Opella plastic plumbing fittings

[PositronicRay]

Hi all

I've just replaced my dishwasher and the Opella appliance valve is leaking, its a sort of plastic compression fitting. I thought it would be as easy as local plumbing new valve and "jobs a goodun"

It seems loads of different types/makes of plastic fittings so not that easy.

I went onto the Opella web site and they don't do this sort of stuff, just bath and shower stuff not the plastic plumbing.

Does anyone know of stuff that's compatible that I can just screw on so I don't need to replace all the fittings under the sink?

[PositronicRay]

This is what I'm left with about 2cm of stubby plastic pipe (I've put a bit of garden hose over it as a temporary repair)
The T piece sort of screws down over a push fitting/collar

The bloke in the plumbers merchant suggested I just cut off the old valve and just push a speed fit valve on it.
Tried this but it just pisses out water.

What's the best thing to do now?

[PositronicRay]

No I didn't put an insert in. I didn't know I needed one (I do now I've googled speed fit)

Even if I get an insert (plumbers merchant bloke did not tell me about these) I don't think I've enough pipe left to fit it into. I notice from the speed fit website that you have to use speed fit pipes, also hacksawing pipes is a no no.
Guess what, I've hacksawed it.

The stubby bit of pipe isn't scored however.

[PositronicRay]

The collar does unscrew. Do you just put some copper pipe in and nip it up?

[PositronicRay]

Okay

It's important once I start I complete the job. Otherwise the the water stays off and I incur the wrath of Mrs PR.

So unscrew collar, push seal fitting off the end, push it back onto some copper pipe. do up collar and compression fitting on the other end?

Can I hacksaw the pipe?

[PositronicRay]

Okay I see the hep2o grey fittings are discontinued, although some still available on ebay. I'm nervous about reusing the gripper ring, if anyone can screw this up I can.

I'm hoping to the job tomorrow, do the white hep2o use the same gripper ring?

[PositronicRay]

The existing pipe is only about 20mm and plastic.

[PositronicRay]

So one of these

http://www.screwfix.com/p/15mm-x-washing-machine-v...

with one of these stuck in the stubby bit of pipe.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/hep2o-hx60-15ws-push-fit...

I've only got 15-20mm of stubby pipe, will this be enough?

Or should I also get this.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/hep2o-push-fit-equal-tee...

+ some copper pipe?

Am I okay hacksawing the copper pipe if I'm careful and de-burr or do I need a pipe cutter?

Edited by PositronicRay on Wednesday 3rd February 20:03

[PositronicRay]

DrDeAtH said:

That's a polyplumb fitting. You may be able to salvage the grab ring if you slide it off the pipe the correct way.
Other than that, just buy a straight polyplumb coupler and use the guts out of it to aid your repair with a short length of copper and a standard washing machine valve.

Thanks, I'll pick one up.

[PositronicRay]

Thanks chaps for your advice

it took me 10 mins once I had the kit. It was a polyplumb fitting, I bought a spare but didn't need to use it the locking ring just slid off as advised.

I used some speedfit pipe, some speed fit inserts and the speedfit washing machine tap I bought yesterday from the plumbers merchants. All for a couple of £ from Wickes

I should have just fitted a new Wickes/polyplumb washing machine tap in the 1st place and not cut the old one off as advised by the plumbers merchant. "Just hacksaw it off and bung on one of these" is what he said.

You live and learn.

[PositronicRay]

You're right (looking @ google images)

I actually re-used the grab-ring from the hep2o fitting, but with a speed-fit insert and speed-fit pipe. It's under the sink so I'll keep an eye out for drips. I notice the hep2o insert is a straight metal collar pushed into the pipe.

The 15mm polyplumb "T" was out of stock so I picked up an elbow (which I didn't use). Just in case I needed the ring/seal thingy, thinking it was the same type of fitting.

Now I understand the systems, for any future plastic plumbing, I'll probably just use speed-fit, availability seems better.

PH is great for this sort of stuff
Better than feeling awkward in a plumbers merchant, while someone "sucks through their teeth" (do they learn this in plumbing college) in an unhelpful fashion.

I was in the same place the other week. I wanted a ceramic cartridge for a mixer tap. More "teeth sucking" followed by "we get asked for those a lot" (long pause) "you won't get one anywhere" (long pause) "you'll need a new tap"

Got home and in 5mins I found exactly what I wanted on Amazon, amazing that.

Edited by PositronicRay on Friday 5th February 08:15

[PositronicRay]

LookAtMyCat said:

To be honest I see threads like this and just think life is way too short to be trying to work this out on a forum and visiting merchants. I'd have sorted that, properly, in 10 mins and charged you £20-30 depending on how decent the tea you made me was. You'd also have my £5,000,000 liability insurance backing it up in case it decides to spring in a couple of weeks when you're out and flood your house.

It's a good point actually. I have a good plumber I rely on, he's flat out at the moment though and I didn't want to wait. He's retiring later this yr so I'll need to find someone else.

I used to be cash rich and time poor, now it's the other way round. I enjoy tackling basic jobs and learning as I go, I don't feel so useless that way.