Plastic plumbing

what ever decision you may take don't just don't touch plastic plumbing. plastic is fine but the problems are in the joints. 1 or two out of ten will burst in your face within the first year, the pipe will slip out of the joint and off you go. only copper proper pipes will last forever!!!

 

see http://www.screwfix.com/talk/thread.jspa?threadID=340&tstart=30

Never had a problem with plastic joints - mine has been in situ for 6 years. Just make sure you cut the pipe square, apply some silicone to the O ring, and make sure you push the pipe firmly home. Also with plastic there are fewer joints. My bathroom hot water feed only has two joints, one at the boiler and one in the bathroom (40' of pipe away upstairs !!!) I have only ever used Hepworth (Hep2o) but some posts on here suggest speedfit is just as good. There are also water byelaws regarding solder joints ! Copper has it's place - at the bottom of cook-ware (only kidding)

 

no, never had problems with the HEP2o pipe and fittings I have used or speedfit, it is the same as copper in that I have been called out to these that have failed, normally caused by poor installation, so as always it is not the material but the HOW !!

 

i gotta agree here folks.. i've never had any probs with plastic pipes or fittings..
as long as you've remembered to install the inserts and tighten the collet all seems to be fine.
the powers that be are trying to get the plumbing industry to go flame free.. and it looks like plastic is the way to go, but thats my own view.
i'm gonna hang up the blow lamp ASAP

 

I have used a few different makes in my time and have always found Speedfit to be the best, both in terms of reliability and number of component choices.

 

Don't know how you're installing HEP / John Guest / Polyplumb but you're doing it wrong mate...I've got three teams, fitting 2 - 3 bathrooms a week for the last 5 years, we have used push fit and have had three leaks in 5 years, all of them were our fault and all of them were unfortunateley Speed fit, but the new gear is alot better, wouldn't hesitate to recommend it, but only on a first fix basis, copper above ground to give client peace of mind and it also looks more professional, you don't even have to solder above ground as isolated braids onto copper. Listen to successful people who use it day in day out without a problem.