Plumbing - re using olives?

[Man at B&Q]

"When I see PTFE on the threads of a fitting I think an odd-job man or amateur. " Dribble 11:41am 09/12/11

[Mr Pounder]

When I was a lad we knocked the olives off with a file and reused them. There was never any problems. We used jointing paste, never PTFE. The plumber I served my time with was old school.

[Mark]

Thanks.

I tried the job before most of these replies appeared. I gave the old olive (didn't look too badly deformed, and span freely on pipe) about three wraps of PTFE, fitted new tap and tightened up- easier than usual due to the olive already used I guess. Anyway, opened the stopcock, tested washer with a bit of kitchen roll underneath the new joint - bone dry :o)

Sorted. Thanks all for input.

[tinnews]

I always remove old olives using the nut from the fitting as a sort of slide hammer. With the addition of a spanner that is a fairly close fit around the pipe you can, in addition, tap it off with a hammer. I've found this can get most olives off unless they're really seriously embedded in the pipe. It feels like it might tend to embed the olive into the pipe more but this doesn't seem to happen in practice.

[Nightjar]

Fortunately, I rarely have to deal with someone else's plumbing. While I prefer end feed solder joints, for neatness, if I do use compression fittings I work on hand tight plus 1/4 turn, plus a bit if it weeps.

Colin Bignell

[Mr Pounder]

Yes indeed. It was a long time ago but we did use the nut assisted by a file to get the olive off. I stand corrected. It always worked :-) A spanner was not used, we did not have them in my day. Footprints.

[Doctor Drivel]

Copper olives will seal, but can be easily removed from the chrome.

[Doctor Drivel]

Oh my Good. Get quality pipe an Kutelite olive and they fit with no slack. Buy cheapo Toolstation fittings and cheapo pipe and the olive slaps around. Quality fitting and quality pipe can make all the difference.

BZZZZZZZZ!!!! Knobhead Alert!!! BZZZZZZZZ!!!! Knobhead Alert!!! BZZZZZZZZ!!!! Knobhead Alert!!! BZZZZZZZZ!!!! Knobhead Alert!!!

[Tim Watts]

Been round the back of the vending machine with a trademag again?

Yes, we know you are...

[Doctor Drivel]

BZZZZZZZZ!!!! Knobhead Alert!!! BZZZZZZZZ!!!! Knobhead Alert!!! BZZZZZZZZ!!!! Knobhead Alert!!! BZZZZZZZZ!!!! Knobhead Alert!!!

[nimbusjunk]

And what my dear chap do Conex themselves say about sealants on their compression joints??

you say you need good quality pipe or sealant between which faces does this sealant actually seal?

My understanding is that the olive cold welds to the pipe and so no sealant needed there and the olive deforms to squeeze into the cone of the fitting so where is the sealant needed?

I actually suspect that only fittings with crappy threads or ones which are out of engineering tolerance need sealant or the same people who do not read the instructions in plastic pipe which mandate inserts and are amazed that they blow off when they forget to buy themalso do not read the instalation instructions for compression joints

OT last week we had a lino floor fitted on a screeded floor The fitter returned 3 hours after he had screeded and pronounced that it was not dry enough to lay the lino I could not help wondering why he thought it would be as the screed manufacturers data sheet stated that it needed 6-10 hours to cure.

[Doctor Drivel]

And what my dear chap do Conex themselves say about sealants on their compression joints??

between which faces does this sealant actually seal?

Any imperfections between the seating and the olive.

The cheaper the fitting the worse the problem. I always buy Conex until I am stuck. Conex is now competitive. But they all will weep. ALWAYS put a smear of Jet Blue on the fittings seating. All pro do that.

[Tim Watts]

Mine never weep when I'm done and I've *never* used sealant on a new olive. Only one did I need a smear on a 30 year old fitting I'd moved.

It's you...

How's your iron plumbing - you haven't told us about that yet. Or lead...

[Huge]

Me too. Hell, I don't think I even own any sealant.

Damn right.

[grimly4]

Christ on a bike - I agree with Drivel.

[Doctor Drivel]

You have to agree, agree with me.

[Andrew Gabriel]

It will in skilled hands. Unfortunately, that doesn't include many plumbers - particularly the ones you seem to associate with.

Some common reasons I've found compression fittings leaking...

Olive not on square, caused by pipework being very badly out of alignment when initially fitting. Capnut deformed (squashed across corners), caused by use of a spanner which was too big, adjustable spanner set wrongly, or an adjustable spanner whose jaws spread under force, any of which can cause the spanner to ride up off the flats over the corners. You can probably do this with mole grips and other wrong tools for the task too. Capnut done up too tightly, crushing pipe excessively. Too little pipe end protruding from olive, also resulting in excessive deformation of pipe end and olive. Use of sealant when there was actually nothing else wrong with the connection - it eventually gets forced out resulting in a leak. Use of hardening sealant, which on disassemble and reassembly, will deform the olive and prevent sealing on reassembly.

These are all operator error - not having the necessary skills to assemble the connection correctly. I have done some of them myself decades ago when I first started plumbing, but I do learn not to repeat mistakes which is why I can use compression fittings correctly now.

Never seen that on a new fitting, or a properly fitted old/reused one either.

Unskilled only.

[John Rumm]

I can't recall ever seeing a any plumber (pro or otherwise) using a proprietary plumb centre product for compression joint sealing. Perhaps dribble is on a kickback for the promotion of it?

What's this month's favourite pair of combis dribble?

[Bay Man]

I doubt you have seen a plumber do a joint.

[John Rumm]

Make one, yes, smoke one no...

(unless you include the chap I watched last week over fluxing a Yorkshire fitting on a gas pipe)