Press fit or solder

[akist]

Soon we will do 1st fix plumbing. Have a choice of solder joints or press fit. Which would you suggest I should go for? I have not yet checked prices.

 

[terryplumb]

Soldered copper. Never tried press fit personally .

 

[oldbuffer]

1. If this is for a single house, go for soldered joints.
2. If you are a business moving in to plumbing, then:
2a. For commercial work, press fit probably makes economic sense.
2b. For domestic new installation work, it's probably 50:50
2c. For domestic maintenance, go for soldered joints. But if the installation was made with press fit, you can't solder within a short distance (450 mm?) of a press fitted joint.
3. Are you sure you mean press fit or push fit? Huge difference.
4. Press fit requires a special tool, a set of tongs for each size, and must generally be calibrated every so often. Equipment will be £1,000 to £1,500.
5. Press fit fittings are expensive.

 

[akist]

Hi, and thanks for the replies. It is domestic new installation, and press fit vs soldered joints. I will go for soldered joints then.

 

[blup]

Push fit end stops are a doddle to remove but you probably wont need them if its all new.

Blup

 

[muggles]

Press is much faster but the fittings are more expensive. Personally I favour press

 

[Madrab]

As suggested, if a business then press fit is much faster and makes installation quicker.

Old school soldering is the only fixing method where performed correctly it is then considered to be a single piece of pipe and if installed correctly will probably last as long as the house.

 

[Exedon]

Moved on to press fit some time ago yes fittings more expensive but it's very quick.
We also work in areas where hot work is not an option
press fit also looks good when surface fixed.

 

[akist]

I have read a bit more and it seems to me that copper press fittings include an O-ring, so I will pass on this one.