Plumbers advice needed please

~Chameleon~

I have been told by a "council employed" plumber that it is "illegal" to cut into water pipes that run behind the bath in order to provide a water supply to an adjacent room.

The reason given is that should the T joint ever fail and cause a leak, it would be difficult to access to fix. But, the part of the pipe I want to cut into would be accessible just by removing the panel with bath in situ

I'm finding this rather hard to believe because the pipes have T joints in anyway behind the bath in order to supply the taps

Is this plumber correct?

plumb1_2

Thats a new 1:rotfl:
Maybe he didn't fancy doing the job.

~Chameleon~

plumb1 wrote: »

Thats a new 1:rotfl:
Maybe he didn't fancy doing the job.

So you're saying it's NOT illegal then?

If necessary, I shall do the work myself whilst the bath is out then as I already have all the fittings and pipework necessary to do the job

ormus

i think its highly unlikely to be illegal even with the new stupid gov regs.
maybe what he meant was, it wasnt good practice.
it is wise to make all joins accessable, in case of any future problems.
i would have no trouble taking a feed off the pipes situated there.

fas3robinj

Hi M8, I'm no expert, just a DIY enthusiast.

I also doubt that it could be illegal. I've just done a whole load of pipework behind a bath I've fitted, including pipework for a shower pump(with tee junctions:rotfl:).

Just one thought. What do you want to connecting to the pipe you are thinking of ? It is quite possible that it is a gravity feed pipe, fed from the cold water tank in the attic(not the water mains). If so it would be used to supply the bath. As such it wouldn't be suitable for drinking water i.e. a feed to the kitchen sink.

Another possibility is that it's a part of the central heating system and wouldn't be good to mess with. Even worse it could be a gas pipe.
Make sure you know what it feeds, or where it's from.

Good luck with your plumbing.

~Chameleon~

Thanks, it's definitely a cold water pipe and is on the ground floor and is a direct feed from the main inlet (stop c0ck is only a few feet away) It supplies a handbasin before reaching the bath (the joint will be between these two) and then runs around the wall before exiting through wall/ceiling to supply the rest of the house/CH etc.

The feed from the joint I want to put in will only be used to supply water to a sink/washing machine in the room next door on the same level, if that helps. The only other option is to take a feed directly after the stopc0ck and run it along the outside of an external wall (outdoors) and then feed it back into the room I want it to go into further along, which just doesn't make sense to me (this is what the plumber suggested btw)

fas3robinj

In which case I would just do it.No problems.

wolfehouse

if it's a rented property (council employed plumber) could he have meant that it is against your rental agreement?

~Chameleon~

wolfehouse wrote: »

if it's a rented property (council employed plumber) could he have meant that it is against your rental agreement?

No because I already have full permission from the estates manager to do this, it's only the plumber that isn't happy about it.