Screwfix "Yorkshire" fittings, beware?

[Tim W]

Ran low of my last lost of solder ring elbows from BES, so nipped into Screwfix and got these:

attention to the piccy. Doesn't look like this:

't look the same do they? In fact the ones I got were a different size (longer) than the BES ones (annoying when doing close parallel runs of pipe) and looked rather deformed compared to *every* solder ring fitting I've ever seen in my life.

Also, they are tight to get on the pipe rather than just sliding on - near impossible sometimes.

What gives? Screwfix are saying they are "Yorkshires" with a valid Pegler Yorkshire code (YP12). But they seem to be a piece of reject crap...

Anyone else noticed anything like this?

Went to Focus in the end and bought a pack of 10 IBP Conex elbows for about

2.50 and they definately were the business.

Cheers

Tim

[Tim W]

Tim W wibbled on Tuesday 27 October 2009 08:58

Well - I did just phone Pegler. The confirmed they do supply Screwfix. The chap there agreed the one in the picture on the Screwfix site didn't look that good, but it did carry the YP logo.

He's asked me to send him a couple to have a look at, which I'll do today.

That's the second time Screwfix have sold me crap. The last time were some metal electrical backboxes. What could go wring there, they're simple enough, I hear you ask... Well, piss poor earth terminal (bent tab of fliddy metal with a screw rammed in it) and some really dodgey plate fixing lugs... I left appropriately caustic reviews.

Hmm - seem to be turning into Victor Meldrew(!)

[Andy Dingley]

Why not? Screwfix have turned into Happy Shopper. Even their Goldscrews have gone down in quality. The catalogue gets ever thicker, but stockholding at the counters is patchier and patchier.

I've switched to Toolstation.

[Tim W]

Andy Dingley wibbled on Tuesday 27 October 2009 09:56

My take is: if I buy Comap, I'm probably buying cheap crap. If I buy branded Pegler Yorkshires, it should be the same quality from BES, Screwfix and Happy Shopper.

My first thought is that they were using the word "Yorkshire" with some artistic interpretation. The first question I put to Pegler was "do you supply these to Screwfix?".

As they apparently do, one of several things may have happened:

a) Pegler knocked out a crap batch, in which case Pegler need (and want by all accounts) to know.

b) Screwfix have sourced some counterfeits. Not sure if the counterfeit market bothers with plumbing fittings, but who knows...

c) Screwfix have bagged some Comap crap into a Yorkshire bag. Now the Pegler bloke has told me how to identify their logo, I'll check this down at the bunglow today, then post a sample off.

d) Someone's been raiding the reject bins at Pegler's.

Unfortunately mine's miles away in Orpington or Eastbourne so not much good for a quick drop in. Hastings (nearest town to my new house) is a wasteland of half arsedness.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

But why use Yorkshires? You're paying a large premium for some solder. Only time I use them is when a 'special' end feed isn't readily available.

[F]

You only need to spend £10 with Toolstation as opposed to Screwfix's £50. Worth using them and adding something useful, but cheap, onto the order to save on petrol and get the delivery?

[Tim W]

Dave Plowman (News) wibbled on Tuesday 27 October 2009 10:28

Because I'm up under the bath with one hand holding the flame mat, the other hand holding the blowtorch, one eyeball looking at the joint and the other eyeball watching that the flame doesn't get anywhere near the acrylic bath!

Anyway, I'd hardly call 25p for a fitting exhorbitant :) And they are fairly idiot proof - as verified by a 10bar air pressure test I did last night :)

[JimK]

seconded

JimK

[Dave Plowman (News)]

But you went all the way to Screwfix - presumably to save money?

Nothing wrong with them - just the price.

[Jules]

Buy from a real shop where you can see what you're getting before you pay for it...

[Andy Dingley]

It's not about cost, it's about getting out of bed! If I give my gf a lift to work, then borrow her car, I can go past Toolstation's door as they're near to her surgery. However I would then have to get up an hour & a half earlier than I do normally to get the train straight to my place.

OTOH, weekends are our local indie, the tiny Wickes or Screwfix. I usually go to Screwfix, then get turned away for lack of stock.

Wickes also seem to be full of "33% OFF" boards at present, but the actual shelf prices are 20% up on their printed catalogue. They also only stock the 8'x2' insulation boards that cost 50% more (per area) than the 8'x4' boards they list. Neither of these policies endears them to me.

[Andrew Gabriel]

That's up at the real danger level if something does fail.

I once succumed to a schoolboy urge to release a JG end cap on a bit of heating system which was only at 2 bar pressure test, and I think it riccoceted off the floor, walls, and ceiling about 10 times before it slowed enough for me to see where it was, and about 5 minutes to recover my hearing.

[Tim W]

Dave Plowman (News) wibbled on Tuesday 27 October 2009 13:36

No, I dropped in on the way down (it's 1 mile from Pembury) because I anticipated running out. I didn't anticipate early enough to order them.

Well, when you consider how many people are happy using plastic fittings,

25p is almost irrellevant :)

[Tim W]

Andrew Gabriel wibbled on Tuesday 27 October 2009 14:51

That is true.

I really should fill it with water first so I can do a mostly hydraulic test. When I turned the ball valve to release the pressure. the noise was almost deafening

[ARWadsworth]

Would you like me to call into Peglers and ask them?

I just happen to be working next to their Doncaster factory this week (St Caths Ave in Balby), Doncaster. I am rewiring a house on Carr Hill Road. (Google map it yourself)

I am quite happy to knock on their door and ask for you.

Adam

[Tim W]

ARWadsworth wibbled on Tuesday 27 October 2009 19:50

Oddly I thought of you when I found their address - despite the fact you don;t live there(!).

It's OK - I spoke to the bloke there on tech support and as he asked, I've posted a few to him today. They definately have the "YP" logo on them, but they really look dodgey and some of them are too tight to get on with a couple of fingers in a confined space.

I included a genuine IBP Conex fitting of the same type to show them what I was expecting - that should get them going...

Normally IME Pegler stuff is very well made.

Cheers

Tim

[Andy Burns]

Presumably NOT a 159mmx108mm reducing tee?

watering!

[Andrew Gabriel]

But at £656.71 each, I might rethink that.

Actually, these have to be brazed, so if you mess it up, it probably isn't recoverable.

[Steve Walker]

I tend to prefer TS now too.

[Tim W]

Steve Walker wibbled on Thursday 29 October 2009 15:38

Me too. As I said, it's just not convenient to "drop in" round my way. Wish they'd open some more stores. Orpington to Eastbourne - there must be room for one in there somewhere.

The only thing that annoys me about TS is that their wesite doesn't clearly display the maker of the goods. Oddly, you can limit the search via drop down, but it would be so much easier to browse if the maker was displayed next to each item.