Fantastic plastic

[The Medway Handyman]

FYI

I was buggering about trying to get new plastic downpipe to fit old plastic downpipe t'other day.

I'm sure many are familiar with the scenario; male & female seem to fit, but annoyingly won't 'quite' do so. Just a millimetre or so & they would fit, but they don't - almost like they were taunting you.

Suspect its different manufacturers trying to ensure only their parts can be used.

Quick waft with a propane torch & the female socket softens beautifully, obviously a thermoplastic. Fits perfectly and when cooled is a nice tight fit. First attempt wasn't quite straight, another quick waft & it could be adjusted.

Hot air heat gun would prolly work better, but the power was off.

[Matty F]

Carefully measure the diameter. If it's not the advertised size complain to the relevant authority. In NZ we have a Consumer Guarantees Act which could mean they might have to retool their production line. Oh dear how sad.

[PeterC]

Yup, I've done this, many years ago when the sizes were changing, and made a union just by swaging out 1 pipe so that the other would go inside. Drop of cement and done.

[nightjar]

British drain pipes are measured by the bore in inches. The wall thickness, and hence the OD, varies according to the class. If you are trying to fit two different classes of pipe together, the dimensions will be to British Standards, but pipes of one class won't fit the sockets of another.

Colin Bignell

[Arfa Daily]

The builder who was responsible for my house used a grey solvent-fix waste pipe all over the house, and with subsequent refits of bathrooms and kitchens etc, I've always had a problem finding fittings that allow me to join new wastes to the stubs of the existing ones where they pass through walls or under floors. I always finish up making a joining 'collar' by heating (with a B&D paint stripper gun circa 1975 !) pipe that's about the same size, and then swaging both ends to get a fit to the old pipe, and the new. Then, as you say, drop of cement, and the job's a good 'un ...

Arfa

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Arfa Daily" saying something like:

It works rather well, and it's surprising how plastic (hah) the heated pipe gets, but nicely controllable once you've done a few.