Tapping into a clawfoot tub supply for bidet

[schwa]

Hi all and thanks for any help!

I am looking to tap into the hot water supply of an old clawfoot tub, to supply hot water to a bidet.

Photos attached. The tub supply shutoff valve, and the faucet connection appear to measure out at 3/4. The valve and the faucet are connected by a rigid line. There looks to be a lot of dope or something on the connections and it hasn't been touched in at least 25 years.

The bidet comes with a tee to take the hot water off of a 3/8 compression fitting. It's meant to attach to a typical sink or toilet shutoff valve, which is not what the tub has.

I think I have two basic options:

1. Replace the rigid line in the photo with some combination of adapters and hose so that I can fit the 3/8 compression tee in the middle.

2. Use something like a shark bite tee to add a new 3/8 compression supply to the 1/2 copper pipe that feeds the tub supply, just below the floor. It's fairly accessible from the basement.

Overall, would you recommend option 1 or option 2?

If going with option 1, I think I would replace the rigid line that connects the tub supply to the faucet with something like:

[existing 3/4 male tub supply valve]
3/4 female to 1/2 male
1/2 female to 3/8 compression male
[bidet tee]
3/8 compression to 1/2 female hose
1/2 male to 3/4 female
[existing 3/4 male faucet]

If going with option 1, does that make sense?

Is there a more sensible way to go about this that I am not considering?

Thanks very much!

 

[Geofd]

The claw foot tubs I've worked with are 1/2" brass to 1/2" tub faucets,is there a mixing valve that comes with the bidet

 

[schwa]

The claw foot tubs I've worked with are 1/2" brass to 1/2" tub faucets,is there a mixing valve that comes with the bidet

Yes, the bidet has a mixing valve. It gets the cold from the toilet supply but the hot has to come from somewhere else.

I am not a pro, but the male threaded connections at the tub water supply shutoff and at the tub faucet appear to measure 3/4. I think this adapter would probably reduce them to 1/2 if I went with the option 1 to put in a bunch of adapters above the tub shutoff:

https://www.amazon.com/MISSMIN-Clawfoot-Faucet-Adapter-Connector/dp/B08LNWQBGC

 

[CT18]

Those look like 3/8" supply lines. You just need a compression tee that is the same sizes as the supply's

 

[MicEd69]

As CT18 says, all you need is a compression tee the same size as the hot water supply line. Based on the connection to the faucet and your amazon link, it may be 1/2". If it is, this would be ideal for you.



If it is 3/8", then this is what you want.

 

[schwa]

MicEd69, that's correct, the tub connections turned out to be 1/2" compression. So I put in a tee at the tub supply, 1/2 teeing to 3/8 and 1/4, and a reducer at the tub faucet, ran a new 3/8" supply line for the tub, and a 1/4 supply line for the bidet. It all works great now. Thanks!