Removing olives on 10mm plastic pipes

[Alastair1954]

Hi all,
My first post and many thanks in advance for any help offered. I am currently upgrading my CH system by fitting Honeywell eco home Wi-Fi enabled thermostatic valves to my radiators. I have completed about 10 or so without any problems other than replacing some of the existing valve bodies due to water leaking past the spindle (possibly a result of the old valves not being operated for an extended period). At this point I will add that my CH pipework to the radiators is 10mm plastic and these are secured to the valve bodies using "standard" 1/2" back nuts and 10-15mm brass olives. Needless to say, these are stuck fast. That said, as the old and new bodies were directly interchangeable I was able to get away with re-using the existing back nuts and olives. However, I have two radiators that were never fitted with TRVs and these have fittings with a smaller back nut that prevents me from simply reusing them with the new TRV body. I am struggling to find any advice on how to remove the olives from said 10mm plastic pipes so I can replace the back nut and refit with a new 10 to 15mm olive. I don't have any leeway with the pipes, so shortening them is not an option, and all the olive cutters / removal tools I have researched seem to be for 15 or 20mm copper pipes. Any ideas?

 

[SimonG]

Cut olives with hacksaw blade so far through then insert terminal screwdriver and twist to split the olive.

 

[Alastair1954]

Cut olives with hacksaw blade so far through then insert terminal screwdriver and twist to split the olive.

Thanks Simon. It worked. New olive fitted and joint sealed.

 

[SJB060685]

Cut olives with hacksaw blade so far through then insert terminal screwdriver and twist to split the olive.

As Simon has suggested cut olive with hacksaw partially and use flat head to split and remove but this is plastic so be sure not to cut too deep and damage the plastic pipe, this is a MUST, especially as theres no leeway

 

[Chuck]

Any ideas?

I'm not sure that removing the olive from an old piece of plastic pipe is going to leave the pipe in good enough condition to refit a new valve and be confident that the seal will be okay. You should at least have a contigency plan to renew the pipe if it turns out to be necessary.

I'd try quite hard to find valves that match the existing fittings to avoid removing the olives. If that proved impossible, I'd carefully chose the radiator(s) where access to replace the pipe is going to be easiest remove the olives there and move the valves to the trickier location(s).

 

[SimonG]

I'm not sure that removing the olive from an old piece of plastic pipe is going to leave the pipe in good enough condition to refit a new valve and be confident that the seal will be okay. You should at least have a contigency plan to renew the pipe if it turns out to be necessary.

I'd try quite hard to find valves that match the existing fittings to avoid removing the olives. If that proved impossible, I'd carefully chose the radiator(s) where access to replace the pipe is going to be easiest remove the olives there and move the valves to the trickier location(s).

As a professional I don't have a problem with cutting an olive.

 

[Best]

You usually cannot use olive cutters or olive pullers on plastic pipes.
The olive tends to bury deep into the pipe, so splitter won’t reach deep enough into olive.
Use a junior hacksaw to cut the olive at about 45 degree cut and go carefully so not to cut into the plastic pipe or your hands. It isn’t easy and blade will mark plastic badly if it slips.
Flat blade screwdriver with thin blade to split the olive and always replace with copper olives.

 

[John.g]

Plastic inserts are now quite common in plastic pipes so can the new olive fit over the end of the plastic insert as these have a fairly hefty lip on the end, assuming of course that the old insert cannot be pulled out of the existing pipe.
[automerge]1579344824[/automerge]

Plastic inserts are now quite common in plastic pipes so can the new olive fit over the end of the plastic insert as these have a fairly hefty lip on the end, assuming of course that the old insert cannot be pulled out of the existing pipe.

Apologies, no problem in pushing olive on over the existing insert, I've just tried it.