The Bathroom Designer

Pairs of Hot and Cold Bath Taps are separate hot and cold taps, these were the industry standard for wash basins before the 1980’s when mixers came into use, they are idea for low pressure gravity fed systems where mixing the hot and cold water is not always achievable as generally they give the best possible flow rate on gravity fed systems. Although still popular they have been overtaken in sales now by bath shower mixers and bath fillers, with new regulations coming out in April 2010 where baths should be filled with temperatures no higher that 48° centigrade in new built homes then basin taps will become extinct in the future. Bath taps are supplied with 3/4″ connections and should be supplied with 22mm pipe work.

Bath Fillers are like bath taps but with the fundamental difference that they have one spout so are designed to mix the hot and cold water to the desired temperature as the bath is being filled, a design feature that seems to over looked as most people still fill the bath with hot then top up with cold water. They can be either two handled like the image on the left or single lever types the two handled versions will normally give a higher flow rate on gravity fed systems, the centers of the holes in a bath will be 180mm which is an industry standard. Bath fillers are supplied with 3/4″ connections and should be supplied with 22mm pipe work.

Monobloc Bath Fillers are new to the market with the introduction of shower baths they are the only types of bath fillers that can be fitted to certain baths as there is no space on the rim of the bath for any other type of bath filler. Monobloc bath fillers will normally need a higher pressure to fill the bath up in a reasonable timescale usually about 0.5 bar pressure should be adequate but some require as much as 1.0bar.

The connection sizes do vary as there is no standard set either 22mm or 15mm is used. It is much easier to preset the filling temperature on monobloc mixers as there is only one handle so from a design point of view the functionality is good.

Three Hole Bath Fillers are essentially two deck side bodies (a hot and cold valve) and a spout connected together underneath the bath, some of the spouts are designed to swivel out of the way, the operation is exactly the same as with bath fillers. These do look really good on larger double ended bath where the taps are fitted half way along the length of the bath rather than positioned on the short end of the bath.

The holes for three hole bath fillers are at 90mm centers making the width the same (180mm) as with bath fillers and bath shower mixers the connections to the valves are 22mm and the connections between the valves and the spout does vary some what, higher pressures are usually required for these taps 1.0 and above.

Floor Mounted Monobloc Bath fillers are used with freestanding baths that are fitted away from the wall where it is not really possible to reach the controls from inside the bath they use one mixing valve (cartridge) to get the water temperature correct in filling the bath. these are fairly difficult for plumbers to install as they are fed from below the floor with a 22mm supply pipe and also obviously have to be secured firmly  whether you have a wooden or concrete floor structure.

Single Lever Wall Mounted Bath Fillers are a mixer valve and spout also called two holed wall mounted bath fillers, these are used on the long side of a bath normally centrally mounted about 300 – 400mm above the edge of the bath, they can also be seen on sale unlike the image without a back plate as well.

The fitting of single lever bath fillers can be on both solid and stud partition wall construction great care should be used in making sure they are fitted at 90° to the wall surface, some come with a back box to facilitate fitting and others rely totally on the pipework for support.

Three Hole Wall Mounted Bath Fillers These are two wall mounted side bodies and a spout, one valve controls hot water and one controls the cold water they are connected behind the wall to the spout giving a mixed flow of water. as with the single lever wall mounted bath fillers these need a lot of care when fitting to make sure that they are fitted correctly and would usually be fitted in the center of the long side of the bath. These are also available on a back plate similar to the above image of the two holed bath fillers.

Supply pipe connection usually 22mm.

Deck and Wall Mounted Side Bodies are vary versatile ways of filling a bath they can be used with a bath spout or add a diverter and they could also be used with a handset, a bath filler overflow as below could be used. they can be mounted pretty much any where so are great problem solvers.

Treat them as simple hot and cold valves to isolate the water flow, most are connected with a 22mm supply but there are also 15mm versions available. Should only be used with pressurized water systems.

Thermostatic Bath Fillers and thermostatic shower valves can be used to fill up baths, they are used in conjunction with bath spouts or bath filler overflows and are the just as versatile as side bodies but have the added ease of being able to premix the water to the desired temperature. there are some many choices of valves with either 1, 2 or 3 outlets giving massive choices of configurations which is why shower bathing is becoming much more popular for standard sized bathrooms nowadays.

Using a thermostatic shower control to fill a bath with makes sure that you have a safe temperature being delivered to the bath most thermostats are accurate to within 1° + – so for small children and elderly people this is a must.

Manual Shower Valves are also able to be used for filling up baths they are simple on/off hot cold controls, most manual shower valves have 15mm connections so high pressure is a must to make sure the the bath can fill in a reasonable timescale.

These valves can be used with either a bath filler overflow (see below) or a spout so they are very versatile. you should never use manual valves with combination boilers as they can be dangerous, if for example you are filling a bath and another person in the property flushes a WC then the water can be delivered at extreme temperatures and could scald.

Bath Filler Over Flow Wastes By far the best innovation in bathroom design I am a massive fan of these devices. These can be used with a multitude of different control devices giving a your design total freedom, baths will look so minimal without the taps or valves having to be mounted on the edge of the bath, less to clean and  maintain so a great choice for all.

When buying bath filler overflows there are now many different versions available you can have ones with pop up wastes or click clack wastes and also you can get slimline ones so that they do not project into the bath as far as the standard ones.

Tags: basin taps, Bath Fillers, bath taps, bodies, cold, cold bath, cold water, deck, fillers, floor mounted, gravity fed, hot, manual shower valve, monobloc, pairs, shower baths, shower mixers, side, single lever, spout, taps, temperatures, Thermostatic, three hole, wall, wash basins