All the cold water piping from the tank to outlets in our 1970s property
is 17mm OD grey plastic piping. Grateful for any suggestions on how to
adapt this to copper. I would strip everything out and start again but
the existing is neatly buried in walls or the concrete floor.
--
robert

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
rbel wrote:

All the cold water piping from the tank to outlets in our 1970s
property is 17mm OD grey plastic piping. Grateful for any
suggestions on how to adapt this to copper. I would strip everything
out and start again but the existing is neatly buried in walls or the
concrete floor.

That's an unusual size! What sort of fittings are currently used? Can you
upload a photo of a bit of pipe with a fitting somewhere on-line, and post a
link to it here?
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

"Set Square" wrote in message
...
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
rbel wrote:

All the cold water piping from the tank to outlets in our 1970s
property is 17mm OD grey plastic piping. Grateful for any
suggestions on how to adapt this to copper. I would strip everything
out and start again but the existing is neatly buried in walls or the
concrete floor.

That's an unusual size! What sort of fittings are currently used? Can you
upload a photo of a bit of pipe with a fitting somewhere on-line, and post
a
link to it here?

It wasn't an unusual size at the time (seventies) ...
indeed my BCO more or less insisted that such pipes
were used for cold services. {when the existing lead pipery
was being removed and replaced. IIRC, the pipes were
made by 'IMI ~ Yorkshire" under the trade name 'Poly-York"
-[I may have this wrong]. The pipe was meant to be solvent-welded
with in-line joints made with a female-female union.
I had grey pipes (large) and black (small) diameters equivalent
to 22mm and 15mm copper. {Once again this may have been a vagary
of supply]. Unions, elbows, tap and tank connectors were all
available. Connection onto the cold-water main was via a
tap-connector. When I needed to modify the design , I could
no longer source the bits. I discovered that a push-fit connector
actually went over the 17mm OD ... after which it's an exercise
in connecting to the resultant copper pipe.

Apparently, as the hot water (adjacent) pipes had to be copper
the plumbing trade didn't find using a parallel plastic circuit
either cost nor time saving and the product went off the market.

I hope to banish the final circuits of it from my house over
the next twelvemonth ... when I get a round tuit.

--

Brian

In message , Brian Sharrock
writes

"Set Square" wrote in message
...
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
rbel wrote:

All the cold water piping from the tank to outlets in our 1970s
property is 17mm OD grey plastic piping. Grateful for any
suggestions on how to adapt this to copper. I would strip everything
out and start again but the existing is neatly buried in walls or the
concrete floor.

That's an unusual size! What sort of fittings are currently used? Can you
upload a photo of a bit of pipe with a fitting somewhere on-line, and post
a
link to it here?

It wasn't an unusual size at the time (seventies) ...
indeed my BCO more or less insisted that such pipes
were used for cold services. {when the existing lead pipery
was being removed and replaced. IIRC, the pipes were
made by 'IMI ~ Yorkshire" under the trade name 'Poly-York"
-[I may have this wrong]. The pipe was meant to be solvent-welded
with in-line joints made with a female-female union.
I had grey pipes (large) and black (small) diameters equivalent
to 22mm and 15mm copper. {Once again this may have been a vagary
of supply]. Unions, elbows, tap and tank connectors were all
available. Connection onto the cold-water main was via a
tap-connector. When I needed to modify the design , I could
no longer source the bits. I discovered that a push-fit connector
actually went over the 17mm OD ... after which it's an exercise
in connecting to the resultant copper pipe.

Apparently, as the hot water (adjacent) pipes had to be copper
the plumbing trade didn't find using a parallel plastic circuit
either cost nor time saving and the product went off the market.

I hope to banish the final circuits of it from my house over
the next twelvemonth ... when I get a round tuit.

It is exactly as you describe. You mention using push-fit connectors -
any specific manufacturer or will any do?
--
robert

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Brian Sharrock wrote:

"Set Square" wrote in message
...
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
rbel wrote:

All the cold water piping from the tank to outlets in our 1970s
property is 17mm OD grey plastic piping. Grateful for any
suggestions on how to adapt this to copper. I would strip
everything out and start again but the existing is neatly buried in
walls or the concrete floor.

That's an unusual size! What sort of fittings are currently used?
Can you upload a photo of a bit of pipe with a fitting somewhere
on-line, and post a
link to it here?

It wasn't an unusual size at the time (seventies) ...
indeed my BCO more or less insisted that such pipes
were used for cold services. {when the existing lead pipery
was being removed and replaced. IIRC, the pipes were
made by 'IMI ~ Yorkshire" under the trade name 'Poly-York"
-[I may have this wrong]. The pipe was meant to be solvent-welded
with in-line joints made with a female-female union.
I had grey pipes (large) and black (small) diameters equivalent
to 22mm and 15mm copper. {Once again this may have been a vagary
of supply]. Unions, elbows, tap and tank connectors were all
available. Connection onto the cold-water main was via a
tap-connector. When I needed to modify the design , I could
no longer source the bits. I discovered that a push-fit connector
actually went over the 17mm OD ... after which it's an exercise
in connecting to the resultant copper pipe.

Apparently, as the hot water (adjacent) pipes had to be copper
the plumbing trade didn't find using a parallel plastic circuit
either cost nor time saving and the product went off the market.

I hope to banish the final circuits of it from my house over
the next twelvemonth ... when I get a round tuit.

I must have missed out on that - because both my previous and current (where
I've lived since 1977) houses were built in the 1960's - presumably before
this plastic stuff came into use.

My previous house did have some stainless steel pipe because it was built at
a time when copper was scarce - but that was the same size as imperial
copper 1/2" and 3/4" pipe.

More recently, I have used Acorn/Hep2O/Speedfit plastic pipe - but that has
the same ODs as metric copper pipe - so 17mm still seems a bit of an oddity.
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

"rbel" wrote in message
...
In message , Brian Sharrock
writes

"Set Square" wrote in message
...
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
rbel wrote:

All the cold water piping from the tank to outlets in our 1970s
property is 17mm OD grey plastic piping. Grateful for any
suggestions on how to adapt this to copper. I would strip everything
out and start again but the existing is neatly buried in walls or the
concrete floor.

That's an unusual size! What sort of fittings are currently used? Can
you
upload a photo of a bit of pipe with a fitting somewhere on-line, and
post
a
link to it here?

It wasn't an unusual size at the time (seventies) ...
indeed my BCO more or less insisted that such pipes
were used for cold services. {when the existing lead pipery
was being removed and replaced. IIRC, the pipes were
made by 'IMI ~ Yorkshire" under the trade name 'Poly-York"
-[I may have this wrong]. The pipe was meant to be solvent-welded
with in-line joints made with a female-female union.
I had grey pipes (large) and black (small) diameters equivalent
to 22mm and 15mm copper. {Once again this may have been a vagary
of supply]. Unions, elbows, tap and tank connectors were all
available. Connection onto the cold-water main was via a
tap-connector. When I needed to modify the design , I could
no longer source the bits. I discovered that a push-fit connector
actually went over the 17mm OD ... after which it's an exercise
in connecting to the resultant copper pipe.

Apparently, as the hot water (adjacent) pipes had to be copper
the plumbing trade didn't find using a parallel plastic circuit
either cost nor time saving and the product went off the market.

I hope to banish the final circuits of it from my house over
the next twelvemonth ... when I get a round tuit.

It is exactly as you describe. You mention using push-fit connectors -
any specific manufacturer or will any do?
--
robert

FWIW ... CAVEAT ... NO RESPONSIBILITY ASSUMED NOR IMPLIED
Observation indicates that I used 'Pushfit' which just
happened to be what B&Q stocked - this is after I'd
tried going from 'Plumber Supply Merchants(various)
and had spotty yoof-experience people regarding me as
'mental' for even enquiring about the product. HTH.

I had a 'complete' cold water system - rising main to storage
tank then tank connectors to bath/shower/toilets on separate
feeds. The rising main has been converted to copper; as has the
bathroom feeds - now just the toilet feed needs to be replaced.
The round tuit I'm anticipating will include a heat-store which
will eliminate the cold-water storage tank and the final few
metre lengths of Poly-YorK(?). BTW, the plastic is (IIRC) ABS.

--

Brian

Brian Sharrock wrote:
BTW, the plastic is (IIRC) ABS.

Ta, Brian, I hadn't heard of it either, now noted for future reference.


IF (big if) it is ABS, then you could get an ABS to BSP adaptor. ABS is
used for some commercial pipe systems, mainly chilled water. You'd need
to get bits from a commercial pipefitting suppliers (e.g., BSS). The
main manufacturers are Durapipe and Georg Fischer. The pipe comes in
metric and imperial sizes; if there isn't a 17mm OD pipe fitting, you'd
have to find a man with a lathe to machine out a suitable fitting. The
pipe is solvent welded to the fitting and cannot be dismantled after
joining. You have to get the right solvent cement. Instructions &
catalogues can probably be found on the web.

rbel wrote:

It is exactly as you describe. You mention using push-fit connectors -
any specific manufacturer or will any do?

Another (slightly kludgey) method would be the universal transition
fittings designed for use on MDPE pipe. (see BES order code 13544 for
example). These take typically 25mm MDPE in one end and a range of all
sorts up the other (lead, steel, copper, plastic) in a range of sizes.
You would then need to convert back from the MDPE to copper - but that
is straightforward.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"Aidan" wrote in message
oups.com...

Brian Sharrock wrote:
BTW, the plastic is (IIRC) ABS.

Ta, Brian, I hadn't heard of it either, now noted for future reference.


IF (big if) it is ABS,

It's definitely ABS (as are/were the unions)

I turfed out a length of piping from the attic today
consisting of a tank-connector, lengths of piping,
elbows, and unions. One of the problems was that the
pipe (tubes) couldn't be bent so unions and elbows,
90 deg and 45 deg, seemed needed every few inches!
The ABS was solvent-welded in a process involving;-
light scouring (to remove the sheen), chemical liquid
cleaner, then painting with solvent which 'melted' the
surface - the pipe was then pushed into the union and
the junction 'held' for a few seconds until 'set', All
this is easy on a work-bench - but almost impossible
under floors or lying on raftes in the attic.


.... then you could get an ABS to BSP adaptor. ABS is
used for some commercial pipe systems, mainly chilled water. You'd need
to get bits from a commercial pipefitting suppliers (e.g., BSS). The
main manufacturers are Durapipe and Georg Fischer. The pipe comes in
metric and imperial sizes; if there isn't a 17mm OD pipe fitting, you'd
have to find a man with a lathe to machine out a suitable fitting. The
pipe is solvent welded to the fitting and cannot be dismantled after
joining. You have to get the right solvent cement. Instructions &
catalogues can probably be found on the web.


I seem to remember the word 'Ketone' - but that might be something else!

--

Brian