Kitchen mystery - installing dishwasher

KrisGee

Hi all,
Missus asked for a dishwasher for Christmas and the only place I could put it in in our kitchen is between oven and sink. So I removed the plinth today to measure how much room I have there and saw these two pipes sticking out of the wall. Does anyone have an idea what these are for? Gas possibly? House built in 1996.

KrisGee

Someone's reacted with a wow to it. Well, I felt the same when I saw it!

octatonic

That was me.
I didn't comment as I didn't want to commit myself and potentially give the wrong advice.

Is that 15mm? the presence of two pipes would indicate it is hot and cold water from the boiler, most likely.
If it was gas then I cannot see how that would be allowed or safe.
Do you have a gas cooker?

Either way, get a gas safe registered plumber to take a look.

sev112

“Good” plastering deserves a wow. 
(Ours was the same when I started looking under units !)

Jimbro66

It’s 15mm copper plumbing, rprobably hot and cold as Octatonic said, which has been terminated with brass in-line isolator valves and one has also been capped. The soldering looks poor but if they haven’t leaked it’s probably ok. In the little turret on the isolating valves you’ll find a slotted screw that opens and closes the valve. If you can get a flat blade screwdriver in there turn the screw just a little to see whether water comes out. Watch your eyes! If you can’t get a screwdriver to the upper valve you will need to remove the end cap from the lower one before opening it. Have a shallow bowl below to catch any spills.

boogieman

Seeing as how they've got ball type isolating valves and there's two of them, I'd assume they are water pipes. Gas pipes should have a fan cock type isolation valve. You could always (carefully!) crack one of them open to check.  

shrinkwrap

Top one is water - it's got a 'screw turned' valve on top, but the idiot who plumbed it has left no room to get a screwdriver in. If you can get a screwdriver in somehow, turn it and see what comes out - but I expect it will then refuse to close, so maybe not a good idea.

CeeJay

Looking on the bright side, you have a ready made feed for the dishwasher.

sweepy

You could drill a small hole in the bottom of the cupboard unit to insert a screwdriver to open and close the inline valve 

boogieman

No need to drill holes. Use a coin to turn the valve screw. 

steveb

Im gonna take an educated guess and say they're heating pipes from an old rad. They come thru in microbore.

CeeJay

steveb said:

Im gonna take an educated guess and say they're heating pipes from an old rad. They come thru in microbore.

In that case, don't use them to feed the dishwasher...........

ICBM

It looks more like microbore than 15mm to me as well.

steveb

CeeJay said:

steveb said:

Im gonna take an educated guess and say they're heating pipes from an old rad. They come thru in microbore.

In that case, don't use them to feed the dishwasher...........

Erm......... no!!!!!

drofluf

What’s on the other side of the wall? Can you see where the pipes come from?

grungebob

I second microbore and will probably be from a disconnected rad. I take it your heating still works in all rooms?

vasselmeyer

I think @ICBM has got it. That looks exactly like microbore which I've got in my house wherever the older radiators are. They generally have the flow/return very close to each other unlike modern radiators which have them at each end.

KrisGee

Thanks all. Yes, plastering looks shit, I keep finding nasty surprises like this even though we've lived here 5 years now.
Heating works in all rooms. I have a gas cooker in kitchen. There's nothing on the other side of the wall - it's the outside of the building.
What would be next step with these then? They stick out too far out of the wall and take too much room I need for the dishwasher, otherwise wouldn't be bothered with them. Would they bend a bit if I gave them a knock with a hammer? Safe to do so? 
I might just leave it and buy another guitar instead and tell wife we can't afford the dishwasher anymore.

Perdix

10mm heating pipes. A plinth heater would have been installed there at some point in the past. It has a fan that blows air over a heat exchanger and then into the kitchen. Warming your feet and not much else. Common in smaller new build kitchens where no wall space for radiator

ICBM

KrisGee said:

Thanks all. Yes, plastering looks shit, I keep finding nasty surprises like this even though we've lived here 5 years now.
Heating works in all rooms. I have a gas cooker in kitchen. There's nothing on the other side of the wall - it's the outside of the building.
What would be next step with these then? They stick out too far out of the wall and take too much room I need for the dishwasher, otherwise wouldn't be bothered with them. Would they bend a bit if I gave them a knock with a hammer? Safe to do so? 
I might just leave it and buy another guitar instead and tell wife we can't afford the dishwasher anymore.

If Perdix is correct - I expect so, although I’ve never come across one of those - then be careful... the pipes will still be connected to the heating system. If you split them when you’re bending them they will leak.

The best thing to do if they’re in the way is to cut them short and fit soldered end caps, so they can be got as close to the wall as possible - but given where they are that will not be easy. You will obviously need to have the heating system drained to do it.

boogieman

ICBM said:

KrisGee said:

Thanks all. Yes, plastering looks shit, I keep finding nasty surprises like this even though we've lived here 5 years now.
Heating works in all rooms. I have a gas cooker in kitchen. There's nothing on the other side of the wall - it's the outside of the building.
What would be next step with these then? They stick out too far out of the wall and take too much room I need for the dishwasher, otherwise wouldn't be bothered with them. Would they bend a bit if I gave them a knock with a hammer? Safe to do so? 
I might just leave it and buy another guitar instead and tell wife we can't afford the dishwasher anymore.

If Perdix is correct - I expect so, although I’ve never come across one of those - then be careful... the pipes will still be connected to the heating system. If you split them when you’re bending them they will leak.

The best thing to do if they’re in the way is to cut them short and fit soldered end caps, so they can be got as close to the wall as possible - but given where they are that will not be easy. You will obviously need to have the heating system drained to do it.

What he said ^. Don’t try to just bend the pipes, 9 times out of 10 they’ll crack and then you’ll be in trouble. Cut the pipes back. You could chop a bit of the plaster out round the pipe stubs and use compression fitting end caps instead of soldered ones which might be a bit easier. You’d still need to drain the system though.