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32mm MDPE fittings


Vijay

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I thought the purpose of inserts were  to stop the fitting from crushing the pipe when using olives? Seeing as these rely on rubber O rings to form the seal, do they still compress that much that they would crush the pipe??

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Hi,

 

i am a plumbing and heating engineer by trade, and on here as I am hoping to do a self build next year!

 

as like all the other comments you deffinetley need to use inserts with all types of fittings! The manufacturer will no warranty any potential failiours if they find that you have fitted them without inserts and you also need to ensure you use an appropriate plastic cutter and not a hacksaw!

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9 hours ago, Vijay said:

I thought the purpose of inserts were  to stop the fitting from crushing the pipe when using olives? Seeing as these rely on rubber O rings to form the seal, do they still compress that much that they would crush the pipe??

 

The inserts have two functions, and are, as mentioned above, essential.  They do provide a bit of additional stiffening, not for the area where the O ring or lip seal bears, but the bit further up where the grip ring bites into the pipe to hold it in place.  The other reason they are essential is that they provide a smooth entry when pushing the pipe in, because there is a chamfer on the flange part of the insert, preventing the sharp cut edge of the pipe from damaging the O ring or lip seal.

Edited by JSHarris
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Hmm, I omitted these when building my rainwater tanks - doesn't seem to leaking but I'll retro fit none the less - do I need to scrap the 32mm MPDE pipe I've already used and start again? I've plenty of it so no hardship...

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1 minute ago, Bitpipe said:

Hmm, I omitted these when building my rainwater tanks - doesn't seem to leaking but I'll retro fit none the less - do I need to scrap the 32mm MPDE pipe I've already used and start again? I've plenty of it so no hardship...

 

The pipe's probably fine, the most likely issue when not using the inserts on low pressure pipe work, where the fitting hasn't been over-tightened, is that the seals can be damaged, as the insert has a smooth chamfer on the flange that covers the cut end of the pipe, to help ease the pipe into either the O ring or lip seal (some MDPE fitting use O rings, some use lip seals).  My experience is that it's quite hard to damage these seals, unless the cut end of the pipe is rough (which is why you shouldn't just hack through it with a saw, but use a proper pipe cutter, which has a very sharp blade).

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Nope the pipe should be fine - slack off and pull the joint apart, put the insert into the pipe and do it all back up. Be aware though that some of the joints won’t come apart easily unless you remove the outer nut and take it completely apart. As you have very little pressure as it’s just the static pressure of 1m of water. . 

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