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I've never seen the point of Tectite Sprint. They may be copper on the outside but they still have the grips and rubber seals on the inside, and they are more expensive than compression fittings anyway. Why not just use compressions?
 
Hi All,
First time contributor.
Suprised no-one mentioned 'Tectite' its a brass push-fit and is OK with Copper and plastic. Used it on a cylinder replacement job while back (was given some samples at a merchant). Its good, less bulky than plastic but can be hard to find at merchants. used it a couple of times since no problems.

become a real plumber and use a blow torch
 
If you are using speedfit, check every fitting and I mean every fitting that the rings at each opening actually are there and are in the right order. Always use inserts in the pipe. For concealed spaces prefer Hep2O - if there is a possibility that a fitting may need to be dismantled in the future, use Speedfit.

Put a permanent push fit on shower few weeks ago i found a few lying in a box in garage. Used a few in the bathroom the one i put directly on the elecctric shwer sure wasnt that the on with no rubber in it. 45 minutes of pure precision and tears grinding tiles behind shower and the fitting on shower the ones with the copper sleeve too so i could refit. so much for a handy one
 
I'm not a Tectite fan, but I think their advantage over compression is speed and appearance.
 
I been using push fit for sometime now I have it in my house as well and never had any problem
In fact I swear by them
 
Ive been using speedfit for over 10 years, it was originally designed and still used by the cellar brewery industry. I have had problems with it the same as endfeed, tectite, yorshire, ployplumb, hep20, qualpex, compression.
Basically any jointing method needs to be fit for purpose. Noone wants to see a plastic fitting, so I will use plastic pipe and fittings under floors or baths. And copper where it's seen, having said that sometimes like when I need to cap off a pipe, a white speedfit cap looks better, but not when the pipe is heavily painted then compression is better. The point is that plastic pipe and fittings is another tool in our armory, its how we use it that makes us professional.
 
What type of a pushfit are they or are they all the same type??
 
Yes I like pushfit plumbing, as said it has its place in our armoury. There are times when a pushfit can save you hours of faffing and I can still walk away and know that the joint is good.

Frankly I don't understand why people get so uptight about it. I don't think we'll see the end of sweated copper in our generation, but I wouldn't lose much sleep if we did.

Now despite everything I've just said above, 90% of my work is hard plumbed in copper....but yes pushfit is a brilliant invention. Wish I had thought of it!
 
theres lads who are working for smiths at mann island on 500 apartments and all they use is yorkshire techtite pushfit so it cant be that bad am only a bathroom fitter but i stick to soldering and not using any pushfits or flexis.
 
Try getting a Tectite apart with your bare hands and then tell us they're rubbish. They have their place in the plumbing world as much a adjustable traps, solvent weld waste and flexi hoses. It took more skill to do without these things but I wouldn't want to lose them and most of Joe public don't want to plumb no matter how simple it may or may not be. The ones who do try and DIY are mainly tightwads and often cock things up.

I have a client who often 'has a go' at things before he calls me in. In the last year he's snapped the head from a stopcock with the water off, and dropped a spanner through his basin cracking it. Last time I went round was to tighent a tap he'd had a go at, and snapped the back nut.

We'll always have work in this business no matter how simple they make certain things.
 
What about these stories of pushfits blowing off if not pressure tested to 10bar?
 
Pushfits will blow off from a chromed pipe, but then people who put speedfit on a chrome pipe frankly deserve a good soaking!!

I've never known a pushfit to 'blow off' but I'm sure it must happen. Nothings perfect.
 
I think you may find some compression fittings would fly off if tested at 10 bar!!

Also stories of push fit doing this proberly relate to ones not fitted with the correct inserts . . .

Also I would not skimp when fitting push fit and will get the best (ie JG) - however you go for cheaper bargain buckets of compression or solder ing fittings.
 
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I've tried JG a few times, and must sat I think they're one "gogo good good" fitting easy, and always if you make get any mistakes are always easy reassembled. Plus the one thing I must rememberd here is always use a pipe support fitting for the pipe being used. So if you were to be using H2o pipe and a JG coupling, use the recommended steel H2o pipe insert.
 
There isn't anything too wrong with JG except the price, because it's expensive. The fittings are more expensive than Yorkies etc then you need to buy inserts and spend time making sure its well clipped. Time is saved slightly putting it all together, but it's real plus point is its ease of use.
I think that its snobbery from some that put it down all the time and I know a few that keep saying bad things about JG and they've never even used the stuff. As with all plumbing, use it in accordance with the manufacturers instructions and it won't cause problems. However I'm sticking to Barrier pipe as the jury is still out on polybutelyene and there are many law suits in America over failure of this pipe.
Only gripe is those damn rodents!
 
I've tried JG a few times, and must sat I think they're one "gogo good good" fitting easy, and always if you make get any mistakes are always easy reassembled. Plus the one thing I must rememberd here is always use a pipe support fitting for the pipe being used. So if you were to be using H2o pipe and a JG coupling, use the recommended steel H2o pipe insert.

Dont even think about using a JG fitting with a Hep pipe - thins is the one no no!

Use a compression fitting to joint the 2, as that is universal but use the correct inserts, as per the manufacturers instructions!
 
Just had three of them leak on one job. I, for one, will be going back to copper only for installs where the fittings are not accessable.
 
Never have any problems with brass compression fittings. Just these cheep plastic pushfits with o-rings for seals. Quite possibly the worst idea for CH systems in my opinion.
 
I bought a whole organiser worth of HEP2O fittings about 2½ years ago. Hardly used anything from it in that time and I've never bought plastic pipe. That said, I've fitted it and it's simple under floors - but I spent good money learning how to solder and I prefer end feed.

Nothing against push fit - the JG stop ends are REALLY useful as you can turn the customer's house water on early on in a job or if cutting through a pipe and you're not sure if there's another radiator on the system that's going to break an air lock.

Plastic plumbing's really good but me? I prefer copper.
 
nothing wrong with JG fittings, if the correct inserts are used . . . .

Dont use any other brand though!
 
What about these stories of pushfits blowing off if not pressure tested to 10bar?

at my old firm we had the hep rep out as alot of lads were making cock ups with it, they said when you pressure test it the grab rings dig into the pipe, rather difficult removing them with the correct tools once pressure tested. but my boss did specify pressure testing to 18bar was rather scary sitting under all the pipework creaking away
 
Pushfits and plastic have their place - try putting in underfloor heating in copper! All joints will leak if not properly done, you have to follow the manufacturers instructions exactly. Solder is great if everything as absolutely clean and fluxed and the blow lamp does not set fire to woodwork (every year a few houses burn down due to the action of plumbers) mind you the lead free solder is not as easy to work with as good old 60:40. Compression are good when tightened properly and using the correct olives with the correct nuts. Plastics are easy to fit in retrofit runs but again they have to be fitted correctly. My gripe is that they creak as the water pressure changes in the system - I've had someone say they thought they had a mouse in their bedroom and it was the plastic piping to the vanity unit moving a little everytime someone used water in the house. Plastic also suffers less from condensation and the long runs mean fewer joints. The big doubt for me is what the seals will be like in 25 years - soldered copper goes on for ever.
 
Pushfits are simple and easy connections, but where they fail is that in most cases a change of direction requires a fitting. The large pushfit fittings all grouped together look terrible. I've bent barrier pipe on a bending machine, but generally it doesn't retain it's intended shape. I'm a big fan of Speedfit though and I use it quite a lot, but it's becoming expensive even compared to copper, so both systems have their place.
 
i only use them as a last resort but as anything else there only as good or bad as the person putting them together
 
New shower has a plastic pipe despite being sold as the same model as a shower it is to replace which had a copper pipe.
 
New shower has a plastic pipe despite being sold as the same model as a shower it is to replace which had a copper pipe.
Most showers have a plastic inlet pipe these days which is connected to using a compression fitting.
 
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