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Keefy

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Aladdin EasyFit Isolator Review



Newly renovated house with no isolation valves anywhere, and I mean anywhere. stopcock in the street was freshly tarmaced over as were the rest of the houses on the block, the supply came in directly under the front door-step and ran under the boards and staircase with the internal stopcock entombed somewhere along the way with a fitted wooden floor on top.

So, it's late in the afternoon and I've got three sets of taps to change - ground floor kitchen sink and upstairs bath and basin. There's no way I'm going to start guessing where to begin digging up the tarmac and the customer is so proud of their new wooden floor it's just not worth mentioning it. Even if I had a freeze kit, that would be out of the question so the Aladdin EasyFit Isolator kit it is:

Earlier today before going to the job I knew I'd be using it so watched and rewatched the installation video a few times and double checked I wasn't missing any do's and don'ts in the manufacturer's instructions. This is something I'd recommend anyone do before fitting one of these for the first time.

Found a nice siting location in the understairs cupboard where the main feed - well clipped with talons and clearly 15mm and not imperial because new pipework throughout - came out the floor and up the wall so got straight on it by clamping the housing round it using the supplied driver bit at about chest height and made sure it was solid. Swapped the driver bit for the socket (these were supplied in the seperate fitting pack btw) and double-checked the cordless was in low gear with maximum clutch on. Have to admit that I had to take a few deep breaths to calm my nerves at this point with back up plans going through my head should anything go wrong.

At first, driving home the cutter-plug was smooth then suddenly began to vibrate a little and kind of grind but I was expecting that and didn't stop until the red line on the socket lined up with the collar. The nice shiny collar has no further purpose so that just gets binned which seems a shame but what can you do? I then noticed the red dots weren't perfectly aligned so popped the socket back on and nipped it round with my pump pliers, binned the other bits - retainer and plastic thing, pushed the spindle in and turned it.

Went round checking the taps and got nothing except for the kitchen which had quite a bit of water come out - but it was being fed from a drop so the Aladdin had indeed done its job so finished by screwing on the lever handle. No leaks, dry as a bone and then I got on with what I went to do in the first place, fit the new taps.


Verdict:

Spot on well-engineered piece of (heavy) kit that does exactly what it says on the tin. At first I had reservations about the price but now think it's well worth it for the potential hassle it saved me tonight. I'd recommend any plumber to pick one of these up to keep as part of their stock a.s.a.p. Writing this review was much more work and time-consuming than actually fitting it.

Oh and cheers to our resident forum sponsor Ray Stafford for sending me this freebie for testing. :)

________________________________________
I did take pics on my mobile but they're just too dark to make out and not very interesting anyway to be honest as it's just a valve on a pipe really. I'll be returning to the house on another job soon so will try to get a decent pic.
 
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Re: Williams & Co product review thread

Aladdin EasyFit Isolator Review



Newly renovated house with no isolation valves anywhere, and I mean anywhere. stopcock in the street was freshly tarmaced over as were the rest of the houses on the block, the supply came in directly under the front door-step and ran under the boards and staircase with the internal stopcock entombed somewhere along the way with a fitted wooden floor on top.

So, it's late in the afternoon and I've got three sets of taps to change - ground floor kitchen sink and upstairs bath and basin. There's no way I'm going to start guessing where to begin digging up the tarmac and the customer is so proud of their new wooden floor it's just not worth mentioning it. Even if I had a freeze kit, that would be out of the question so the Aladdin EasyFit Isolator kit it is:

Earlier today before going to the job I knew I'd be using it so watched and rewatched the installation video a few times and double checked I wasn't missing any do's and don'ts in the manufacturer's instructions. This is something I'd recommend anyone do before fitting one of these for the first time.

Found a nice siting location in the understairs cupboard where the main feed - well clipped with talons and clearly 15mm and not imperial because new pipework throughout - came out the floor and up the wall so got straight on it by clamping the housing round it using the supplied driver bit at about chest height and made sure it was solid. Swapped the driver bit for the socket (these were supplied in the seperate fitting pack btw) and double-checked the cordless was in low gear with maximum clutch on. Have to admit that I had to take a few deep breaths to calm my nerves at this point with back up plans going through my head should anything go wrong.

At first, driving home the cutter-plug was smooth then suddenly began to vibrate a little and kind of grind but I was expecting that and didn't stop until the red line on the socket lined up with the collar. The nice shiny collar has no further purpose so that just gets binned which seems a shame but what can you do? I then noticed the red dots weren't perfectly aligned so popped the socket back on and nipped it round with my pump pliers, binned the other bits - retainer and plastic thing, pushed the spindle in and turned it.

Went round checking the taps and got nothing except for the kitchen which had quite a bit of water come out - but it was being fed from a drop so the Aladdin had indeed done its job so finished by screwing on the lever handle. No leaks, dry as a bone and then I got on with what I went to do in the first place, fit the new taps.


Verdict:

Spot on well-engineered piece of (heavy) kit that does exactly what it says on the tin. At first I had reservations about the price but now think it's well worth it for the potential hassle it saved me tonight. I'd recommend any plumber to pick one of these up to keep as part of their stock a.s.a.p. Writing this review was much more work and time-consuming than actually fitting it.

Oh and cheers to our resident forum sponsor Ray Stafford for sending me this freebie for testing. :)

________________________________________
I did take pics on my mobile but they're just too dark to make out and not very interesting anyway to be honest as it's just a valve on a pipe really. I'll be returning to the house on another job soon so will try to get a decent pic.

You're wasted on plumbing Keefy. The world of literature lost a jewel when you decided that to put down the pen in favour of your stillies.

Thanks for a really well written review.
 
Re: Williams & Co product review thread

Okay, not a freebie but I did buy it from Williams and Co. in Eastbourne.

When I nipped into the Eastbourne branch to open my account as well as buying 25 isolating valves at an excellent price I also purchased an Aladdin easyfit isolator.

Today it was time to put it to the test. A customer took out some kitchen units and found two leaking stop taps leading to the outside tap. He asked if I could nip and cut the pipe back under the floor. After much lifting of boards and turning of valves we discovered that this section of pipe had no means of isolation within the flat. I tried turning of outside but that didn't do the trick so time to break out the Aladdin.

I had a quick look at the instructions and thought it didn't look too bad. Access was not that good but I just had room to work. I clamped it round the pipe and made a start. I was surprised at how much effort it took to hold it against twisting. As the cutter bit into the pipe disaster struck, water started spraying out of the side of the fitting. After the initial bottom clenching panic common sense struck and I gave the allen bolts a bit more of a tighten and the leak stopped. I then made sure that I held the fitting a lot more securely then previously and carried on. It took a lot more torque than I expected to cut the pipe but I got there. It was then easy to remove the collar, align the two red dots and push the valve done into place. I screwed the plastic top in place, attached the handle and turned the water off.

I would say that it took more effort to fit than it appears in the video but it worked a treat and I even recovered from the initial user error of not tightening the bolts correctly.

I will definitely be ordering a replacement to keep in the land rover. My only other alternative today would have been to hang around for the water undertaking to come out and dig the road up and replace the stop tap.
 
Re: Williams & Co product review thread

It wasnt a freebie but stocking the easy fit isolater was a good move ray! Watched the councel guys tarmac over my best friends stopcock a few weeks ago.
today the idiot step dad snapped off the outside tap and had no way to isolate! Worked a treat.
 
Re: Williams & Co product review thread

Finally used the aladin isolator last week curtsey of our very own ray.

good points

very strong and heavy

easy to use and fit

will be ordering one to keep on van

bad points

to many parts in the one bag needs splitting down especially the screws
 
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