"Nick Brooks" wrote in message
...
IMM wrote:
"Nick Brooks" wrote in message
...

IMM wrote:

A friend had an accident late yesterday. he rammed a nail through a CH

pipe

under the floor. He pleaded with me to fix it. It required a small

amount

of pipe and fitting. the first thing was to drain down. I didn't have

any

fittings or soldering equipment to hand, and had to make a distress

purchase

at the local shed. Only Speedfit was available, a system I really do

not

like. I reluctantly bought the fittings and a 2 metre length of 15mm

pipe.

The system was suffering from creaking around the puncture pipe point,

so

plastic pipe should cure this too.

I cut back and cleaned the copper, inserted the Speedfit fittings and

some

pipe. I explained that plastic fittings are reduced in size from 15mm

to

approx 12mm because of the inserts.

Well time to fill up. I always fill with just fresh water in case of a
swift drains down in case of a problems and lose the inhibitor.
Lo-and-behold one Speedfit fitting was ****ing out. A swift drain
down.

On

inspection the O ring had been pushed out of its housing ring and was
bunched up further down the fitting. The pipe inserted was plastic

that

pushed the O ring put. Straight out to buy another fitting before
they
closed. Inserted the new fitting and all was fine...well for now. The
expansion creak has gone......but the fittings holding up for a period

of

time is another matter. I told him to observe the fittings, and if he
wanted too, I could replace with Marley Equator, Osma Gold or Hep2O, or
better still replace with copper. He said he will let me know, which

will

mean if it is OK for a week or so he will leave it because he can't be
bothered. Which will mean if they **** out again he comes around to me
again on a bank holiday Monday.

So you had no tools or parts to hand and in your expert opinion, only
poor quality parts were available.

Poor quality they certainly were.

Perhaps you should have advised your
friend to call someone else.

On a bank holiday Monday? You are probably right.

Are you defending a poor quality system?

No. I'm question your judgement in fitting parts YOU considered were
substandard

A professional see can the merits of a good or bad design and quality of
materials used. Speedfit fail on both points. What amazes me, is that the
fittings are not exactly cheap either. Superior systems are generally
cheaper than Speedfit.

Polyplumb and Hep2O are superior in that you can ensure the O ring is on the
pipe by dismantling the fittings and sliding on the O ring and grab ring.
The problem with these is that they are bulky and ugly looking. Polyplumb
is the only plastic H&C pipe maker I know that an appliance maker does not
recommend.