3/4 inch or 22 mm copper pipe

[Andrew Welham]

I'm about to change some old sink and bath taps, fitted approx 20-25 years ago.

All the piping is copper but I am unsure if its 1/2 inch or 15mm and

3/4 inch or 22mm

I know 1/2 inch - 15mm is not a problem, but that 3/4inch - 22mm requires a converter When did the switch from imperial to metric happen, and did copper pipe ever get made in imperial measurements

Many Thanks Andrew

[Heliotrope Smith]

Very unlikely to to find imperial measurment copper pipe fitted less than

35-40 ago.

Yes it was made in imperial measurments up to about the sixties.

[Ed Sirett]

Imperial copper pipe was used until around 1975. The 1/2" pipe has an OD of 15.x mm and is a (very) tight fit on 15mm olives. The OD of 3/4" pipe is about 21.5mm and you need special thicker olives or special solder fittings. You can probably persuade some types of push fit to work OK butdoubtless that's not by the book.

Pipe from the 80s should be metric.

[Tony Bryer]

c.1972 IIRC. Imperial pipe sizes are the bore, metric the OD.

[bof]

In message , Andrew Welham writes

Having lived in a few old houses I've come to the pragmatic view that the easiest way of dealing with 22 - 3/4" conversion is just to use a

22mm to 3/4" adapter. I just replace as much 3/4" with 22mm as I can on a job. I've used non converting compression joints and non converting soldered couplings successfully but in the end it's just easier and less painful to use metric to Imperial convertors.