shower wall union

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Gardner

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I have a shower head that has been installed at about chest height. It's not been worth it to tear apart and re-build the tile wall to move it to a more sensible height, so instead I've installed a hand-held shower head and bracket. This part works fine. The old shower-head tube still sticks out at chest height though, with the hose from the hand shower sticking out past that. I don't like the way the tube sticks out and so I've bought a wall union to replace it, similar to this Grohe unit.
28459000.JPG


Now my questions:

How do I work out the length of nipple I need between the fitting inside the wall and the union? Will I be able to get the wall union to fit flush against the tile wall?

If I work out I need a certain length of nipple, will I be able to buy that or have it made up?

How do I tighten the parts together? Should I tighten the nipple first, then the union on top? Or do I tighten the two parts together by turning the union?

Is there any good strategy for preventing leaks inside the wall from the inside thread joint? Just use a bunch of pipe dope and hope for the best? It is a shower head and so doesn't carry the same pressure as a regular line and is only pressurised when the shower is running.
 
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Gardner

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I find myself unable to make a normal link work -- the BBS is replacing it with "****" -- but I've edited my posting to include the picture so you can see what it is.

Despite the fact that the thing is physically and elbow, it is referred to as a union. Ask Google if you don't believe me.

It has a female 1/2 NPT on the back and a 1/2 NPT on the bottom for your shower-head hose to connect on.
 

hj

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union

Well,as the London street vendor said after he sold someone a "hot mutton pie", and was told it was neither hot nor mutton, "That isn't what it is, it is just what we call it". It is a wall elbow regardless if they call it a union. If anything the "union" would be the connection on the end of the hose that connects to it.
 
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