Having bought a 1920's house, there is still a cast iron (clawless) claw-foot tub in the bathroom. While I love the style and size of the tub, it makes plumbing in the modern era more difficult without spending a fortune on new fixtures. When we moved in, there was just a sprayer hose connected to the hot and cold water mixer. We replaced this with one that came off the unit we had in the apartment. When we did this, we got full city water pressure. This makes for a great shower, in the sense that you can essentially pressure-wash yourself. It also makes you go through hot water like no one's business. While I like the high pressure, I would rather spend less on my power bill, since our hot water is electric. Enter my plumbing. I needed to get the system so that I could put the shower head on that was regulated to 2.5 gallons/min. Not only will this save us water, but it will also use less hot water, so therefore less electricity. When I get my solar hot water system set up, this will be moot, but I have not gotten there yet.
So, I had some 1/2" copper pipe and fittings, but I had to pick up a few other parts to make the unit work. I could have spent several hundred dollars on a new plumbing fixture that had both a tub faucet as well as the shower riser. Instead, I spent a few dollars (>10, excluding tools) to build the riser. Now I have the shower head mounted with the sprayer attachment. Once I took a test shower, the pressure is way down, but I no longer run out of hot water in 5 minutes or less.
I do have to note that neither am I a plumber, nor did I look up if this passes code, but I am sure the 1920's faucet doesn't pass modern code either. And while I was going to pat myself on the back for sweating the pipes and fittings together without any leaks (since I have never done this before), I did notice after a day or two, the bottom fitting was leaking a bit. I took the whole riser off and re-sweated the fitting, and it appears to be fixed. I do have to give it a few days though to see if it is really fixed, or just another 2 day repair.
Having bought a 1920's house, there is still a cast iron (clawless) claw-foot tub in the bathroom. While I love the style and size of the tub, it makes plumbing in the modern era more difficult without spending a fortune on new fixtures. When we moved in, there was just a sprayer hose connected to the hot and cold water mixer. We replaced this with one that came off the unit we had in the apartment. When we did this, we got full city water pressure. This makes for a great shower, in the sense that you can essentially pressure-wash yourself. It also makes you go through hot water like no one's business. While I like the high pressure, I would rather spend less on my power bill, since our hot water is electric. Enter my plumbing. I needed to get the system so that I could put the shower head on that was regulated to 2.5 gallons/min. Not only will this save us water, but it will also use less hot water, so therefore less electricity. When I get my solar hot water system set up, this will be moot, but I have not gotten there yet. 
So, I had some 1/2" copper pipe and fittings, but I had to pick up a few other parts to make the unit work. I could have spent several hundred dollars on a new plumbing fixture that had both a tub faucet as well as the shower riser. Instead, I spent a few dollars (>10, excluding tools) to build the riser. Now I have the shower head mounted with the sprayer attachment. Once I took a test shower, the pressure is way down, but I no longer run out of hot water in 5 minutes or less. 
I do have to note that neither am I a plumber, nor did I look up if this passes code, but I am sure the 1920's faucet doesn't pass modern code either. And while I was going to pat myself on the back for sweating the pipes and fittings together without any leaks (since I have never done this before), I did notice after a day or two, the bottom fitting was leaking a bit. I took the whole riser off and re-sweated the fitting, and it appears to be fixed. I do have to give it a few days though to see if it is really fixed, or just another 2 day repair. 
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