New plumbing question.

CCer

Member
New building built where I work. Heating system is hot water. All copper plumbing is a push together, it has an o-ring in the female side, then the joint is crimped. This is all new to me. The plumbers say they've used this system for about 5 years. What is the name of this system? thank you
 
System is called ProPress.

Outfit below claims to have originated it, a variety of companies now make the tools.
Viega
 
I've seen this stuf. I'm concerned how long the o ring may last. Only 5 years isn't proven yet. I like the soldered joint.
 
We've used it some over the years, it is a good product. We have had no failures and the only fittings (installed by others) we had to replace are where the water quality caused the valves to corrode.

They are expensive fittings, but they do save on labor. Almost anyone can become a pipe fitter. Like the sharkbite fittings they are great when the water won't stop 100% to allow good soldering.

Depending on the O-ring and paint dot on the fitting it can even be used for gaslines, where copper is allowed. Not sure I like that use though...
 
If they last like those push lock air line fittings for truck air lines I'd junk the whole lot of it. Got put out of service for one of those leaking one time had to change it for the good old brass screw together ones.
 
It's called the "Sure To Leak" system. These bone headed engineers keep coming up with this stuff. It might work great when it's brand new but they don't think about the rubber seals failing in 10 or 15 years.
 
I was on a job where they used those crimp fittings on a 2 inch main, below grade. It's now under the slab, in the middle of a restaurant. Made me cringe watching it being backfilled!
 
It wouldn't be a disaster if everyone felt the way you do, Stephen, but if O-rings were good enough for space shuttles, surely they must be good enough for regular residential plumbing. You're being a challenger of technology.

Stan
 
Again, thank you for all the replies. When I first saw it, I wondered how long the o-rings will last. Possibly the saving of it will be when the joints are filled with scale, protecting the o-rings from leaks!
 
Stan, that is about the best (worst?) irony I've read on here in a few years.

Good one!

Paul
 
That's right. That's what I was referring to when I used the words "disaster" and "challenger". Different people find different things funny, but I'll bet that if you met me I could tell you a joke that you would make you laugh.

Stan
 
The space shuttle didn't have a duty life of years. Most any fool idea can last a short time but to put this fool idea inside of walls is really asking for it.
 
Look into the cost of the joints before you use the word savings. The joints run six to eight bucks each where the solder joints are usually less than fifty cents. Someone that knows what they are doing can solder a joint in a couple minutes so even if you figure in labor the press on system is more costly.
 
A year or two ago they had 5he copper fittings that are ready to solder. You clean the end of the pipe and then slip it into the ready fitting and heat it a little with a torch. Already has the solder in it. Perfect looking sweat fittings. When I am working with copper I make one or two practice runs and after that the,rest of my joints look darn near perfect. If I am doing well I even give it a quuck wipe with a cotton rag. They look sweet! Then I mess one up.;)
 
I suspect the real labor savings is the plumbing contractor can hire general laborers to crimp the fitting instead of a licensed plumber to solder the fittings. The contractor will be long gone before any start leaking.
 
I worked at the forge shop that made the fuel tanks for shuttle
, Its made from single billet into seamless sectional tank with
walls only aprox 1/2 thick , NASA came to forge shop to reinforce
that if employee seen any thing not done by book , that they should
report it , Every head in that meeting turned to stare at the Department
Head , if walls could only talk , It would take over 6 months to forge
and machine 1 section ,
 
So much of that 'high tech' home building stuff in the last 30 years is junk. All that plastic piping and fittings, the double and triple pane windows that the seals fail and water gets into the space. Or the plastic UV shade inside the window that fell apart.

That composite siding that grew mushrooms down south.

I see all this on 'This Old House', touted as the best thing since sliced bread...

They went back to one of their '90s projects, and almost all of the windows, floor coverings, appliances they thought so highly of, had failed and been replaced.

I did all the plumbing when I built my house, probably 3000 soldered connections. Only two leaks when I turned on the water; hard to get access to the pipes and didn't get a good seal.


Soldering has worked for 2000 years, no brainer to use it.
 
Everything I've heard about the Challenger is the weather was too cold for the O-rings and that the engineers begged the NASA officials to delay the launch until warmer weather.
 
Don't forget the engineered wood I-beams. I cringe every time I see million dollar houses built with OSB floor joists. The stuff is destine to disintegrate into chips. I hate to think of the cost of tearing them out and replacing them with steel or real wood.
 
Paul, I realized that it was near to being in the same category as intentional puns, but I couldn't help myself. Nobody but you caught it, though, so no harm done.

Stan
 
These OSB floor joists can be a real danger in a fire situation. It takes quite a while for fire to chew through solid wood joists enough to weaken the floor but the thin sections and adhesives used in OSB I-beams can make them fail very quickly with little to no warning signs. This is a well-known fact in firefighting circles and extreme caution is required with responding to a structure fire where this construction method was used.
 
If people only knew the garbage that goes into building homes today they might think twice about buying. It's hard to say, the area I work houses are constantly being torn down and a new house built on the lot. In the last seventeen years I've seen three different houses built on the same location. The property is the most expense part so maybe disposable homes are alright. I just couldn't do it. If I was a builder I couldn't knowingly put something in a house I knew was destine to fail.
 
(quoted from post at 14:16:34 02/11/17) A year or two ago they had 5he copper fittings that are ready to solder. You clean the end of the pipe and then slip it into the ready fitting and heat it a little with a torch. Already has the solder in it. Perfect looking sweat fittings. When I am working with copper I make one or two practice runs and after that the,rest of my joints look darn near perfect. If I am doing well I even give it a quuck wipe with a cotton rag. They look sweet! Then I mess one up.;)

Murphy's Law causes the best looking joints to be in a hidden spot and the sloppy looking ones are always in clear view.
 
(quoted from post at 08:55:00 02/13/17) Pro Press has been around for quite awhile - the fittings are expensive, but the labor savings are huge.
Pete

I was installing some equipment last year at an AFB where we needed cooling lines run for our hydraulic systems. They used Pro Press and I watched the pipefitters for a couple of days. Saw no significant labor savings in the actual connection method. Most of the time was spent scratching their heads on routing, measuring, cutting, handling the copper pipe and fittings, moving the lift around. The actual crimp WAS faster than sweating a joint but how much faster? A good plumber can rough up, flux and solder a joint with a strong torch pretty darn fast. I don't see how anyone can justify the $3000+ crimp tool and expensive fittings (ball valve was about $150, IIRC, for 1 1/4" pipe) to save a few seconds. (I see a 1/2" Pro Press coupling is about $ 8 vs 50 cents for a sweat fitting.) Plus, the pipefitter had arms the size of my thighs that was raising the heavy crimper up into the trusses above his head to make the crimps. I wouldn't want to be the guy who does that all day.
 
viega and rigid created the system in the early 2000's its called propress. I have installed thousands of them over the years. I have seen 2 failures and both were on lines that froze. they now have a similar system for steel pipe called mega press. Both are very reliable and I would, and have installed both at my home. There is no need to worry about leaks.if the battery dies mid crimp just recrimp with a fresh battery and your done
these fitting areavailable up to 4 inch for copper and stainless and 2 inch for steel
 

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