Hi All,

I just went into my 'local plumbers merchant' for a bit of advise and
to then (based on the advise) buy some bits.

I have used them many times over the years, one guy is a stores man
the other much more helpful (so guess which one I normally head for).
;-)

Today my friendly guy wasn't there so had to use the stores man and
whilst trying to keep it short and relevant, briefly described what I
needed to do (the water connections on this replacement multipoint
water heater). I mentioned the the old heater used joints with a
washer (on a flat shoulder, as per a tap connector on both fitting and
appliance) whereas the new heater used olived type compression joints,
however one of the ends I had from the old installation was quite a
neat tight 90 deg bend in 15mm copper but not a 'fitting' as such (ie,
just a bit of bent 15mm copper, no flange or collar etc) and I could
probably use something similar to re-fit the new heater in the
existing location. [1]

A guy hanging about in the shop came over (I'd seen him in there
before, maybe their 'plumber') and suggested the bent bit of copper
may have been part of a 'tail' that could have been supplied with the
boiler and instead I could just use a 'street elbow'. I asked if that
was ok to use with what was supposed to be an olived compression
connection (as opposed to a washered connection, as with a tap
connector) and he muttered summat about 'if you don't know what you
are doing you shouldn't be doing it' yada yada.

I thanked him again for trying to help, bade my farewells and went and
spent 30 quid in Wickes instead. I found what I was looking for re the
neat bent pipe in the form of a 'part crossover 15mm' where I can cut
a nice neat 90 deg section of plain copper pipe, suitable for fitting
into the heater one end (with an olive) and the isolation valve at the
other (again, a compression joint). I could have done (and may still
do) the same thing with a std 90 deg compression elbow and a couple of
bits of 15mm pipe, but that would result in a slightly tighter turn
(water resistance etc).

No wonder some of these 'local traders' are going out of business
[2]. :-(

All the best ..

T i m

[1] One of the other original water connections was a 90 deg 15mm tap
connector and in my understanding, 'not suitable' for use against an
olived type fitting? A connection possibly originally made by a
professional plumber, like the guy in the shop! ;-)

[2] If I get the opportunity I will (quietly) mention what happened to
the friendly guy (and possibly the owner), just so he knows ...