That's exactly what has happened.

I think they wanted to move the original pipes installed by a different plumber as the shower bar wouldn't be central between the shower screen and the rear partition wall.

They then had an issue moving one of the pipes (assuming cold) due to a joist being in the way I think? and instead opted to move the hot pipe to the right....perhaps this makes more sense to you than it does to me. 

Joist issues or not - can I get this correctly configured and positioned per standard and central?

I have a feeling they are going to have to remove the shower tray, unscrew (luckily hardie backer board is screwerd) and then remove an OSB style floorboard underneath the hardie backer to access the pipe work to modify?

Will something like that take long to do?

I don't think there is any other way here.

BUFF

If you have a bar shower valve that has outlets both above & below you may be able to get around the reversed feeds by simply installing the valve the other way up. Check that the "fixed head" outlet doesn't have any special fitting though on the bar so that it can only fit one way. The Mira has a female fitting on top & a male fitting on the bottom - you may be able to just unscrew the male fitting & screw it in the other outlet but I would want to physically inspect one before ordering.
The Hangrohe has different fittings but again both may unscrew & be usable in the other - but again look at one first.

As for pressure, what can you get your combi pressurised to?

& if the waste is at the end nearest the waste pipe it is better in terms of fall (fall may also be why he installed it on legs instead of flat to the floor).

sho_me_da_money

BUFF said:

If you have a bar shower valve that has outlets both above & below you may be able to get around the reversed feeds by simply installing the valve the other way up. Check that the "fixed head" outlet doesn't have any special fitting though on the bar so that it can only fit one way. The Mira has a female fitting on top & a male fitting on the bottom - you may be able to just unscrew the male fitting & screw it in the other outlet but I would want to physically inspect one before ordering.
The Hangrohe has different fittings but again both may unscrew & be usable in the other - but again look at one first.

As for pressure, what can you get your combi pressurised to?

& if the waste is at the end nearest the waste pipe it is better in terms of fall (fall may also be why he installed it on legs instead of flat to the floor).

I feel like im going to keep trying to keep working around this and would rather have the root cause fixed and the piping corrected.

As for pressure, what can you get your combi pressurised to?

How do I check, I always pulling that filling loop thingy and put it between 1.5 and 2. 

ThisIsWeird

As Gavin says.

As to your flow rate and pressure, the 6-second test can be carried out upstairs as well, but the kitchen is chosen as it's usually closest to the incoming mains, and is unencumbered - it's usually your 'best' available rate. But try it as close to the new shower room too.

As for pressure, you test this by wearing stone-coloured chinos, standing close to the kitchen sink, and turning it on full. Any splashes? Or, equally sofistikated, what does the flow look and feel like - does it come out t'tap strongly? Splashily? Gushingly?

If you full turn on the hot and half-on the cold upstairs, that'll give you a fair idea of what will come out the showerhead.

Belenus

Ganga said:

On a normal shower set up does the drain end of the shower tray not sit under the shower head? 

I don't know what, if anything, is considered normal but our 2005 built house has a shower tray with a corner drain at the end furthest from the shower.

Our previous house was the same.

BUFF

sho_me_da_money said:

BUFF said:

If you have a bar shower valve that has outlets both above & below you may be able to get around the reversed feeds by simply installing the valve the other way up. Check that the "fixed head" outlet doesn't have any special fitting though on the bar so that it can only fit one way. The Mira has a female fitting on top & a male fitting on the bottom - you may be able to just unscrew the male fitting & screw it in the other outlet but I would want to physically inspect one before ordering.
The Hangrohe has different fittings but again both may unscrew & be usable in the other - but again look at one first.

As for pressure, what can you get your combi pressurised to?

& if the waste is at the end nearest the waste pipe it is better in terms of fall (fall may also be why he installed it on legs instead of flat to the floor).

I feel like im going to keep trying to keep working around this and would rather have the root cause fixed and the piping corrected.

As for pressure, what can you get your combi pressurised to?

How do I check, I always pulling that filling loop thingy and put it between 1.5 and 2. 

If you can pressurise your combi to 2 bar then pressure to your shower valve isn't going to be a problem.
As for flow rate, check at your kitchen sink what you can get.
What exact model of combi do you have? It's dhw performance may be your limiting factor (particularly in winter).

plumb1_2

It’s industry standard to have hot on the left, you will have present and future problems if the pipework is not fitted correctly. There should be enough room under the tray to swop them over.

The gap with yellow arrows, are you having a stud wall built with a pocket in it.? I built one last week for a customer. For 1400 mm tray. Also recommend that a Classi seal ( other makes available) is fitted around the tray 
As Buff says the only shower valve I know that can be swopped around for cross supplies is a Mira excellent.

plumb1_2

If you go on toolstation item 61910 shower plate, you can dry fit it, and it will give you perfect 150mm centers.