Deburring copper pipe for the 30+ year life expectancy

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I've come to realise "to deburr or not" is a rare occasion we DIYers should ignore the advice of the tradesmen. They nearly all say they never deburr and that its never caused a problem. Its another thing to take up time on a job but most of all it has to be a factor that they won't be on the hook for what happens with the pipe in 10 years time. The DIYer though, might be thinking to live in the house for another 30 years.

Apparently "erosion-corrosion" isn't a myth but it just takes a while to happen, though said to be possibly just a year or few here https://www.wsscwater.com/copper-pipe-white-paper Flow rate is unsurprisingly a factor so a burr on a 15mm pipe is more likely to cause a problem and I'm finding avoiding burrs on 15mm is harder than on larger pipes. Hot water more likely to be an issue than cold. https://www.npl.co.uk/getattachment...nce-of-corrosion-in-plumbing-systems-GPG8.pdf

Of course it might never happen, says rarely found in domestic setting in that PDF, though i'd expect it happens more often than reported as who is asking for reports? Other things might mean the system needs to be changed before corrosion occurs anyway, but why not follow best practice if possible when we're not on a clock like tradesman are.

I was an apprentice plumber before pipe slices were invented and we all used these
pipe monument.jpg

The pointy end was to deburr, which only needed a few turns in the end because these cutters, if used without excessive twisting on the knob, don't round the pipe and hardly leave any burr. Now we have these pipe slices and there is no way that point would deburr what the pipe slice leaves.
pipe monumen2.jpg

They round off the pipe so much thats it practically impossible to deburr fully without losing a few mm from the pipe length and creating a razor sharp end to the pipe. You're not just trying to take off a burr but removing the bent inwards bit of pipe. I got one of these to try - Pipe Prep, supposed to push out the Burr rather than cut it off.
pipe roth.jpg

It doesn't work even on pipe cut carefully with the old style cutter but no way would it push out the rounded pipe from using a pipe slice

I've got a lot of plumbing to do on the house and I'm a long term Milwaukee fanboy, so when i read these hardly leave a burr i stumped up for one
pipe mil.jpg

Its pretty good on 22mm pipe, doesn't round much more than the old cutters, but it applies too much pressure on 15mm pipe and rounds almost as much as the pipe slices. I'll sell it when I've finished doing the 22 and 28mm pipes. I imagine the new version which also does stainless steel pipes will be applying more pressure so will be worse for copper. For 15mm pipes I'll stick to the old fashioned pipe cutter.

I already have a Noga pencil type reamer and have found that to be better than the cone type often sold for the job which chamfers as much as deburring. The Noga's cutter is parallel to the pipe so its just cutting off the burr.
pipe noga.jpg

But I wouldn't be surprised to find this type with the shallow angle is good as well, if not better
pipe ream.jpg


Anyway, I thought i'd share my conclusions on this for what its worth (procrastinating over doing something else) but i know the professionals will be rolling their eyes over this ;)
 
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Press fit?
Not ever in my house despite reassurances. Just doesn't seem worth saving a few seconds for. Especially when i was told you still have to put the sleeves in which reduces the flow.
 
Not ever in my house despite reassurances. Just doesn't seem worth saving a few seconds for. Especially when i was told you still have to put the sleeves in which reduces the flow.
you dont put sleeves into copper press fit
 
you dont put sleeves into copper press fit
ah for some reason plastic sprang to mind. I've no more faith in the copper push fit. The amount of crumbling hard o-rings i've replaced in various things over the years. I've also just had a electric shower inlet blow out which could have been a disaster, old plastic with no sun on it just gave up. Both not deburring and using push fit seem like very unnecessary corners to cut for DIYers and i'm avoiding plastic where possible.
 
ah for some reason plastic sprang to mind. I've no more faith in the copper push fit. The amount of crumbling hard o-rings i've replaced in various things over the years. I've also just had a electric shower inlet blow out which could have been a disaster, old plastic with no sun on it just gave up. Both not deburring and using push fit seem like very unnecessary corners to cut for DIYers and i'm avoiding plastic where possible.
copper push fit and press fit are two separate methods but yep i dont like the idea of o ring 35 /40 years on
 
copper push fit and press fit are two separate methods but yep i dont like the idea of o ring 35 /40 years on
cricky i need to work on my attention to detail. I was curious about the press options and it was said somewhere that the o-rings aren't strictly necessary, though in which case why have them?

I'm replacing soldered copper that I think was put in no more recently than 1980s and its only because i'm modifying the house, its not because any joints have started to fail. Seems like no good reason to try and improve on that unless a faster method for people on the clock.
 

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