I've always used soldered joints but am being tempted by the Tectite push-fit range for a heating re-furb I'm about to embark on - maybe even plastic pipe rather than copper! How long have they been around? Any horror stories? Are there any other competing ranges I should consider?
Dave S
The plastic products are good, although some are aesthetically better looking than others.
There are real and accelerated life tests and manufacturers issue long guarantees.
There are numerous brands. I've used
- Hep2o
- JG Speedfit
- Marley Equator
- Tectite
and had no problems with any of them on either copper or barrier plastic tube.
It is important to follow the instructions for bending and securing and also to cut using a proper pipe cutter.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
Pushfit Tectite is good. Keep to copper pipe and only use plastic pipe when you need to.
Your opinion on the subject changes every time you post on it! That includes your favourite brand.
Another mentalist.
Generally these change quarterly, as opposed to the heating solution of the month.
Speedfit is out of favour at present, ever since the hacksaw incident.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
I've also used all of the above, as well as CuproFit, and have had no problems with any of them.
I recently tried the ToolsStation offering, made by QualPlumb. They are similar in construction to Hep fittings, but come in white plastic. I was quite impressed with them.
Check out the price. If you've got decent 'copper' skills, you'll save quite a bit of money. Neater job too.
Plastic can be easier to route under floors, though.
What incident was that? Speedfit has always been out of favour.
Who makes them? The Homebase own brand is made by Speedfit. Is it Hepworth just changing the colour?
Are there any huge price differences between the brands? - presumably the pipe and fittings are all made to a standard so are interchangeable(?)
What's special about the pipe cutter? I see that Screwfix have got a cheap one and an expensive one - any experience with them?
Thanks, Dave S
Not really. All are expensive compared to copper pipe and end feed fittings.
In theory, yes, as they all have to conform to a standard. In practice, no. Hepworth say do not interchange as makers tolerances are different.
It gives a clean straight cut very quickly. You can acheive this with other tools, but it will take longer.
The main difference in price comes from where you buy them and how many you buy. The most expensive way of buying them is to buy just one from B&Q or a plumbers merchant. The cheapest way is to buy a bag of 10 from Screwfix or Toolstation.
They all use standard pipe, so 10mm, 15mm, 22mm, 28mm are the main sizes. The only thing to look out for is pipe inserts. When using plastic pipe, you need to use plastic/copper/s.steel inserts in the end of the pipe. Use the correct insert for the fitting.
I have one of each. The SpeedFit cutter (blue) is by far the best way of cutting. It's very quick, and gives nice clean square cuts. The cheap Screwfix cutter (red) is ratchetting, and is good for cutting big MDPE pipe. Does a pretty good job on 12/22mm PEX pipe, but not as quick as the blue cutter.
But who was ranting on about how bad push fit couplings were a couple of months ago, when a certain someone f*cked up a fiends pluming because he couldn't read the instructions ?...
Surely it wasn't the same 'IMM' as who has just posted the above message ?!
At this point it's worth googling for a little thread we had a while back.
It is not worth it. "It gives a clean straight cut very quickly. You can acheive this with other tools, but it will take longer." That is all you need to know.
Surely you remember.....
You do have to read and follow the instructions.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
Well, you say that...
After that little hacksaw thread I did a fair bit of playing around with various pushfit fittings, being of a curious disposition. It's actually really, *really* hard to get one to leak.
The easiest to damage were CuproFit, where the O ring can be pushed out if you insert the pipe at a sharpish angle. I failed to make any speedfit or hep fitting leak while 'making' them, or subsequently by applying sideways pressure to the pipe. In both JG and Hep fittings it was the plastic casing that broke first.
On another matter, 3 years ago I installed a 'temporary' water valve outside near the stables. This made use of 3 JG fittings and a Pegler
1/4 turn ball valve. It has been sitting on a concrete block outside for 3 years, through quite a few freeze/thaw cycles. No leaks yet from the fittings, but I had to replace the valve last year because of frost damage.
No incident with an hacksaw. the hacksaw worked perfectly.
I'm sure you have never seen one of these never mind use one:
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