Plumbing

randomi15

Hi guys,

If you have some diy skills such as doing plastering etc and generally handy in doing stuff, would you attenpt to change fitting types on pipes from compression to solder based?

It looks straight forward but I don't want to do any damage if there is rules and regulations such as a pipe should have this many bent or ....


I have had few plumbers around and they all said my pipe fitting are wrong and need to be solder fitting

Yet all radioators are compression fitting

They run under 1 bar or so i guess after looking at boiler gauge

What would be the pressure on house supply pipes?


The house has had these fittings for a while and can't see any leaks but while i have the floor boards up i can do it

It is a real pain to pay £1k to change them when i can do it all myself

jk0

I think the plumbers 'saw you coming'.

There's nothing wrong with compression fittings, and AFAIK no need to change them.

diamond_dave

Why would you want to change all the fittings? If they are not leaking leave them alone and stop worrying. You stand a better chance of disturbing something and causing a leak by changing the fittings to ring solder ones.

SailorSam

If you don't like the look of them, it's easier to box them in.

randomi15

I don't have any issues with them but three plumbers told me they will leak at some point

Maybe next month or maybe 10 years from now

That could have been sales talk which is why i am asking

thescouselander

Just anecdotal but I've never had a compression fitting leak once it has sealed. I wouldn't have thought they'd be any worse than solder fittings.

southcoastrgi

It's only a gas pipe you can't have a compression fitting on under the floor, if they are on water pipes & not leaking I'd say your 3 plumbers are full of BS

randomi15

Cool so all lie in a way?

If i cut pipes and bend them as I want using compression fitting joints, is that ok?

I don't want to risk anything if for instance creating angle causes the pressure to double or ....

I hope you see what i mean

Jonesya

I'd always used compression fittings for small plumbing jobs until I needed to joint some pipework under the floorboards which needed to be soldered for space/longevity.

Having had a go with solder fittings I wouldn't go back to compression, they're so much better and they're not difficult, as long as you do the preparation correctly.

The parts aren't expensive and there's plenty of videos on Youtube showing you how to do it - have a go on a few off-cuts.

randomi15

Seen some videos , do you need to solder all round or hot the joint and just touch the solder compound on it and it will suck it all around?

thescouselander

Just heat the joint from one side and wait till it gets hot enough to melt the solder. Then apply the solder to the colder side (opposite the flame) and all being well it will flow round to the hot side itself.