Copper plumbing advice

[Blr243]

Compression fitting on household 1/2 in copper pipe ... I have always used nylon on both hot and cold because I have more faith in my ability to get water proof seals. But an old school plumber told me long ago that he preferred copper olives on the hot water lines .... because they last longer is all he said. .....I’m about to do a mixer in a shower and a couple of other things .... a little google said that sometimes a nylon olive on annealed pipe will cause pipe to slide off and gush water everywhere....... it also said that a nylon olive should not be used on a hot line within a metre of the hws because the heat can melt them. What do u reckon ?

[TassieTiger]

I used nylon in my still plumbing but used a cold (freezer 10 mins) wet rag when soldering just in case - I’m sure your aware heat transfer in cu.
Oh - and still gets a LOT hotter than house water.

[pomemax]

Go GooGlo the melting Temperature of Plastics used in plumbing fitting
If you water is that hot i would not like to take a shower at your place of course a Plumber told you what he would use because hes old school at that is what he may know ask a plumber in his 20 or 30 any you will get an up to date answer . you doing a mixer so join it up leave the sheet off and watch
https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/plas ... _1621.html

[duncan61]

I am a plumbing contractor and I always S/Solder tube bushes to the copper and screw them in to the mixer with 300 mm of pipe.then bend the copper to suit the existing pipework.If you are going mechanical go with flared unions.I would not be fitting nylon compression fittings behind a tiled wall.O.K. in a cupboard or for the WC where you can get to it

[Blr243]

Dunc. When u say tube bushes do u mean these

[Blr243]

Thanks everyone for the replies

[Tiger650]

Hi Blr
I will answer for Dunc if I may.
What you show in pic are brass olives, not what Dunc is recommending.
Tube bushes are basically a silver solder to tube female socket transitioning to either a male or female BSP thread.
Probably the easiest high strength / high temp method would be flared compression unions, basically 1/2" [male or female] iron to comp fitting.
Very likely you will have a female thread in the mixer inlet so you would require a 1/2"MI to comp union.

[Blr243]

Hi tiger , most mixers I see are like u say female thread. So are you suggesting I braze a 150 mm piece of copper pipe into a brass male thread , and then screw that unit to the mixer , then attach the rest of my plumbing to the end of the 150 mm pipe ?

[Die Judicii]

I'm curios about you blokes talking about "silver solder"

And I'm willing to bet that it is in fact Plumbers Silver/Solder which in my book is absolute SH!T stuff.
A far cry from the high quality high percentage silver solder.

The good quality stuff can be applied overhead/horizontal/downhand at the right temp on one point only of a copper sleeve or union,, and it will be
sucked up into the joint by capillary action and also do the full 360 degrees around all in the one momentary application.

Not so with the Plumbers solder. That stuff is like trying to do the near impossible with a chunk of molten toffee. Its cheap and nasty stuff.

[Blr243]

I worked for a bathroom Reno company for three years Modern brazed joints in copper are done with good stuff. But occasionally during the demo of some old bathroom s we would encounter a different process that was done for a little while. But it was garbage I don’t know what era it was done in. I think it was some sort of soft soldering rather than proper brazing. I think it’s time I shut up because I know the quality of the current products in use but I don’t know the right name for it. Starting from scratch , proper brazing rods useing oxy or map gas , and done right are very reliable

[TassieTiger]

This thread reminded me of this - I think everyone has heard it by now, but if you haven’t, listen to the end - and not near kids or your boss.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uV-I0S28ogc

[Blr243]

I saw that once before a long time ago. It’s hilarious. I encourage everybody to view it. Extremely funny

[Tiger650]

Gooday again BLR
The best / easiest way would be by flaring the tube end and using a 1/2" male iron compression union, that gives you a mechanical joint between tube and male thread to go into the mixer.
If you need to joint tube to tube further away from the mixer use a 1/2" compression union.[flare each end to be joined]
Pretty much everyone doing their first comp union joint flares the tube before fitting the compression nut LOL.
Poor quality silver solder is low silver content [cheaper] 5% should be OK.

[Patriot]

All regulated plumbing work performed in Queensland must be carried out by a licensed plumber FYI as I assume is the case in all Australian states and territories.

[Blr243]

Thanks for that. Now I study.