Alkathene pipe & stop tap question.
 

Currently refitting the bathroom down at Mum's 70's bungalow.

Main water supply comes in to a stop tap in the bathroom, below the LHS
of the toilet cistern. New cistern has the inlet on the RHS so I was
thinking of moving the stop tap to the right for a neater job. Anyway,
this afternoon, I had to quickly rip out the old bog and lift the floor
boards as I thought I had a leak under the floor*.
Anyway, I now know the incoming supply is a black plastic pipe, 22mmm
OD, presumably the old alkathene stuff.

Question is, do I need special fittings for this or will just fit a
normal 22mm compression stop-tap?
Can 1/4 turn ball valves be used in this position (more reliable?)

*Leak turned out to be inside the body (i.e. cold to hot) of the new
bath mixer. Grrrr.

--
steve

In message .uk, Ed
Sirett writes
Question is, do I need special fittings for this or will just fit a
normal 22mm compression stop-tap?
Can 1/4 turn ball valves be used in this position (more reliable?)

The pipe is more likely 20mm OD. UNless you measured it accurately in
which case I apologize.

Whatever you do any form of compression fitting on plastic pipe needs a
support insert in the end.



Dead on 22mm, measured with verniers. As the pipe was painted above
floor level, I had assumed it was copper until I pulled up the floor
boards and saw it was actually black plastic. A google revealed a couple
of threads suggesting this stuff is very thick walled, so I not sure it
does need an insert, or if a standard 22m olive will do the job.

--
steve

On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 19:56:04 +0000, Steven Briggs wrote:

In message .uk, Ed
Sirett writes
Question is, do I need special fittings for this or will just fit a
normal 22mm compression stop-tap?
Can 1/4 turn ball valves be used in this position (more reliable?)

The pipe is more likely 20mm OD. UNless you measured it accurately in
which case I apologize.

Whatever you do any form of compression fitting on plastic pipe needs a
support insert in the end.



Dead on 22mm, measured with verniers. As the pipe was painted above
floor level, I had assumed it was copper until I pulled up the floor
boards and saw it was actually black plastic. A google revealed a couple
of threads suggesting this stuff is very thick walled, so I not sure it
does need an insert, or if a standard 22m olive will do the job.

The blue stuff is certainly 20/25/32mm.

A push fit type joint will likely be better than a compression one if you
have no support inserts.



--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html

Steven Briggs wrote in message
...
In message .uk, Ed
Sirett writes
Question is, do I need special fittings for this or will just fit a
normal 22mm compression stop-tap?
Can 1/4 turn ball valves be used in this position (more reliable?)

The pipe is more likely 20mm OD. UNless you measured it accurately
in
which case I apologize.

Whatever you do any form of compression fitting on plastic pipe needs
a
support insert in the end.



Dead on 22mm, measured with verniers. As the pipe was painted above
floor level, I had assumed it was copper until I pulled up the floor
boards and saw it was actually black plastic. A google revealed a
couple
of threads suggesting this stuff is very thick walled, so I not sure
it
does need an insert, or if a standard 22m olive will do the job.

These pipes come in different thicknesses, one more heavy duty than the
other. Well, in Ireland and France they do, I assume also in the UK.
The fittings for them are easily available in plumbers merchants and
agricultural suppliers, and you would also get a fitting where one end
goes onto the alkathene and into which you can screw a fitting for
copper into the other end if necessary. I bought a 1/4 turn one
recently, but I'm sure you would get a tap type aswell. Probably just as
easy and no more/not much more expensive than an ordinary fitting.

Holly

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Ed Sirett
saying something like:

Dead on 22mm, measured with verniers. As the pipe was painted above
floor level, I had assumed it was copper until I pulled up the floor
boards and saw it was actually black plastic. A google revealed a couple
of threads suggesting this stuff is very thick walled, so I not sure it
does need an insert, or if a standard 22m olive will do the job.

The really thick-walled 22mm stuff can be used with an olive and no
insert... I have one outside that's being resisting mains pressures of
up to 10bar for 6 years.
--

Dave