Flexible Tap connectors

[Amateur]

These WRAS approved connectors have been around for quite a number of years now.
I know they have been discussed in old threads but what are your thoughts today?
With modern mixing taps being supplied with them and my domestic boiler, car beaks and aircraft having similar hose connectors have they stood the test of time?
Has the risk of splitting and flooding your house gone for ever?
Are they safer to use today?

 

[Pedronicus]

Most of the failures on these are caused by poor installation particularly with regard to the bending radius or damage to the braided covering. I fancy the ones used on car brakes and aircraft are a lot more robust that those cheapo ones sold by DIY sheds. Personally I would never use them but I have had a few years of practice in bending copper & iron pipework!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I suspect there are more problems caused by their improper use than by their design or manufacture.

 

[Bingy man]

I’ve used these over many years especially when access is restricted, they also make future maintenance a lot easier. The 1st issue has been mentioned above-poor installation with badly twisted or kinked flexes , the 2nd issue is they reduce the internal diameter of the supply pipe leading to poor performance. The same can be said of the cheap isolation valves. If you can get the full bore valves and as large an internal diameter flexible connectors as possible then correctly installed they will last for years .

 

[Amateur]

Im going to check with my home insurance to see if they cover them. See what they say.

 

[Distinterior]

If the tap has come with flexi tap connections, then its obviously been designed to do so.
If you have poor flow rate from the tap, then you have either purchased or been supplied with a tap that is not suitable to your plumbing system.

I supply and install loads of taps as part of my business and I always check to see what type of system is in the house and whether the tap I'm supplying is compatible.
As a general rule,.....If the tap is supplied with small bore flexi tap connectors, then it is normally only suitable for high pressure water systems......NOT GRAVITY FED, such as was fitted in most houses before the advent of combi boilers or pressurized hot water systems.

Incidentally, in 40 years of doing my job, I've never had to go back to a tap I've ever fitted due to a split or leaking flexi connectors......

 

[Amateur]

I contacted Direct Line who advised that these fittings were covered under the burst pipe water damage which has a mandatory excess of £250.

When I asked why its not written into the Policy book I was told water damage covered a large spectrum of areas.
So Im to be assured on the say-so of a telephone agent who couldnt get it put in writing for me....but be assured I'm covered.

I started out with a concern about flexible hose and now have concerns about insurance companies....
I may never sleep easy again..

 

[clogs]

disinterior,
same here....quite brilliant for ease of fitting.....not often can u get copper to fit really snug.....
plus being st/steel they look smart done properly......
Get out of the UK and practically every tap has them....
quite a few in my house were too tight as in to far away from the wall fitting....almost stretched but they cant stretch.....lol.....
they are available with 4-6 inches increase in length.......10 " being the shortest I have seen to over a meter....
so can fit in anywhere....
in one of my bathrooms the wall fitting is such that a new longer pipe was nec, it was between sizes ended up with a full loop....
not pretty but in the remodel next year I'll rip the plumbing out of the wall and redo it..

take a look at the prices of Aerograph st/steel hydraulic hoses if u want a scare.....hahaha......

Ps, seen a lot of wrongly bent solid copper fittings with 2 or 3 fibre washers to take up the slack.....grrrrr....
not sure about the modern plumbing in the UK anymore but here everything is flexi plasic pipe,
with a burst pressure in excess of 16bar = around 230psi.....
It is Ideal for workshop air line manifolds and long runs to the rubber hose fittings where galv steel used to be fitted.....
I like galv but will fit out my new shop with the plastic now........

 

[Richard_C]

Fitted a few over the years as I have done up bathroom, en suite, kitchen etc. Useful in awkward places like concealed cistern connection. If it's easy access I still use copper pipe out of habit, not sure the flex pipes were commonplace in the 70s when I got my first house.

I guess if you are a proper plumber who can bend accurately the pipe is cheaper and that matters if you are doing lots. Hardly an issue for occasional DIY. Oldest must be 15 years plus. Never had a problem, never thought about it even.

I doubt insurers specify what to use, imagine all the detail they would have to put in policies. Walls must be built with a particular mix, pipes have to be copper not imported from certain countries, flexible pipes to your dishwasher must have a certain wall thickness etc etc. They just work and price from claims history: x policies result in y water damage claims average cost z.

 

[Limey Lurker]

In my mind they are essential when connecting to a plastic fitting such as a 'Torbeck" valve, as the plastic thread splits between the threads if there is a even a minute misalignment in the copper supply tube. I have seen several instances where there has been a leak around that area, and the seal to the side or base of the cistern has been suspected, so it has been wrapped with yards of PTFE tape, or silicon sealer, yet still continued seeping.