Solderless copper pipe joining...

[steved101]

was in B & Q this afternoon buying some bits and saw JUST FOR COPPER-apparantly you can bond copper pipe/fittings together in under a minute without flux and solder and of course heat! has anyone tried it.... is it good? maybe it's a neater finish and if it is as good as it looks surely it would be amazing.....

It was about £12-99 for a small bottle (up to 40 welds) and £29.99 for a bigger bottle with up to 200 welds....

Anyone heard anything about this and used it before??

 

[GforceJames]

I have seen it used, I found it quite brittle and couldn't take any sideways pressure.

Other than that I have no real experience, I'd rather just solder and then sleep easy.

James

 

[steved101]

Brittle... Hmm - I might try some and test it on my pressure tester to 10bar!!!! jst out of curiosity!

 

[Corgigrouch]

Sounds very time consuming waiting for the adhesive to set before you can move on to the next joint... An ingenious idea, but when soldering is so simple and cheap to do and speed fit is almost fool proof...

I predict a shower in the living room...

 

[steved101]

i agree soldering is the best way to go

push fit is a no no-not very good at all and i wouldn't trust them under the floorboards ..

but these solderless joins take just a few seconds to set btw..

 

[AlanE]

When this was first introduced into the country we obtained a sample from the company. The sales blurb seemed too good to be true.

It did all that was said on the tin but flexing the pipe, as would happen when a pipe heated up and cooled down, did cause it to fail on several joints.

Remember the warnings on the can - NOT suitable for gas and there is NO GUARANTEE of earth bonding so it must be considered the same as using plastic pushfit connections. All the joints we made during our tests FAILED to give any earth continuity.

This product could in effect create a potentially risk to life through electric shock. Consider the scenario electric fault causing section of pipe to become live. This pipe is joined via a coupling to another length fully earthed. One side of coupling at 240 volts other side earth touching either side of the innocent looking coupling - frightening!!

It would be interesting to learn of insurance companies official line when it comes to the claims situation if one of these joints failed and caused damage.

 

[Softus]

has anyone tried it

Yes.

is it good?

No. It's utter sh*te.

It was about £12-99 for a small bottle (up to 40 welds) and £29.99 for a bigger bottle with up to 200 welds.

That would be a pointless waste of your money.