To save time searching and to help us get started we brought a few plumbing parts with us to France. So how did we get around the UK to France plumbing sizes?
Let’s start at the beginning. Water conservation is important to us and we also wanted to get our plumbing right. We have two wells and aim to be as water efficient as possible particularly when watering our plants. We will be installing a huge water tank to catch the rainwater in the winter months. But before we start that project we have to get our basic plumbing in place.
Plumbing in France is no different to the UK except for the component sizes (in France they don’t use a 15mm supply pipes like the UK). Although lots of things like waste pipes are the same.
If you have UK fittings to install, don’t despair! There is a simple and cost effective solution. Simon created a quick reference video to hack the UK – French plumbing conundrum.
Why did we do it this way? We found the soldering too much faff and the adapters tricky to find and expensive compared to free.
Quick video on how to sort out your UK to France plumbing…
So there you have it. We’re not experts. This method has been efficient and effective with the resources that we had. Happy plumbing people. Please feel free to add your comments and thoughts. There are lots of questions and discussions around this topic.
Day one when you’ve got to get SOME plumbing done upon arrival in France.
Temporary bathroom sink. Indoor teeth brushing 
Temporary shower goodbye we loved you and were so thankful for you this summer. 
Getting creative with copper. Practice those jointing skills
See how our bathroom progressed from the beginning here and in pictures here We bought some of our sanitary ware from Leroy Merlin here in France. Great value for money and good quality. Don’t forget to check the fittings and seek assistance if you’re not sure.
Hello just want to say what a great page you’ve got going
We have recently completed on a cottage In 23000 st-eloi
We are going to put in a new bath room in the middle bedroom I’m planning on using uk push fit as I’ve got enough to do it
All I need to do is connect to the ballon water tank which I’m putting in the loft above should be fairly straight forward
But any advice would be welcome
Regards James
Hiya James,
Great to hear from you x
I’ll check with Simon on advice have you checked out the plumbing post on connecting UK to French pipes? Ah yes just noticed your comment is on that specific post.
Hi James,
I’ve connected a shower, basin and two toilets we bought in France to our UK 15mm plastic pipe. I would imagine the ballon should be similiar. I think the screw on connectors for the inlet and outlet will be designed to attach to 16mm pipe – if so you can use the technique I show in the video – a standard 15mm UK isolation valve will screw into the French fitting – but it will need to be flattened on a diamond plate (in a pinch some wet and dry paper on glass or granite should work – as long as you can get it perfectly flat).
Good luck with your rennovation project!
Really great helpful clear video. Thankyou.
Hiya Patricia,
Thank you for your feedback. That’s really encouraging. Good to hear that you are finding the blog and the vlog useful.
Best of luck with your plumbing projects.
Nicola & Simon x
Looks really helpful thanks. I need to fit a new tank and was concerned how I’d do it
Hi Rob,
Good luck with the new tank. Glad you found the information useful.
Nicola & Simon
Hi there,
Thanks for the video and the hints.
Would you mind if I ask, what would you recommend, PER fittings and piping or Multicouche?
Also, I am looking at buying the fitting tool required and have found a crimper for TH fittings but do not know what the UK equivalent for PER is. Would you mind offering me some advice and guidance as I do not want to incur the expense and then not be able to use it.
Kind Regards
Simon
Hi Simon,
Thanks for watching the video and following our journey. Unfortunately I’ve not used PER or Multicouche so I can’t really advise you. The blog just shows what we’ve been doing and how we’ve overcome some of the snagging points from UK to French fittings. Wishing you luck in your renovation. Let us know how you get on? Your experience and comments might help someone else further down the line.
These are all good tips!!! Thanks for sharing!
No problem. Glad you liked the video.