A Small Rant About Compression Fittings

oldbutnotdead · 26 Aug 2020

Poxy things. Mixture of old and new tube and fittings. A brand new 22 on fresh clean tube took gorilla torque to slow the leak down, in the end had to resort to Boss White and PTFE to stop the rapid drip.
Then I get another slow drip- another new fitting on a bit of old tube. Quickly found it was only finger-tight, half a turn and dry. Grrr.
Rant over

footprints · 27 Aug 2020

Cheap and nasty "brass" olives too hard to crimp, I often ditch them in the scrap bag and fit copper.

oldbutnotdead · 27 Aug 2020

Should have mentioned copper olives. I'm the same as you, the brass ones go straight in the scrap bucket.

ianmcd · 27 Aug 2020

I find fittings these days are very poor quality, especially from Screwfix and the like

oldbutnotdead · 27 Aug 2020

That is a valid point, the one needing gorilla torque was from TS, the other one had been in the bits box for many years....

CBW · 27 Aug 2020

I’m opposite, I prefer brass olives to copper, I usually find they leak all too often, swap for a brass olive and it’s fine. Conex still good, they used to be?

oldbutnotdead · 27 Aug 2020

I've got a few ancient ones (one i've just recycled funnily enough and that went on no problem). Not bought any for years

dontbelieveawordofit · 27 Aug 2020

oldbutnotdead said:
Poxy things. Mixture of old and new tube and fittings. A brand new 22 on fresh clean tube took gorilla torque to slow the leak down, in the end had to resort to Boss White and PTFE to stop the rapid drip.
Then I get another slow drip- another new fitting on a bit of old tube. Quickly found it was only finger-tight, half a turn and dry. Grrr.
Rant over

maybe your over tightening from the start

oldbutnotdead · 28 Aug 2020

bennymultifinish said:
maybe your over tightening from the start

Used to do that, nowadays its finger tight plus half a turn to start with, get the big spanners out if it leaks on test.

dontbelieveawordofit · 28 Aug 2020

i use fernox jointing paste on every one.
small bit on the threads and a smear around the olive.

oldbutnotdead · 28 Aug 2020

That may be the key, I used to chuck boss white and ptfe at them til getting told if they're done right you don't need all that. Currently I've got 3 or 4 where for whatever reason the joint isn't perfect so have chucked gunk at them, the rest are clean.

bernardgreen · 28 Aug 2020

Probably totally wrong but I find a bit of Vaseline used to lubricate the olive makes compression joints much easier to tighten. None of the "creaky" sounds as the nut crunches down onto the olive.

( other brands of petroleum jelly are available )

oldbutnotdead · 28 Aug 2020

bernardgreen said:
Probably totally wrong but I find a bit of Vaseline used to lubricate the olive makes compression joints much easier to tighten. None of the "creaky" sounds as the nut crunches down onto the olive.

( other brands of petroleum jelly are available )

And a fine excuse for having a pot of starters in the van

CBW · 28 Aug 2020

bernardgreen said:
Probably totally wrong but I find a bit of Vaseline used to lubricate the olive makes compression joints much easier to tighten. None of the "creaky" sounds as the nut crunches down onto the olive.

( other brands of petroleum jelly are available )

If it’s not wras approved or suitable for potable water then it’s wrong for potable water might be ok on a heating system or other non potable water. Wouldn’t entertain it for gas.

Nige F · 28 Aug 2020

The old fine thread Prestex can be a nightmare ! I just recently changed my main stopcock - 1/2" prestex ( fine thread c.1960) about 1" off the floor connected to soft copper coming in - Luckily I spotted some old fittings on a "auction site" and away I went

diynot

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.

Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

A Small Rant About Compression Fittings

dontbelieveawordofit

dontbelieveawordofit

Similar threads