Re: Plumbing DIY SOS kit

If you are worried about flooding, I suggest that you don't use this. :)

In any case, it won't work at all if there's any water flow at all.

It might be better to get one of these:

One of those handy circular, put it on the pipe and turn it, pipe cutters.

Yes, I was going to say that. A pipe freezer kit really isn't an emergency sort of thing, more a way of doing something that would take longer and/or more effort by other means. Also I think you very much need to know what you're doing to use one successfully.

That's a nifty piece of kit. Not cheap, but cheaper than calling a plumber out.

I was thinking of places where it's not easy to fit an isolator, eg annoying corners. Or to avoid drain, fix, refill, oops-I-did-it-wrong, drain, fix, refill cycles :)

Although point taken about bursting pipes :(

Do they work on plastic?

Theo

What's the recommendation for new interior plumbing these days? Copper? PVC? PE? What kind of fittings?

I think we're mostly copper, although I'm not sure what has been tacked on. Pipe soldering is probably a useful skill to pick up anyway... (done lots of other kinds of soldering)

Theo

Indeed, but the problem is putting them in... (without leaking everywhere)

Are end feed preferred to solder ring? And compared to compression?

Theo

Little difference providing you have cleaned (I use wire wool) and fluxed the pipe. You need something to protect the wall behind the pipe from the flame. I use a cement bonded asbestos offcut but you can buy a small heat resistant blanket.

I prefer end feed, and I also use stainless steel wire rather than wire wool as that rots in any moisture.

Its possibly *slightly* easier to make a neat joint with the 'in connector' solder, but its also slightly easier to leave a leak....

If you're in an older property it really helps knowing what pipe is metric (15mm, 22mm) and what is imperial (1/2" , 3/4"), particularly if you're going to use pushfit.

You can still get lead solder (*) which is easier to use with a cheapo Wickes etc blowlamp. solder-ring will presumably always be lead-free and need a hotter flame, surely ?.

(*) for central heating pipes.

If you use Hep20 or similar, remember to use the strain relief supports if you have a 90 degree bend immediately before a pushfit connector, otherwise there will be a lateral force on the O ring in the connector which might leak at some point.

That's very important. I had a narrow escape when I had to cut-out an isolator that was weeping (after a change to mains pressure DHW) and temporarily cap the pipe while I bought a new full-bore isolator. All the plumbing is metric (or so I thought) so I just popped-on a 22mm push-fit stop-end - it went on unusually easily but I didn't think any more about it until later, when I tried to connect to it and realised it was imperial. Fortunately the stop-end stayed on!!

A selection of compression fittings takes care of metric to imperial connections in an emergency.

Soldering 3/4 copper to 22mm needs special solder connectors. Homebase used to sell them, but I haven't been in one for years.

I have a couple, I think the only remaining 3/4" inch pipe is the expansion up and over from the H/W tank to the header tank in the loft.

You won't burst the pipe using one of those. Probably. But you might find that the ice doesn't hold for long, and once any water starts to get by it'll melt the ice plug extremely quickly.

I've got a couple of items that have proved very useful but I don't know how to describe - rubber bung for sealing the end of a pipe temporarily - a conical rubber thing with ribs that fits into the pipe end then you turn a plastic threaded handle that causes the bung to get tighter in the pipe.

Yes indeed, also washing machines, dishwashers, defrosting freezers.