Bear with me, I am currently looking at replumbing the whole house with JG Speedfit and plastic pipes as a DIY job. I am replacing all the radiators in the house, and need to remove all the original pipework (which is above the floorboards and relay them below the floorboards and drill holes through the joists (all doable on the upstairs floors, just need to figure out the best method downstairs (concrete floor). Basically I'm keeping the length of copper from the boiler, then refitting from there on. Does anyone have a simple plumbing diagram I could follow? I was thinking of using 22mm from the boiler to upstairs and downstairs and then splitting down to 15mm for the radiators. One of my friends says on his current project the contractor is using speedfit and plastic pipes around the whole house! What are people's opinions of this and should I even attempt to do this myself?
Speedfit is fine if installed correctly,your doing correct by coming off the boiler in copper at least 1metre.All depends on how many rads,how big they are and pipe runs,is it a sealed system or open vent.
If you say "Does anyone have a simple plumbing diagram I could follow?" then you should leave it to the professionals.
Chick (with that name you are teasing us...), what I'd also recommend is to use short copper lengths to come up to the rads - they'll look much better. The copper pipe will fit straight into the Speedfit elbows under the floor. Use a copper pipe cutter that rotates around thew pipe to cut it - it'll leave a rounded edge that won't damage the Speedfit 'O' rings. What's upstairs? Just bedrooms? If so, divide the house into at least 2 zones - one up and one down. Fit a motorised valve to each zone and connected to a Prog Stat - one upstairs and one down. Anyways, must dash - more info available soon...
No such thing as a a one size fits all diagram...... I would use the new Hep system, excellent and very simple to use.
so ginta, where have you been for the past 6 years? Registered Nov 2003, 19 posts. Have you been in Bradmore or sumat? just curious thats all
speedfit is *. and no you shouldn't be attempting this job by yourself as you clearly haven't a clue. if you had a clue you would know it is only used by bodging * and that there is no such thing as a 'simple diagram' for plumbing a house........... Message was edited by: Screwfix Moderator
dunno where you been in europe graceland but in france, austria, switzerland and germany i've yet to see anything but copper or steel.. in france it was brazed/silver soldered even. though i have not stayed in a private house abroad, i am a sad plumber who goes snooping at how the locals do it. even have removed a few access panels to check out apartment plumbing. and i still say plastic is cack. if you put a gun to my head and told me to use plastic then hep2o would be the one to use.
Would that be the hep2o who do a plastic isolator I had an emergency callout for last weekend because it had burst on a manufacturers seam? Nice little earner!
We routinely use Hep for plumbing. I don't know many plumbers who install new systems in copper anymore. Too slow and too expensive. Like all systems plastic can have problems if slung in by amateurs but done properly its fine. We always use brass for valves and isolators though as its more durable and heavy duty.
Mountain man - did that fitting split due to frost? At least - when frost does hit - it's the fitting that blows and is dead simple to replace. Now, with copper pipe... Chick, there's bluggerall wrong with plastic pipe - as long as a few provisos are met. And in most respects it's far superior to copper: longer, unbroken, pipe runs; far better insulation properties; more resistant to freezing; can be threaded through joists; allows flexibility and movement when you have really awkward locations; etc. Provisos: needs more support; needs careful cutting; musn't scratch outer surface; support sleeves need to be used; not very pretty to look at so use copper in visible areas; has smaller bore so more water resistance/ heat carrying capacity; can sometimes be eaten by mice, etc. On balance - use it.
I'm at home for a week and bored so thought I'd have a nose and where's Bradmore ? it's called Broadmoor. They wouldn't let me out early with good behaviour, the swines.
Devil's Advocate, HEAR HEAR, I always use HEP now on jobs, like to see someone do a 25m run under floor around corners and through walls in one unbroken run in copper !!, so much easier in plastic, job done 3 times as fast. I always use metal isolators, valves, etc as plastic ones are rubbish. HEP is the future