Thread: poly pipe and push fit?

hopefully silentC that old pipework is copper and not lead ... which is implicated in mental impairment in children :eek:

Some copper, some galvanised. Our water meter sticks up out of the lawn on 8" tails and has been run over at least twice. The ID of the pipe must be down to half what it was but we still get plenty of pressure.

If any of it was lead, it would be too late for me, since I spent most of my childhood in this house :eek: Guess I'll have to find another excuse for mental impairment

Originally Posted by brettdel

I can get compression adaptors;

16mm push-fit x 15mm copper and
20mm push-fit x 20mm copper

does the 15mm & 20mm copper equate to ½ inch and ¾ inch pipe??

Many thanks again

Brett

Yes, yes and yes

Adapters to copper and iron are readily available.

Interestingly, we have a mixture of copper, cast iron, PVC, gal and poly pipe on site (industrial site), both exposed and u/ground. The gal had clogged up with scale, the copper is always getting pin holes in it, the cast iron and PVC is brittle, and the poly is going strong. Admittedly, some of the piping is 80 years old. Some of the poly was installed about 15 years ago. Even the stuff is direct sunlight is like new.

can't say 100% for certain, but don't think there is any lead waterpipe in Australia anymore.... one benefit of being a "young" non-Roman-settled nation I guess - and as for Poly.... I used it 15 yrs ago for house plumbing (with adapters to feed into short runs of copper to internal outlets) and until I did the place up for sale it was going strong ..... only changed it due to appearance

http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/leadsafe/leadinf8.htm

you're nearly right seriph1 - apparently lead piping is rare here but that doesn't mean to say it doesn't exist ... I suspect owner-builders when regs weren't so strict would have used whatever was conveniently available. And as the article points out lead was used in joints which can also be a problem.

my last house in the uk which was built in 1914 still had some lead piping ( fortunately hot water pipes not cold ) when I moved in - and I'm pretty sure the water authority was still replacing some of the last lead pipe from street-main to houses ( stop cock is usually in the house in the uk ... water metering is only just beginning to take hold ).

Afternoon all,

Just an update. Finished putting the tap in today and decided to go with the poly pipe and “push – fit” fittings (Auspex). What a breeze to use.

Couple of things I picked up

Don’t cut pipe with a hacksaw but, as scooter has already pointed out, use pipe secateurs. Gives a quick clean cut.

Bending (thanks for the warning Jackiew): minimum cold bending radii is 10 times the pipe diameter - 20mm pipe/min radii 200mm

Compression adaptors: I thought they would be the nylon olive type but when I got them home the end of the pipe needs to be flared. Which is great if you had any idea on how to flare the end of a pipe! :eek: $10 tool fixed that.

So at the end of the day got a new tap in , no leaks and learnt some new stuff – gota be happy with that.

Thanks again for all the help.

Brett

just one point.

I hope you sanded the trench.

our area is clay & rock. its common to see abrasion problems long term if the treches are not sanded.

the inlaws place had a sucsession of leaks in the 75m to the road. at just about every case a rock was found in contact with the pipe.

We relaid the lot about 6 months ago in poly.

Originally Posted by soundman

I hope you sanded the trench.

What grits do you recommend soundman? 80, then 120 through to about 800 for a really smooth finish?

Just a note of interest about compression fittings on copper pipe.
I've talked to quite a few plumbers on job sites that I have worked on (I'm always picking other tradies brains when I'm doing a project at home!!) about compression fittings.
They all say to use the copper olives instead of the nylon ones. According to them, the nylon ones can distort after time and allow the fitting to leak. :eek: I don't know if that's true or wether they just don't like new technology!!!
They also use teflon tape on both sides of the copper olive to help avoid leaks.
Regards
Simon

Nylon olives will go hard and brittle over time, especially if used with hot water. If there is any vibration in the pipes at all (from water hammer, earthquakes, dancing elephants etc etc) then the union will start to leak. I've replaced nylon olives a lot on boat plumbing as there's always plenty of heat and vibration on boats. Best bet is to avoid compression fittings as far as possible and silver solder all joints.

Mick