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re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

when replacing a part on a combi and you need to drain it,once you have drained it repressurise the expansion vessel as the vessel usually is holding a little water and carrys on dribbling out
 
re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

Id like to say too any young plumbers, dont be afraid of taking on new challenges and dont get stuck in a rut doing the same thing day in day out. variety variety. do as many outlandish jobs you can and go on as many manufacturers courses as possible cos youll end up a well rounded plumber....speech over.
 
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re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

After turning the power off on a Ultracom 2 CXi, make sure you reselect the hot water mode, as on restarting the boiler will run in heating mode only. Causing you to get recalled through 15 miles of rush hour traffic to push a button.
 
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When taking rads off the wall, shut both ends, undo from valve and lob a 1/2 or 3/4 compression cap onto the tail and do up. Then do other end. Voila, no need to drain in the house and can be carried out with no fear of dripping sludge.
 
re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

Don't leave bits of kit you have replaced lying around at the customer's place as it's bad practice. One local engineer I come across seems to leave debris and junk with customers and today I was presented with a shoebox of worn out oil pumps, used flexi hoses, nozzles, bust control box, broken solenoid etc. Fair enough if something still functions (such as an old nozzle, but only one), leave it there, but otherwise If you replace something faulty, show it to the customer and ask if they would like you to dispose of or recycle it for them. If they say they want to keep it, fair enough, otherwise take your junk away with you.

It is one of my main pet hates, tradesmen leaving junk for me to clear away, whether they be electricians, joiners, plumbers etc. Wire trimmings, rubble etc swept under floorboards really annoys me. I only use tradesmen for my own jobs who are tidy.

In industry for commercial work, it is an absolute no-no to leave junk on site and if you do so, the customer will take a dim view of it. Domestic is no different. There's also a potential liability risk if you leave a broken component and someone later tries it and something goes wrong, they could blame you.

On another note, as a previous post has said, make it obvious what you take off is useless by breaking it so it can't get mixed up with good stuff again. I always bend old immersion heater stats in half for example as soon as I take them out.

I worked in a printing works once. In the past, a plumber had left a short pipe offcut on a gantry which months later had accidentally been knocked off and fell into a printing press, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
 
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re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

buy a pipe flarer cos you dont always have imperial to metric fitting on.
 
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re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

When adding inhibitor or cleaner to a system, shut off both sides drain a few litres or so then use a 15mm compression elbow in the top of the rad to pour inn your chemicals...
 
re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

When adding inhibitor or cleaner to a system, shut off both sides drain a few litres or so then use a 15mm compression elbow in the top of the rad to pour inn your chemicals...
Male to copper elbow 🙂
also get 15 to 28 reducer and solder it to a bit of 15mm and here is your funnel 🙂
 
re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

the flarer nis good for pipes that have been frozen youll not get those in a compression coupling
I did mean to use compression when you have imperial pipe work and want to convert to metrick Steve ! However I don't know after a pipes base been fleared how do you join them ?
 
re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

When adding inhibitor or cleaner to a system, shut off both sides drain a few litres or so then use a 15mm compression elbow in the top of the rad to pour inn your chemicals...
To people in the know this is probably obvious but to me it's not, how does the 15mm elbow connect to the top of the rad?
 
re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

I did mean to use compression when you have imperial pipe work and want to convert to metrick Steve ! However I don't know after a pipes base been fleared how do you join them ?
i meant to solder especially where ya cant get at it again, the only prob with comp is that 3/4 to 22mm is proper baggy and needs to be tightend to death.
 
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re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

To people in the know this is probably obvious but to me it's not, how does the 15mm elbow connect to the top of the rad?

it only works on compact style rads with a 15mm bleed point/ plug you can remove Look back i posted a similar one to use a bent f/i and auto airvent body
 
re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

i meant to solder especially where ya cant get at it again, the only prob with comp is that 3/4 to 22mm is proper baggy and needs to be tightend to death.

No No No!!!

Never use a 22mm olive on 3/4" pipe as you must use a 3/4" olive on 3/4" pipe.

If you simply try and bodge and screw up a 22mm one tight or there's a good chance it will leak or the joint won't be tight when fully screwed up.

If you want to flare the pipe, heat the pipe end until really hot and allow to cool down naturally so as to soften it and leave it less likely to split when flared.
 
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re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

No No No!!!

Never use a 22mm olive on 3/4" pipe as you must use a 3/4" olive on 3/4" pipe.

If you simply try and bodge and screw up a 22mm one tight or there's a good chance it will leak or the joint won't be tight when fully screwed up.

If you want to flare the pipe, heat the pipe end until really hot and allow to cool down naturally so as to soften it and leave it less likely to split when flared.

behave how many new plumbers keep 3/4 olives on their vans. a 22mm comp fitting will make a good seal if tightened enough and its not a bodge by any stretch of the imagination....like i said use flaring kit if you havent got end feed converters solder all the way...
 
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re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

behave how many new plumbers keep 3/4 olives on their vans. a 22mm comp fitting will make a good seal if tightened enough and its not a bodge by any stretch of the imagination....like i said use flaring kit if you havent got end feed converters solder all the way...

It is a bodge. 22mm olives will not tighten properly onto 3/4 pipe. They are not designed for it, should there be a leak you will be held entirely responsible for using an inappropriate fitting. There are lots of things that new plumbers may not have on their vans but that is not an excuse for not doing the job properly. When you've turned up to a job, fitted a new boiler, fired it up and a fitting has blown off the other side of the house because it is a 22 fitting bodged onto 3/4 pipe you will know what a bodge it is.
 
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re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

I always have 3/4" olives and 1" olives in my van as do my other plumber mates. A 22mm olive is a bodge. Crimp them up and there's a good chance they will crease and not seal properly or blow off - I have come across this after other "plumbers" have been on site. Exactly the same way as you don't try and solder a 22mm fitting onto 3/4" pipe but use a 22 x 3/4 reducer.

These details and others like them make the difference between a bodger and an expert.
 
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re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

I always keep stock of 3/4 olives and metric to imperial end feed couplings.
 
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re: Hints, tips & secrets of plumbing - No Banter please!

i keep a few convertor olives in the olive box tied together with a bit of solder same with the couplings saves digging through to find the right ones
 
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