strange plastic pipe

[hiney777]

Hi
I'm in the middle of changing my sink in the cloakroom, sink on waste connected everything seemed to be going well until! There are hot and cold pipes coming down from the ceiling (heavily painted) , hot pipe is 15 mm copper so no probs scraping of paint and connecting to tap. The cold pipe is plastic, but seems bigger than 15mm and a lot smaller than 22mm.
When i looked in the cupboard it is a grey pipe and is visually slightly bigger than the 15mm copper and bigger than the white pipe from wickes. I would like to cut if of in the cupboard and connect it to some copper then connect to the pipes. is there pushfit for this pipe??

 

[dontknowitall]

It's probably standard 15mm plastic push fit pipe and a normal push fit connection will sort you out. In my opinion HEP2O is the best but if you need to remove the fitting for any reason it's a time consuming pain! (HEP2O will connect to 15mm copper.)

 

[hiney777]

thanks for that. i'm not sure it is standard. there are some connections on it which appear to be more like solvent welds you'd see on a waste. Its hard to tell as its covered in paint

 

[Dave]

I had the same pipe in my house and it's not standard piping...it is old imperial stuff used mainly for contract work on cold feeds only..

You can get a conversion fitting to 15mm but they are not cheap..

i replaced mine from the stopcock.....

 

[hiney777]

Thanks for the help. How do I know what size to get. I havent measured but it looks maybe 17mm

 

[migoplumber]

there is an 18mm metric pipe about, usually on u/f heating tho. you will only find out exactly when you cut through it.
best bet is to find the source, or the nearest screw thread and repipe from there.

shaun

 

[Mike Jackson]

It's most likely Durapipe. There are no pushfit fittings available for this sort of pipe you have to use solvent weld fittings. They are only available from a very limited number of merchants.

 

[stevetheplumber]

theres a massive estate in waltham abbey done in this stuff its a nightmare best place to find fittings is probably plastics centers part of the wolesley group

 

[Eddie Bergin]

Hi it is probably polyorc from the 1970s introduced during a copper shortagew
you can still get the fittings and a solvent which takes 24 hours to set
or you can use superglue 10 mins
Speedfit do a fitting to convert to copper colourede black.
However it had a 25 year predicted lifespan and is now time expired
You should repalce all of it

 

[justlead1]

Hi. It is polyorc i worked on the estate.

 

[Dave]

Hi it is probably polyorc from the 1970s introduced during a copper shortagew
you can still get the fittings and a solvent which takes 24 hours to set
or you can use superglue 10 mins
Speedfit do a fitting to convert to copper colourede black.
However it had a 25 year predicted lifespan and is now time expired
You should repalce all of it

Tell me about it..mine started perferating and had a leak behind the stack boxing in d/stairs wc and wasn't detected until there was loads of damage as the leak was dripping behind a enclosed cistern boxing as well which was tiled so no water showing until i had mould growth in the grout...

So rather than risk it going somewhere else we just replaced the lot...

 

[Bernie2]

Yes!

Sure sounds like Polyorc.

Used a load of it in the seventies for 4" water main work.

You use a cleaner and then paint cement around the coupler, then up and down on the pipe end. Stick together, then pull together with Polyorc clamps, leave for 24 hours then test.

You have got to be fast though, the cement goes off real quick, not set mind just stops you pulling it together.

And don't smoke while doing it, I read after about ten **** later, it turns to acid if breathed in through tobacco smoke.

Hey! lads in those days COSHH regs where something a mugger might use, not a Safety code, you could breath in what you liked then.

 

[hiney777]

thanks for all the help. Going to contact a local merchant tomorrow to see if its common in the area

phoned local merchant, knew exactly what it was (17mm polysomething) £3 part £12 glue, 8 hours to dry.

 

[hiney777]

Glued the 17mm adapter on waited 24hrs and no leaks. if anyone is in the bracknell area and you come across this pipe, the local small plumbing merchants have everything you need.
Tried getting advice on the screwfix forum, but all some of them what to do is slag everyone off who isnt a plumber. A lot more advice on here, thanks

 

[Plouasne]

Glued the 17mm adapter on waited 24hrs and no leaks. if anyone is in the bracknell area and you come across this pipe, the local small plumbing merchants have everything you need.
Tried getting advice on the screwfix forum, but all some of them what to do is slag everyone off who isnt a plumber. A lot more advice on here, thanks

If its on the Bean Oak estate put up by Taylor Woodrow, in the late 60's ('68/'69/'70 era) its more likely some of the Marley stuff, if I remember right two sets of glue 1 red the other green

 

[Avatar]

Philmac universal transition coupler - 15-25mm and will adjust to whatever size pipe you have.

Bad news - looks like Rocky's set of dumbells!!

[DLMURL="http://www.philmac.co.uk/Products/UTC.asp"]Philmac UK - Products - Universal Transition Couplings[/DLMURL]

This is easy - dont even think about matching a fitting and using iffy solvent - the pipe is likely over 20 years old and very brittle so be careful.

 

[leadpig]

"shudders" polyorc
try explaining to a customer at 7pm why the pipe has to be replaced and i "cant just bang a connector on"

Philmac universal transition coupler - 15-25mm and will adjust to whatever size pipe you have.

Bad news - looks like Rocky's set of dumbells!!

[DLMURL="http://www.philmac.co.uk/Products/UTC.asp"]Philmac UK - Products - Universal Transition Couplings[/DLMURL]
.

thanks nice find

 

[oap67]

horrible stuff goes very,very brittle if it is cold,if you remove the lot.
Richard

 

[fdf21]

We've just come across this pipe in the bathroom of one of the properties on that massive estate in Waltham Abbey. We want to cap it off for a short period before replacing, but the push fit doesn't fit. Can we sand the outer side of the pipe to get the push fit on until we can replace the pipe?