Squeezing copper tube?

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

O.K. John … Here is one potential answer to your ACTUAL question:

.

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Ref. **LINK**

https://www.gotogasdocs.co.uk/f/m/Kamco/FAQs/Kamco%20CF30%20FAQs.pdf

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Personally … unless I was absolutely sure of the traceable origin of the pipe, I would [as stated earlier] not take the risk.

As a trained airline pilot, you presumably understand better than most about traceability.

MichaelG.

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

Good find, Michael – I came across some of that red-striped tube when updating my central heating, and they are correct, not easy to bend at all, even with the proper equipment, it just kinked and cracked. At the time I just assumed work-hardening of some sort, but now we know.

Rob

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

We had a piece of copper pipe in the en-suite bathroom develop a pinhole leak and flood our 20-year-old house while we were away on holiday for three weeks. New carpet required. Plumber told us oh yes, common thing. Copper pipe coming out of China in recent years has lots of pinholes that let go like this all the time. I had him replumb it along the outside of the wall. Quality ain't what it used to be.

Edited By Hopper on 06/02/2023 00:37:04

[Kiwi BlokeParticipant @kiwibloke62605]

Quality was iffy, decades ago, too. Pinhole leaks were common (the plumbing merchant told me) around Stockport in the 1980s, when I re-plumbed a property which suffered such leaks.

The cause of pinhole leaks seems mysterious. I was convinced by research suggesting that one cause was electrochemical corrosion caused by residual graphite, pressed into the bore of the pipe. Graphite was apparently used as a drawing lubricant. I've since read more, and have just got progressively more sceptical and confused. I think it's probably Satan at work…

[John Doe 2Participant @johndoe2]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 05/02/2023 17:39:18:

O.K. John … Here is one potential answer to your ACTUAL question:

.

.

Ref. **LINK**

https://www.gotogasdocs.co.uk/f/m/Kamco/FAQs/Kamco%20CF30%20FAQs.pdf

.

Personally … unless I was absolutely sure of the traceable origin of the pipe, I would [as stated earlier] not take the risk.

As a trained airline pilot, you presumably understand better than most about traceability.

MichaelG.

Hi Michael, yes indeed, and thank you for a sensible response.

Very interesting about the red stripe pipe – I have seen it before and like the Grindstone Cowboy, I assumed it had work hardened, since it would not bend in a proper pipe bender, so I discarded it.

Anyway, as I have said, I have decided not to risk squeezing this tube, and will just have to live with the situation for now until the weather gets warmer and I can break the system down. There are other installation faults to be corrected, such as an air bleed canister that is installed backwards……..!!!!, and the pump and other items being less than ideally situated. I will also install a magnetic cyclonic filter and the missing restrictor valve in the hot water loop. Flush the whole system out, vibrate all the muck out of the radiators and refill with proper inhibitor. A big job, and one that I am avoiding while it is cold, for obvious reasons.

Honestly; so-called professional, supposedly trained and experienced plumbers are often anything but, going by my experience of the slip-shod installations I have inherited and had to deal with in houses we have owned.

And electricians – roof beams cut in half to accommodate ceiling spot lights, which could have been placed 2" further over to avoid the beam, discarded insulation and bits of wire left all over the loft – no sense of pride in their work, just ; 'how quickly can we finish this job and get out of here with his, (the previous owner's), money in my pocket'.

Plumbers cutting right through the top half of a supporting floor beam to get a shower drain pipe through, because they couldn't be bothered to take a little while longer and route the pipe through the centre of the beam, as it should be done. Using crappy plastic push-fit connectors that are very quick to fit but only last about 15-20 years, after which the O rings fail and water leaks through the plasterboard ceiling, ruining it and requiring holes to be cut, joints repaired, ceiling replaced, re-plastered and re-painted – ask me how I know ……!!!. Whereas proper soldered copper joints, once proved good and water-tight, are good for ever basically, (as long as they are not allowed to freeze).

 

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Edited By John Doe 2 on 12/02/2023 19:56:57

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