Central Heating Push Fit Fittings - Soldered - Tectite

[carpenteire2009]

Not a plumber but I've done plenty of plumbing in my own house, always using compression fittings or yorkshire solder fittings. I wouldn't trust plastic push fit or even the tectite fittings either. They are reliant on a rubber ring to make a seal- we all know that these break down over time. A good gas torch (Superfire 2) some fittings, scraps of pipe, solder and youtube will give you the confidence to tackle any soldering jobs on smaller diameter pipework.

 

[Bingy man]

Just as a general point, speedfit v hep2o ?
Speedfit you can screw down to lock, yes ? but the new plastic inserts choke the bore down so much they basically turn 15mm pipe into 10mm microbore.
I chose hep2o only because their steel inserts are much less intrusive. I think the fittings may be more bulky :-(

Another reason why I prefer copper ,

 

[glenfield2]

My daughter's partner and his boss got called back to a large job (a large house had been gutted) where the whole ground floor of a large house had become wet up to about 400mm on the walls. They had concreted it and the plumbers didn't pressurise the system before concreting. They had to dig up the whole ground floor again - they got paid, but they didn't need the hassle as they already had more work than they could handle.
I told this to an acquaintance who is an industrial/commercial plumber and heating engineer, and he told me they wouldn't touch plastic plumbing with a bargepole.

Why is that a condemnation of plastic plumbing in particular? Any sort of joint under a concrete floor is a big no-no unless pressure tested. Copper piping will also be corroded by concrete unless properly wrapped.

 

[Lard]

I used copper for years until I called in to see my brother who was renovating his house with plastic. He used JG speed fit for virtually everything (ch and h/c) and we then had the 'friendly' discussion about 'they won't last'.....'you're mad'.....'you wouldn't get me off copper' etc etc.

When he finished (approx 12yrs ago) he gave me several boxes of unused fittings and pipe (I'm the hoarding brother) and, being the inquisitive one, I took them apart, played about with them and then used them to help me fit temporary water supplies around our place when we were render/skimming.

Long story short, and 10yrs later, I've completely renovated our place and apart from the 1st few metres of flow/return copper from the boiler EVERY pipe in the house is plastic with mostly JG fittings and others from Wunda. Along the way I did have the odd issue but this was because I tried saving a few pennies by using much cheaper fittings - these were swapped out for JGs.

The JG fittings have a satisfying 'clunk' (that you feel) to indicate the pipe has been fully inserted and then they are then further screw closed for surety. I've inadvertently forgot to screw close the odd one in the past but even then they don't tend to leak as the seal and metal collar 'bite' is sufficient anyway.

I did have a few sleepless nights prior to turning on the mains and ended up borrowing a compressor from a mate and took the pressure up to 10 bar with no issues whatsoever......slept fine since

1st plumber who came to sort out the boiler said he had switched over to plastic years before as did the plumber who fitted my ecocent cylinder.

Funnily enough I woke up to a wet kitchen floor yesterday morning and, removing the plinths, could see a fair drip dropping off the underside of one of the JG tees behind the dishwasher. Removed the DW to find that it was not that fitting at all but the screw-in ikea dishwasher fitting that had very slightly, somehow???, unwound itself causing it to drip on top of the lower JG.

I know this is only my opinion but I'm amazed/frustrated by those who condemn plastic systems when they have either not had experience of them or are copper luddites.....I used to be one but never again.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Why is that a condemnation of plastic plumbing in particular? Any sort of joint under a concrete floor is a big no-no unless pressure tested. Copper piping will also be corroded by concrete unless properly wrapped.

That one incident wasn't a condemnation, really, the stuff was badly installed. The chap just made the point that they never used the stuff, presumably because of having had past bad experiences with it.

 

[Spectric]

You can get lead solder easily enough, and it can still be used on pipes not carrying drinking water.

But they don't use it in york fittings anymore. A lot of plumbers will roll lead solder onto a leadfree spool which are green !

Leaded solder just flows and last better, much less chance of issues and considering how many people are probably still supplied by lead piping then the risk are very minimal. If you look at electronics for defence and avionics they still only use lead solder with a percentage of silver so they are not convinced either.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes, but you were referring to a post about end feed, not york.

You can get different lead/tin mixes as well.
https://www.creativeglassguild.co.uk/search/solder

 

[Spectric]

One of the more dangerous places you find lead is in shotgun cartridges !

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Many are lead free now and in 2024 lead ones look likely to be banned for game shooting.