Plumbing fittings

TeresaL

Does anyone know for sure if plumbing supplies bought in the North of Irl are compatible with those in the south. I've heard the threads are different and take a lot of different joinings. Has anyone bought bathroom and plumbing fittings up North and successfully used them in South? Thanks

Sparkpea

I cannot say for sure but I'm a plumber up north and I know of a few firms here who do work in the south. They still get all their materials sent from our local suppliers.

Joey the lips

Are you talking shower valves and taps or actual plumbing fittings.

TeresaL

I'm talking all fittings from pipes to taps and toilet connections. I have been advised that the UK standard fittings are Imperial and we in the South are metric. Just want to know if this is true and is it best not to buy from the North of I.

CJhaughey

The pipe sizes are different between the UK and Ireland.
1/2/" Irish is different to 1/2" UK. have a look at Qualpex pipe you can see the designation printed on it.
For this reason I don't think it would be wise to use fittings from the North unless you had pipe as well, it may fit and hold but pop out under pressure.

trad

Where I work a refit of waste water piping was carried out by a NI contractor. Everytime there is a repair to be done it's a big job as nothing fits. I've seen them with blow lamps trying to sweat joints together. It might be cheaper day 1 but it'll cost you in the long run.

tinofapples

Was thinking about buying TRV's in North or mainland UK as they seem to be alot cheaper than here but have been warned similarily about difference in standards between here and there.

scratchmyitch

Teresa L. as harpo said uk plumbing fittings are not compatable with irish fittings. Ask the staff in B and Q.
If you take a firebird boiler for example, they are sold both north and south of the border.

The ones north of the border have a 28mm fitting while the fittings down here have 1inch fittings. Ask pete, I told him this already.

Sparkpea

scratchmyitch wrote: »

The ones north of the border have a 28mm fitting while the fittings down here have 1inch fittings. Ask pete, I told him this already.

really? is this just with firebird or warmflow and all? I've always used 1"x22mm or 1"x28mm male straights for boilers and never had a prob up the north

martin46585

as irish fittings are imperial and uk fittings are metric, with that latter being slightly larger, irish piping will fit the uk connections, just change the nut and ring on compression fitting, which are most common fitting on sanitary ware, pumps, tanks, and boilers, which are the items where the biggest savings apply.

scratchmyitch

Exactly, for example, when buying a uk boiler, get the 28mm coupler, when you get it home add your 1inch pipe DO NOT use the olive that came with the coupler, instead use a 1inch olive and re apply the nut. Job done, minimum expense!

Joey the lips

Buying uk plumbing is not just a simple case of price.

For example low pressure is considered in the uk to be 0.5bar where as in ireland this is considered high pressure. This can have a drametic effect on the working of shower valves and divertors

On taps. If you buy a victorian bath shower mixer, you know the one the women like with the telephone. The divertor does not usually stay open so you see some women tie them up with hair bobbions.

On mono basin mxrs. As these are high pressure they are usually slow to fill the sink. Its mainly the man that notices this when shaving. afik...most women shave in the bath shower...

On toilet. A lot of chinese shoite is coming into ireland that was destined for the english market. These cisterns take forever to fill after a flush and are the reason than top flush take such a bad rap of late. There is 2 fixes on this. 1. Change the inlet valve to a low pressure torbeck. Or 2. And this is my own and will only cost you 4-6 euro. Balance 2 euro coins on the on the inlet valve. Just put one at a time till you weight it to the water line. This improves the flush considerabily and is low cost DIY... You can thank me when you confirm it works.:) as an additional note.... NEVER NEVER use a blu loo or the likes in a top flush cistern. It completly fooks it up


My own rec to anyone and if you have experienced this problem you will understand its value...

Only buy a standard toilet that is popular in ireland....The cheaper the better. Why????

1. Its tried and tested and will work in most places.
2. The seat wont be as hard or expensive to replace


Buy standard cheap wear off your local supplier and make your bathroom a million dollars by buying good tiles and expensive taps and chrome ware...

vidapura

Oh just one more thing I spotted that might make a difference to me...
If I bought that one from B&Q.. will the fitting work with the existing pipe ?
I'm confused cos local plumbing suppliers use the term 1/2 inch but dI've read one of the differences with the UK and Irish plumbing is that the UK uses 1/2 inch and we're metric and use 22mm instead?

Have I got that right?
Am I worrying unnecessarily?

Or should I just go to woodies and buy the T80z to hell?

jhenno78

vidapura wrote: »

Oh just one more thing I spotted that might make a difference to me...
If I bought that one from B&Q.. will the fitting work with the existing pipe ?
I'm confused cos local plumbing suppliers use the term 1/2 inch but dI've read one of the differences with the UK and Irish plumbing is that the UK uses 1/2 inch and we're metric and use 22mm instead?

Have I got that right?
Am I worrying unnecessarily?

Or should I just go to woodies and buy the T80z to hell?

Think you might have meant this for another thread, but hey.

They're different. The UK uses 15mm and 22mm (outside diameter).

Ireland(ROI) uses 1/2inch and 3/4inch(internal diameter, though strictly speaking it's made in metric sizes, so it's 14.7mm OD etc. ). .3mm doesn't sound like much but it's more than enough to cause a leak. You can get coupling that convert 15mm to 14.7. Some will just put an 1/2" pipe into a 15mm fitting with a 1/2" olive but I wouldn't be too keen...

It's worth noting though that the threads for fittings will be compatible.
It's also worth noting that in the last couple of years a heck of a lot of plumbers have started using 16mm alupex pipes for everything and this could become a new standard.


RE: waste sizes, we use 1 1/2" (etc.) pvc pipes (about 43 mm OD)...we mistakenly refer to this as "40mm"

The uk mostly uses polypropylene "push-fit" pipes that are about 41mm OD...which they also mistakenly refer to as "40mm". I think that when they use pvc waste, it's the same size as ours.