Trevi by Ideal Standard has always been a mark
of quality in bathroom fittings. Which makes me wonder what they
were thinking of when they designed the BC (base connection) varient
of their Moonshadow shower riser kit.
Now it has to be said
that this is a neat and attractive product which is what prompted
me to buy it in the first place. The water supply is actually delivered
through the bottom support of the shower rail rather than out of a
separate outlet, and that is where this particular problem lies.
The relevant page of the instruction manual is included below.
The problem is with a threaded brass locking disk as indicated
by the arrows. This will end up (theoretically) tight against the
wall and the base of the shower rail and an associated O ring seal
is tightened onto it with a large brass collar.
The problem
is there is no locking mechanism for this disk - so unless you glue the
outer edge to the wall, it *could* rotate as the collar is tightened
- leaving a poor water seal. The problem with adhesives is finding
something which will stick the brass plate to a ceramic tile in such
a way that it will withstand the tightening force of the collar, and
the moisture it will come into contact with over time.
Interestingly,
Ideal Standard did address this issue with the plate for the
TOP bracket of the rail by having a slot in it, and using two
screws into the wall so the plate cannot rotate.
My solution
is a similar principle - I drilled two M2.5 holes in the back of the
plate, threaded them to M3 with a tap, and cut corresponding slots
in the tile using a carbide coated rod blade you can get for a hacksaw.
Sawing an M3 stainless steel bolt up, I then superglued these little
studs into the plate and the result can be seen in the photo below.
If you don't have a tap/die set - you could simply glue
some M3 bolt into M3 holes with Araldite or superglue.
When
complete, I still sealed the plate to the wall too, to stop moisture
getting behind.
Also note the simple clamp for
the other side of the wall comprising a Jubilee Clip and a couple
of aluminium plates tightened with bolts. Again, if you don't
have a tap and die set to thread the top plate, nuts would do just
as well.
