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We're currently refitting the bathroom and are getting conflicting advice on the bath taps - it's a free-standing bath so normal taps aren't an option):
1) Floor standing bath tap (column inc shower head) - we've been warned away from these because of the risk (probability) that the shower head will permanently drip on the floor when not in use.
So been advised to go for:
2) Wall mounted bath tap (simple mixer + shower head): but supplier has advised that you can rarely muster enough pressure so the bath will take an age to fill*
* doesn't bother me but there are three girls in the house!
Any experiences at all? Would really welcome thoughts. Thanks!
As someone with a decent amount of DIY experience and I used to sell bathrooms for a job I would really really really advise you not to have a shower over a freestanding (I assume one of those claw foot style) bath or really have one at all. Water gets EVERYWHERE as there aren't walls for water to drip down and go back into bath, nightmare to clean around (unless its in a huge room with space all around), can't really do a shower over them effectively. Taps cost a fortune and are problematic with plumbing (as you have been advised) and you don't have anywhere to put bottles and such.
They look great but are horrible to have. The only way I'd have one would be if a) I had a massive bathroom b) the bath didn't get used much and c) I had a decent sized separate shower cubicle.
Its the same as Belfast sinks with wooden worktops - looks great but a nightmare to use and maintain.
Thanks B that's helpful.
Further info:
- the bathroom is a reasonable size (but not massive)
- we have a separate shower cubicle so the bath is for more occasional use
We are inclined to avoid the freestanding tap/shower contraption and move towards the more conventional wall-mounted taps. Have you come across comments re lack of pressure? I would assume it would be no worse than a freestanding tap tbh
We used to have a victorian free standing bath and yeah, what he said. Really hard to clean around/behind and water makes a right mess.
That said the modern ones with one side that is flush to the wall and no space underneath look a lot more interesting, if you have a big enough room that you can easily get to the sides.
I can’t imagine why pressure would be an issue. Unless the special taps work in a different way?
Thanks Ross - it is a more contemporary free-standing bath, 'flush to the wall and no space underneath' so hopefully okay for watery misery.
Just a quandary over water pressure from wall mounted tap vs tap-stand really.
I am not a plumber, but had to replace the mixer tap I bought for the bath after my other half complained the bath filled too slowly.
Decent taps should give a flow rate at different water pressures in their specs. For example this is a traditional style bath mixer suitable for use in low pressure systems.
What does the tap spec say?
Flow Rate at 0.1 Bar (l/min) 12
Flow Rate at 0.5 Bar (l/min) 36
Flow Rate at 1 Bar (l/min) 48
https://www.tapwarehouse.com/p/i303x
Most bath fillers should have a decent flow rate. 20+ litres per min I would think.
Steer clear of waterfall taps, they tend to have a lower flow rate so they don't get water everywhere, as such they take an age for the bath to fill. This is from painful experience.
Are you suggesting a wall mounted hand wand or a standing height shower head with the wall mount tap option?
Without a physical connection between the tub and the wall which the shower head or wand are mounted you'll get the overspray or drip issues anyway. If plumbers is suggesting Hand wand on the tap wall to prevent drips then is he suggesting the metal hose always hangs inside the bath? That'll look rubbish.
Pressure wise, if the outlet points are at the same height then what's the difference.
Consider the use. If your girls want to wash their hair, won't they choose to shower? There's more water to be spilt from a wet body getting out of the bath than from putting a hand wand back on its hook.
you could just have a spout attached to the wall (assuming the bath is quite close to the wall) and then a mixer unit somewhere else on the wall? I think that's what your option 2 is. We have that at it doesn't take an age to fill imo, just pick a large enough spout. In fact we have a two way mixer with a small shower head on a hose for when folks want to wash their hair over the bath. Works just fine.
surely the flow rate is either a function of the height of your hot water tank or the throughput of your combi-boiler?
@jam-bo - that determines the pressure I believe, flow rate is impacted by pipe bore size, connectors/tails or tap internals that narrow it.
You can help with flow rate by keeping everything full bore and choosing taps with wider internals. The overall system water pressure is usually a fixed value.
Most bath fillers should have a decent flow rate. 20+ litres per min I would think.
Guaranteed standards of service for E&W water companies is 9 litres a minute
You can help with flow rate by keeping everything full bore and choosing taps with wider internals.
You need to think about the hot and cold pathways, any restrictions, bends, joints, etc reduce the pressure when you put a flow on the tap and constrain the maximum flowrate
The overall system water pressure is usually a fixed value.
Doubtful unless tank fed. Mains water pressure varies due to demand and the pressure management valves on the network the likelihood of you having a fixed constant pressure is diminishingly small from the mains.
I've got a wall mounted tap over a free standing bath, that I fitted last year. Doesn't seem to take any longer to fill than the previous bath with seperate taps. Also have a shower head for rinsing off, which is fine for water all over the bathroom as long as the person usuing it ast turn it bac to tap function when replacing it on the wall mount.
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I used one of these fixed to the brickwork behind the plasterboard to fit the taps to https://www.screwfix.com/p/contemporary-bar-valve-fixing-kit-chrome/76919
Thanks for the feedback all. Really appreciated.
@big_n_daft - I hadn’t even actually considered that you know! 😂
Out of interest is there an average range? Not including outliers like people on massive hills or in super deep valleys.
Have to admit we still live in the dark ages with a hot and cold tank in the loft feeding to our ground floor bathroom…
Mains water pressure varies due to demand and the pressure management valves on the network
Agreed - we’re conscious of that in our area. We thought that was more likely to be a factor than the type of tap TBH