Is this pipework into a towel rail awful?

JG0

A family friend has fit a new bathroom for me. He's not a plumber by trade. Today he fit the towel rail, and to me the pipework looks really messy and just so.. prominent.

Photos below, and I was wondering what your thoughts were? I'm happy to pay a plumber to sort it out, but just wanted some thoughts on what, if anything, could be done better here.

Thanks for any help.

sammyjammy

Its awful but thats what you get when a mate plumbs your bathroom for you!

HampshireH

What a mess. This is definitely a case of if you want a proper job done employ the proper trade to do it.

Those pipes definitely do not go with the sleek black white and grey look you were after

I hope the rest of your plumbing is a little tidier.

Is there a reason they feed through the floor on one side and not straight down from the rail 

stuart45

Never a good sign when the bathroom fitter turns up with a load of B&Q copper push fit elbows.

nofoollikeold

1. It's dreadful and clearly fitted by someone with no knowledge of plumbing and no aesthetic sense.
2. Those isolation valve (just above the floor) should not be used on central heating.  They are generally not rated for the continuous high temperatures of a heating system and may well leak eventually.
3. With regard to the pipework, if the floor is laminated then:
3.1 Unless the laminate is lifted and replaced, the pipes cannot be run directly from floor to radiator and some bends / joins must be on show.
3.2 It is normal these days to sink the pipes into the walls, with small "tails" coming out of the walls at the radiator inlet centres then turning up to go directly into the radiator.  To do so in this case would mean damaging four tiles and would also require the floor to be lifted, unless access could be provided from any room directly behind the wall.
4. The fitter has used copper push fit, hence the bulky joints on the fittings.  It is just possible he / she has used crimped joints, but I think this unlikely.
5. It would be better done with copper pipe with bends (requiring a pipe bender or spring) with joints made with end feed solder fittings.  
6. I'd have done the right hand side:
6.1 An elbow onto the original pipe at floor level running straight back to the wall.
6.2 An elbow and pipe running to the left to just beyond a straight line down from the right hand valve.
6.3 An elbow and pipe running straight up the wall to just below the right hand valve.
6.4 A kick out of the pipe (pipe bender) to bring the pipe out into the right position for joining to the right hand valve.
6.5 A long "street" elbow on the end of the pipe into the valve.
7. For the left hand valve:
7.1 An elbow onto the original pipe at floor level running straight back to the wall.
7.2 An elbow and pipe running to the left to a straight line down from the left hand valve.
7.3 An elbow and pipe running straight up the wall to just below the right hand valve.
7.4 An offset to bring the pipe directly into the left hand valve.

twopenny

By putting it on after fitting the tiles and floor you are still going to have pipes going outside the tiles so visible.

I'm guessing the pipes have to go in the floor because that's where the heating pipes come in.

It's very creative considering one pipe exit goes down and one across -

By all means ask a plumber, that should be free to do, but not sure if they could make it better when everything else is fitted. The radiator should be over where the pipes enter the floor - but can't because of the electrical socket.

But going straight down if possible would be tidier if they can think of a way. You could paint them to match the tiles.

swingaloo

'He's not a plumber by trade'. I believe you! Is he still a family friend?

Sarahspangles

He’s not called Robinson is he? First name Heath?

JG0

Many thanks for the replies - the bathroom as a whole is really nice, so it's a shame this last bit isn't so good.

I'm currently considering the least intrusive options to fix this.

nofoollikeold said:

6. I'd have done the right hand side:
6.1 An elbow onto the original pipe at floor level running straight back to the wall.
6.2 An elbow and pipe running to the left to just beyond a straight line down from the right hand valve.
6.3 An elbow and pipe running straight up the wall to just below the right hand valve.
6.4 A kick out of the pipe (pipe bender) to bring the pipe out into the right position for joining to the right hand valve.
6.5 A long "street" elbow on the end of the pipe into the valve.
7. For the left hand valve:
7.1 An elbow onto the original pipe at floor level running straight back to the wall.
7.2 An elbow and pipe running to the left to a straight line down from the left hand valve.
7.3 An elbow and pipe running straight up the wall to just below the right hand valve.
7.4 An offset to bring the pipe directly into the left hand valve.

First of all, I really appreciate the detailed reply.

Excuse the dodgy photoshop, but is the below roughly how you're describing? It's hard to draw the the elbows and offsets etc, but as a rough illustration:

If so, is this something that a plumber could feasibly fix based on what's currently there?

flashg67

Is this a radiator that can be run on just electric? If so, I'd be tempted to do that....

Jellynailer

Assuming that is a laminate floor, I would get some of the same and box it in around the bottom half; paint the rest as per Twopenny's advice and hang a hand towel from about 4 rungs up.  I had narrow box ins done in my bathroom and they blend in so you don't notice them.