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Copper pipe sizes?


Anna
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Not wishing to be a pain in the butt Punch,but all pipe sizes on heating/plumbing and mechanical services are measured internally not on external diameter,allso soil pipes etc.That is world wide. When running services to bathrooms its good practise to run 20mm pipe in france. 22mm pipe in uk.minimum,then tee off to what ever size.Its allso good practise to take 20mm pipe to within at least 1 metre of the shower ,specially if body jets are fitted.Happy days.
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Michael ,

Sorry but Paul is absolutely correct. The French always have interior & exterior pipe size e.g 8/10~~14/16 etc it just states the interior and ext size of the pipe and is described thus when bought.

I agree with Paul with sizing but nothing unusual with that, the sizes he gave are universally accepted here by everyone. Well let's put it this way, having seen so much plumbing here, his sizes have been the ones the French plumbers have used in all the work we have had done or I have seen in many other works.

 

 

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Not wishing to be a pain in the butt Punch,but all pipe sizes on heating/plumbing and mechanical services are measured internally not on external diameter,allso soil pipes etc.

Not in France the're not; Copper pipe sizes in France are displayed in two sets of figures, the first being the internal size and the second the external size. ie; 8/10 , 10/12 and so on. Most plumbers in France including myself usually refer to the external diameter when talking of pipe sizes. I was also taught this on a brazing stage I attended in France. You may be getting confused with soil pipes which give the external dimension, ie; 32mm and 40mm x3.2.

When running services to bathrooms its good practise to run 20mm pipe in france. 22mm pipe in uk.minimum,then tee off to what ever size.Its allso good practise to take 20mm pipe to within at least 1 metre of the shower ,specially if body jets are fitted.Happy days.

I still stick with my original answer for the original poster of the question. If she stated the room was to contain a bath as well then i would recommend stepping up a size or two for the main supply to the bathroom. There are very few standard domestic installations that require 20mm (external) feeds, unless there are hammans and large baths/showers with balneo and all singing and dancing jets etc.

regards,

Paul

 

 

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Punch there is a bit of splitting of hair here.On the other subject raised by Ngcr2004 about using uk style h/c water tanks and multi fuelboilers etc.Your a plumber, i should think he would be delighted to hear your views on his query.I have added mine but no doubt i am probably wrong.Being not a plumber.But i do work in france/uk, europe etc.[Going back on your previous threads i thought you was a electrician].Happy days.Michael.
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Punch there is a bit of splitting of hair here.On the other subject raised by Ngcr2004 about using uk style h/c water tanks and multi fuelboilers etc.Your a plumber, i should think he would be delighted to hear your views on his query.I have added mine but no doubt i am probably wrong.Being not a plumber.But i do work in france/uk, europe etc.[Going back on your previous threads i thought you was a electrician].Happy days.Michael.

Not at all.  Let's just say that there are many Uk plumbers who just can't let go of the Uk way of doing things and bring their methods over here and try to fit them into the French way of doing things, and that is fine by me if that's what they want to do. The same goes with electrics, although it is going to get more difficult for DIY sparkys here, just like the new UK regulation scheme. 

I work here day in and out and have done for the last 14 years, (6 years permanently), alongside French artisans and in reality and in the long term, IMHO, it is better to adopt the French way using French materials and methods. You will find all my posts over the last few years will reflect this.

I only read the first post of the "other thread" you mention but have been around on this forum since it's inception and do not wish to be drawn into long drawn out arguments over French versus UK methods. My main aim here is to help people with simple factual advice and do not like diasgrements or pointless arguments, and so any advice I give is usually well researched.

In answer to your final sentence, I was apprentice trained as a electrician 5 years, then had an Electrical Contracting/Renovations company in the Uk for over 20 years. Plumbing qualifications came from night school and having an employed plumber for 9 years on the books, and basically having my family all in some trade or another related to the building industry, backed up by "formations" in France to familiarise myself with French regs. I also employ French and English artisans here in France.

Hope this helps Mike,

best regards,

Paul

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"Not at all.  Let's just say that there are many Uk plumbers who just can't let go of the Uk way of doing things and bring their methods over here and try to fit them into the French way of doing things, and that is fine by me if that's what they want to do. The same goes with electrics, although it is going to get more difficult for DIY sparkys here, just like the new UK regulation scheme. 

I work here day in and out and have done for the last 14 years, (6 years permanently), alongside French artisans and in reality and in the long term, IMHO, it is better to adopt the French way using French materials and methods. You will find all my posts over the last few years will reflect this."

Paul,

Keep up the useful postings - there is so much useless, misleading information on this Forum - mostly from people who have no experience or knowledge of working in the real world in France.

Regards,

Bob Clarke
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/grindoux

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Punch i do agree with what you say.And yes Part P will make it more difficult for the diy sparky and cowboys in the industry,and is or will bring in even more red tape.Part L the same.It might even stop the chippys/tilers painter/come plumber jack of all trades master of none etc from operating and installing  electrical/mechanical services they really do not understand.But i doubt it.Happy days.michael.
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  • 14 years later...
hi

i am building a house in France and am going to do the plumbing my self ,i was going to bring the materials from the uk to do this

i,m going to use 22mm pipi from the main feed but i under stand the french use 20mm is there a fitting i can use make sure my 22mm pipi will fit on the stop cock

cheers

pete
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Pete, I am not a professional but a reasonable diyer. We have been part time in France for 20 years and I have tackled numerous plumbing projects. The most important piece of advice I received from all types of experienced workers was to only use French materials and techniques.

This was difficult at first but I soon appreciated their wisdom and advice. I think you should follow the same advice and abandon your plan to source all your materials in the UK.

It is quite easy to change your methods of installation.

Alistair
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Pete, I know you probably won't be thinking of selling the house but .......... life comes along and stuff happens.

I think you would find that you had to reduce the sale price of a house which had English plumbing.

Someone will be along to correct me if I'm wrong.
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Still using copper? I went over to "Polyéthylène réticulé" a long time ago. Easier to work with, albeit the joints are expensive. Less prone to leaks if your soldering is not up to scratch. Easier to repair/extend afterwards as does not need to drain down to solder. Plus, it has a bit of give if your house freezes.
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House in the UK was built in 1968 and when making some changes to the heating system suddenly discovered that some of the old pipework was 1/2" and 3/4". Sudden problems but adaptors are available. But this is not ideal.

So install 15mm pipework in your French house, get a burst pipe want to make a change and you have a problem.

When in Rome do as the Romans do, when in France do as the French tradespeople do.
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