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pipe sizes


Dennisj

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I know this subject has been raised a few times, I have searched the archives and got lost in what looks to have been a clash of personalities.

My Balon Rechauffage-Mixte....... which I am having difficulty finding in area 16, any help appreciated, will be located at one end of the house. My pipework, both hot and cold, will pass through bathroom 1 which will have a bath, shower, hand basin and toilet it will then split off in different directions to bathroom 2 and the kitchen. I think I did find enough information to set me on the road and unless someone says otherwise will install the pipe work as follows:

22mm hot and cold feed through the bathrooms, tee-ing off in 12mm for hand basins, 10mm for toilets and 16mm for showers and baths. Then reducing to 16mm for the kitchen.

Dennisj

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This is what my French plumbing manual says:

main feed 20x22 (i.e.22mm)

washbasins, bidet 10x12

wc 8x10 OR 10x12

shower, sink 12x14

bath 14x16

groupe d'appareils sanitaires (whatever that is) 16x18

washing machine, dishwasher 12x14

Pipes to be fixed every metre, and at 15cm each side of the corner point when turning corners.

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22/20 seems huge to me once you have split between cold water feed and feed to chauf d'eaux . I would drop to 16/14 immediately unless I was dealing with a huge house or hotel.   

How are you heating your water ? - << My Balon Rechauffage-Mixte..>>  sounds like something you use where you have central heating and hot water heating off both off two sources say electricity for summer and wood burner or Fuel for winter. If so you need a full scale plumbers merchants say Brossette rather than the DIY sheds like Castorama, Brico Depot or Leroy Merlin.

 

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[quote user="Anton Redman"]

22/20 seems huge to me once you have split between cold water feed and feed to chauf d'eaux . I would drop to 16/14 immediately unless I was dealing with a huge house or hotel.   

How are you heating your water ? - << My Balon Rechauffage-Mixte..>>  sounds like something you use where you have central heating and hot water heating off both off two sources say electricity for summer and wood burner or Fuel for winter. If so you need a full scale plumbers merchants say Brossette rather than the DIY sheds like Castorama, Brico Depot or Leroy Merlin.

 

[/quote]

I agree with Anton, I'd drop down to 16 as the distribution size (assuming you have the usual sort of 3 or 4 bar supply pressure).

A neighbour of ours needed a chauffeau mixte. Couldn't find one in any of the bricos, so he ordered it from Leroy Merlin. About 475E for a 250L I think, took about 2 or 3 weeks to arrive (plus another 4 weeks to remove August from the calculation!).

p

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Yes, there is no real necessity in the average French situation for long lengths of 22mm for domestic hot and cold (CH is another matter). In fact, if you have long lengths of 22mm it can be a positive disadvantage in some cases as you will find that a distant washbasin - say - will have twice the volume of cold to run away before the hot gets through as you would have with a 14mm or 16mm pipe (and twice the volume of hot left in the pipes going cold after you turn off the tap).

The only reason the British are wedded to 22mm as a hot distribution size is because, in 9 houses out of 10, they still have this ludicrous system of putting a supply tank in the loft space ensuring the total head is about .4 Bar (i.e. buggar* all) as opposed to  a French main water pressure of a respectable 3 or 4 bar.

If you have decent pressure, you don't need really wide pipes.

p

* - can't spell it correctly or the maiden aunt tendency in the forum software replaces it with a line of **** ! Am I alone in thinking this is a bit over the top ?

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I wonder if it accepts stopcock as one word?

EDIT:  Obviously, yes!  There was another thread where Mrs Slocombe (Are You Being Served) was mentioned but her pussy was asterisked out.  I agree, the nannying is a bit annoying, especially as it is so easy to fool it.

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