Are different push fit brands compatible with each other?

[dave_s13]

I bought some "Polypipe" plastic pushfit bits yesterday for doing my shower later this evening but realised I need another T peice that I forgot to get.

B&Q is 2 mins one way and stocks "Speedfit", the place yesterday a good 25mins each way.

So, the question is, are all plastic push fits systems compatible with each other? Can I fit a 'Speedfit' 'T' into a 'polypipe' pipe and not end up in a soggy mess?

[netherfield]

Never had a problem with either sort,I have both types around the house,particlarly under the kitchen sink where there is a mix of both.

[freecar]

of course they are, they connect to the pipes not each other. They're both designed to work with the same pipe!

[dave_s13]

Cheers.

There's no such thing a stupid question, is there?

[Gingerbread Man]

They don't all use the same inserts though. John guest inserts have o rings on them. Polypipe uses a different insert to this.

[lewes]

As said above, make sure you use the inserts suitable for the pipe.

I know of a plumbing contractor that piped a whole house in pushfit as requested but someone forgot to use any inserts. The whole lot leaked !!!

[Spudler]

lewes said:

The whole lot leaked !!!

Im assuming you mean water.
Any decent plumber would'av carried out a pressure test first.

[Simpo Two]

Or remove a variable and use copper pipe - it's easy to cut into straight lengths even if you can't do the soldering or bending.

[dave_s13]

I would be happy to solder copper but it just seems so much easier to use pushfit?

I'm only plumbing the shower from a hot cold feed in the floor - it's only 1m away.

For the price of a gas torch, flux, solder, pipe/fittings I might as well just use pushfit.

I've been assured by selco you can mix/match brands anyway.

[homeimprovements]

Dave

I was speaking to a speedfit rep the other day about this. All the pipe conforms to the same BS spec and as such are fundementally identical. The outer diameters are identical. As long as you use a speed fit insert in a speedfit fitting, a hep insert in a hep fitting etc, there wont be a problem. Tings go wrng when you use one manufacturers insert with anothers actual fitting.

Oh and do your plumbing in copper, its the proper way. Pushfit looks untidy and amateurish.:-)

[ferg]

homeimprovements said:

Oh and do your plumbing in copper, its the proper way. Pushfit looks untidy and amateurish.:-)

..and is less reliable.

[andy43]

Pushfit is the work of the devil.
Use as a last resort only, and only on the condition the joints will be permenantly accessible.
Horrendously expensive, relies on a little metal washer to grip the pipe, a little rubber seal to stop the water coming out, and looks about as rodent-proof as weetabix.
One of our kids must have only been about 4 1/2 when she managed to almost completely release a pushfit coupling behind our (old!) bathroom sink just by tugging on the fitting.
Even central heating systems installed with the plastic stuff still usually come out of the floors in copper to look at least halfway professional.
If you can solder and are happy using copper, it'll be a tidier job and I bet it'll work out cheaper if there's more than a couple of fittings needed.

[Simpo Two]

dave_s13 said:

I would be happy to solder copper but it just seems so much easier to use pushfit?

I'm only plumbing the shower from a hot cold feed in the floor - it's only 1m away.

I was suggesting that you use copper for the straight bits, with pushfit corners and other bits.

Pushfit has certain advantages for the amateur that wouldn't bother the professional. You can work on pipes that have water in them, you can undo them and have another go if you cut the pipe wrong, you can work in tight corners where a blowtorch won't, the joints swivel. It is simply much easier for the beginner.

[dave_s13]

Jaysus...Is it really that bad!!!

Surely if it was seriously sheeite it wouldn't be sold? I suspect it's much like all aspects of certain trades. People have their own way of doing things and any other way is disasterous.

To late now anyway I bought the fittings/pipework and put it in last night (before I read the updated thread).

Just for info there is are Hot & Cold IV's with compression fittings popping out of floor (done in plastic pipe). I have then run a T off to new bath tap and up behind a false partition to the shower bar. I'm mounting the shower bar using one of those "Shower PL8" jobbies.

Before I tile over it all I'm going to cap off the feed into the shower/tap, open the IV's and hop nothing leaks. IF it goes tits up in future the whole lot can be isolated by removing the bath panel......It would need a small bit of tiling ripping out though.

I honestly can't see what all the fuss is about. famous last words

[Gingerbread Man]

I think plastic has it's uses. I only use it where it can't be seen. All visable work should be copper. Also, I don't use the push fit fittings than can be pushed apart. Polypipe manufacture permanent fittings which I use.

A lot of new builds are plumbed top to toe in plastic these days. John guest fittings which can be taken apart again. White plastic used for radiator tails. The only copper used is coming out of the boiler for a meter. Chucked in from outside I think.

[mrmaggit]

Carrying on from the push-fit side, the waste side may not be the same. I know Marley waste fittings are different from just about all the others, and with Rainwater (or "guttering" to the masses), especially the square stuff, there is a fair chance they won'r be interchangeable. Once you get below ground it all gets interchangeable again.

[ferg]

dave_s13 said:

Jaysus...Is it really that bad!!!

Yes. Really. I think it's a case of it lasting long enough for people to not be bothered wanting recompense when it goes wrong. Neoprene 'O'-rings DO lose their flexibility eventually and once they have any expansion and contraction movement they DO leak. Other frequent problems include rodent attack and, ironically, degradation of fittings due to solder flux running down.

[Grandad Gaz]

ferg said:

dave_s13 said:

Jaysus...Is it really that bad!!!

Yes. Really. I think it's a case of it lasting long enough for people to not be bothered wanting recompense when it goes wrong. Neoprene 'O'-rings DO lose their flexibility eventually and once they have any expansion and contraction movement they DO leak. Other frequent problems include rodent attack and, ironically, degradation of fittings due to solder flux running down.

Hmmm, I was thinking of using that stuff under a screeded floor for my central heating with just the risers to the rads in copper.
Would I be better off doing the whole lot in copper instead?

btw, never used plastic pipe before. It looks too easy!

[Spudler]

Grandad Gaz said:

ferg said:

dave_s13 said:

Jaysus...Is it really that bad!!!

Yes. Really. I think it's a case of it lasting long enough for people to not be bothered wanting recompense when it goes wrong. Neoprene 'O'-rings DO lose their flexibility eventually and once they have any expansion and contraction movement they DO leak. Other frequent problems include rodent attack and, ironically, degradation of fittings due to solder flux running down.

Hmmm, I was thinking of using that stuff under a screeded floor for my central heating with just the risers to the rads in copper.
Would I be better off doing the whole lot in copper instead?

btw, never used plastic pipe before. It looks too easy!

Do it in one continious length of copper (lagged) under screed and bend the pipe for the tails.

[andy43]

Spudler said:

Grandad Gaz said:

ferg said:

dave_s13 said:

Jaysus...Is it really that bad!!!

Yes. Really. I think it's a case of it lasting long enough for people to not be bothered wanting recompense when it goes wrong. Neoprene 'O'-rings DO lose their flexibility eventually and once they have any expansion and contraction movement they DO leak. Other frequent problems include rodent attack and, ironically, degradation of fittings due to solder flux running down.

Hmmm, I was thinking of using that stuff under a screeded floor for my central heating with just the risers to the rads in copper.
Would I be better off doing the whole lot in copper instead?

btw, never used plastic pipe before. It looks too easy!

Do it in one continious length of copper (lagged) under screed and bend the pipe for the tails.

But try and find a 100m roll of 10mm copper before going too far down that route!