kenneth_halley
14-08-02, 14:30
Had some fun and games this morning fitting my new R.O unit in my utility room.
Specifically the unit came with a tap on the inlet side which was one of these self cutting/sealing jobbies.
While they are probably ideal for copper pipework I found it was not so clever with the 15mm plastic pipework in my home.
The Problem
As you screw up the main tap body into the saddle mounting it starts to cut into the pipework, but fails to burst right through- the plastic actually stretched underneath rather than cut.
The solution
I removed the section of pipe I was wanting to install the tap onto- it was relatively short between a joint on the main inlet run- they use 10 or 12 mm continuous reels of pipe for the main runs then put short adapter sections in to mate with the sink pipework.
I removed the short section between the tap and the main pipe run and drilled it with a drill of almost identical size to the cutter on the tap fitting (19/64ths!http://www.ultimatereef.net/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif. I then aligned the saddle with this section of pipe before re fitting- the plastic pipework uses compression fit self sealing joints with little teeth and a seal below a screw fitting.
This all went back together no bother and worked without leaks- Take a lot of care to ensure the saddle is squarely aligned with the drilled hole in the pipe or it will definitely leak!
Trying to drill the hole with the pipe in situ might be tricky- aligning the saddle under a sink was in may case almost impossible!
Final tip- turn of your water first and flush any lavatories you have- I found even with my water off I was getting a faster and faster flow of water coming out the open pipe- not huge but enough to get my shirt wet. *http://www.ultimatereef.net/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif
When I restored the water I discovered all the cisterns were empty- they obviously flush back to the lowest point in the house with leat resistance to the water pressure.
All in all though a fairly straightforward job- With the plastic pipework I recommend you make sure you have a short length of similar pipe to hand in case you make a mess ofthings- its easy to fix- you don't wanna be running down the plumbers merchants half way though- I was lucky I had a bit of spare pipe in my garage.
Hopefully this will help someone else doing the same job in similar circumstances. http://www.ultimatereef.net/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif
Specifically the unit came with a tap on the inlet side which was one of these self cutting/sealing jobbies.
While they are probably ideal for copper pipework I found it was not so clever with the 15mm plastic pipework in my home.
The Problem
As you screw up the main tap body into the saddle mounting it starts to cut into the pipework, but fails to burst right through- the plastic actually stretched underneath rather than cut.
The solution
I removed the section of pipe I was wanting to install the tap onto- it was relatively short between a joint on the main inlet run- they use 10 or 12 mm continuous reels of pipe for the main runs then put short adapter sections in to mate with the sink pipework.
I removed the short section between the tap and the main pipe run and drilled it with a drill of almost identical size to the cutter on the tap fitting (19/64ths!http://www.ultimatereef.net/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif. I then aligned the saddle with this section of pipe before re fitting- the plastic pipework uses compression fit self sealing joints with little teeth and a seal below a screw fitting.
This all went back together no bother and worked without leaks- Take a lot of care to ensure the saddle is squarely aligned with the drilled hole in the pipe or it will definitely leak!
Trying to drill the hole with the pipe in situ might be tricky- aligning the saddle under a sink was in may case almost impossible!
Final tip- turn of your water first and flush any lavatories you have- I found even with my water off I was getting a faster and faster flow of water coming out the open pipe- not huge but enough to get my shirt wet. *http://www.ultimatereef.net/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif
When I restored the water I discovered all the cisterns were empty- they obviously flush back to the lowest point in the house with leat resistance to the water pressure.
All in all though a fairly straightforward job- With the plastic pipework I recommend you make sure you have a short length of similar pipe to hand in case you make a mess ofthings- its easy to fix- you don't wanna be running down the plumbers merchants half way though- I was lucky I had a bit of spare pipe in my garage.
Hopefully this will help someone else doing the same job in similar circumstances. http://www.ultimatereef.net/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif