Hi,
I use marley 22mm solvent weld waste pipe extensively on my marine fish tank for plumbing in pumps and suchlike.
I would like to do a rearrangement of said pipework but would like to try to re-use the fittings that i have.
So is there any way to remove the solvent weld from the fittings and pipes in order to re-use them? Just pulling them apart and adding more solvent weld doesnt seem to provide a particularly strong joint.
Regards
Mark
Hum, I don't think they can hve been done properly in the first place if you can pull 'em part. A properly made solvent weld joint becomes one bit of plastic once the solvent has evaporated. Be aware that diffrent makes of solvent weld are not all the same size. You need to use only one brand of pipe and fittings not mix 'match.
Yeah, wot 'e said. I'd guess you used incompatible pipe and fittings, a not uncommon mistake - done it myself when I first started using solvent weld fittings.
Re-using solvent weld is not really on. If you can get it apart, then it wasn't done right in the first place. Anyway, why? the bits are so cheap surely its hardly worth the hassle
i think i may have learned a lesson here. Dont use b+q fittings and wickes tubing. It does appear that they are not compatible. (as wickes pipe is marked up at 21.5mm and b+q is marked as 22mm or vice versa)
Unfortunately i need the 45 degree bends, which they dont stock in the wickes range (which i prefer over the b+q ones which are quite fiddly). However, the B+Q by me very rarely have any stock of 22mm fittings, hence the reason i had to mix and match
Anyone know of a cheap online supplier? The usual suspects dont seem to stock them.
And as for it being cheap, well theres probably about 150 quids worth of fittings and pipework on my tank, so i was hoping to re-use as much as possible. Oh well, looks like more expense on this already expensive hobby!!
Thanks for the input guys
Mark
well, the only way to reuse the more expensive elbows is to leave them with a bit of pipe in each direction and use straight couplers.
if you are using overflow pipe then you can buy it very cheap from toolstation.com free delivery still iirc
mrcheerful
That is exceedingly cheap, thanks. Thats about a third of the shed price.
My fish thank you in advance (before i disturb their lovely home)
At the risk of appearing a total numpty, how do you actually do solvent welds in the first place? I'd quite like to try it, but what do you need to buy? I notice the likes of Screwfix sell a large range of components
David
You get the components, and a tin of solvent, or a tube of solvent- filler for repairing very slightly damaged or odd sized stuff. You coat the clean pipework with solvent, assemble, and it sets.
I thought it must be something like that, but then couldn't see any such solvent on Screwfix anywhere, so was wondering if it was maybe "built-in" to the components somehow! Presumably it's a specific, for-purpose solvent?
David
With overflow (nominal 21mm) as with '32mm' (old 1 1/4") and '40mm' (old 1
1/2") waste they come in solvent weld and push-fit varieties. Unlike 32mm and 40mm the sizes of overflow are close enough that you can often mix the two e.g. push-fit fittings and solvent weld pipe. If you can pull the fittings apart after 'solvent welding' them then they and/or the pipe were probably push-fit as the sort of plastic they use for that (polypropylene?) doesn't dissolve in the solvent.
Err, your best bet would be to go and visit a builders merchant who has most of his small stock out on the shop floor, rather than behind a trade counter. Go and have a good browse around the pipe work and fittings. Alternatively, take yourself into your local Plumb Centre and ask them for some advice - just make sure you don't go in when they're at their busiest, it won't be appreciated.....
You can buy a mighty lot of solvent weld pipes and fittings for £150 from a plumbers merchant! Have you tried your local Plumb Centre?
You can always saw off and reuse a lot of the piping. The joints cost peanuts anyway, especially if you buy them in reasonable bulk rather than one-off at B&Q.
And when you buy the solvent make sure it's well in-date. Didn't notice my first tin was out of date (thanks - well known national plumber's merchant) and wondered why the joints didn't seem to always take well.
Yeah, right!! :-)
David
Alright, I know people knock 'em, but I found my local Plumb Centre quite helpful when I was doing some work.
I have a stand pipe comes up on my back fence line, guess it was originally installed when the place was being built. When I renewed the fence, I wanted to bring the pipe straight up and through the fence on an elbow, with a bibcock surface-mounted onto one of the fence pales. I'd trawled through the various on-line suppliers looking at various fittings and had come up with something of a hotch-potch of bits to do it. When I went in and told them what I wanted to do, they immediately produced a ready-made surface mounted outlet with a brazed back pipe. Ideal for the job. Certainly hadn't been able to track that down looking at on-line sites.
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