Water joiners

Tomjim · 10-03-2026 12:20AM #1

I had a problem with a half inch joiner in.my shed. There is half inch light gauge piping in the shed about 15 years.

The old joiner bursted in the frost and when i put a new joiner on the pressure from the water made the joiner to leak - not straight away but in an hour or 2 and flooded the shed. This happened a few times

I called into to the hardware and they said there could be a difference in some of the width of the sizing of the old light gauge pipes of 10 mm and the new joiner would not work on the old pipe

Has this happened anyone else and are there different types on joiner on the market.

A neighbour have me an old joiner and its working ok now

1773098304727522614878689174368.jpg

This is a picture of the insert that didn't work

DBK1 · 10-03-2026 12:30AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058435591/water-joiners

That’s only half of the insert. There should be another red plastic piece that size and a flat rubber O-ring in the middle.

https://heatingpartswarehouse.com/product/philmac-normal-gauge-connection-kit-1-2/?utm_source=google+ads&utm_campaign=18057668373&utm_medium=cpc&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18057679095&gbraid=0AAAAADQb9a-txqv1fIOTkenStN7H-3cgv&gclid=Cj0KCQjw37nNBhDkARIsAEBGI8N70InpcFWeoo7mUZjqJUOi20EAVJuSnY7PRLcJk4dvimhbFXhh9McaAkSKEALw_wcB

Tomjim · 10-03-2026 12:32AM

Correct, I only used that photo for an example. I had the other parts.

DBK1 · 10-03-2026 12:38AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124299875#Comment_124299875

I’ve never seen them not to work on any old piping around here. Did you shorten the pipe a couple of inches to make sure the new insert was on a fresh part of the pipe and not the same spot the original fitting was on? Was the pipe pushed in so that it was gone through the flat o-ring in the fittings? And did you tighten it with a wrench and not just hand tighten it?

There is also an insert to go into the light gauge pipe to help it keep its shape in the fittings but it’s normally not needed.

https://heatingpartswarehouse.com/product/philmac-normal-gauge-liner-1-2/

MfMan · 10-03-2026 10:42AM

I think Agriflow fittings in particular are very adaptable to the different pipe sizes, and even joining pipes of different diameter. (No, not affiliated!).

White Clover · 10-03-2026 11:31AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124300363#Comment_124300363

I only came across them lately. They seem very reasonably priced compared to Philmac.

One2Many7ups · 10-03-2026 12:12PM

you need a red liner on some normal gauge pipe to tighten the joiner properly. Some n/g pipes just won't seal without them.

Ten Pin · 10-03-2026 02:05PM

Half inch light gauge is a tight fit inside 3/4" qualpex (the light brown colored pipe) so it might work as an outer sleeve joiner as a temporary fix while looking for a permanent fitting.

Austinbrick · 10-03-2026 10:44PM

We had that problem over the winter. Very tedious trying to fix it half way up a ladder!!

I think you need a white insert for the old piping. Similar to the red one in yourself first picture.

DBK1 · 10-03-2026 11:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124302899#Comment_124302899

The white insert is for heavy gauge piping, red for light gauge.

Bass Reeves · 11-03-2026 02:13AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124300631#Comment_124300631

Spot on when using any new philmac fittings you must use the insett liners or else the fittings have a tendancy to fail. As well use a pipe cutters rather than a knife or hacksaw.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124302957#Comment_124302957

I find it impossible to put the white insert into the heavy gauge pipe, the red ones work fine on the heavy gauge

whelan2 · 11-03-2026 07:01AM

There's also a little rubber ring with a bit of red on it for normal gauge and white for heavy gauge, some genius in our local hardware place put a load of joiners together with the wrong rubber ring in them. Took me a while to figure out what was wrong, so always check now that it's the right one

DBK1 · 11-03-2026 09:12AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124303197#Comment_124303197

You must be either confusing your pipes or confusing philmac with a different joiner. The philmac inserts don’t go into the pipe, they work by gripping the outside of the pipe and sealing around the outside so you don’t put any of their inserts into the pipes, you put the pipe into the insert. For that reason the red won’t work on heavy gauge as the diameter of the pipe is too big for them.

Unless you’re talking about the liners that can be used in the pipe? If so then yes the red ones will fit as they are based on the inner diameter which obviously is the same in light gauge and heavy gauge but they’re not needed at all on heavy gauge pipe as the wall of the pipe is strong enough on its own. The white liners are for using with the blue mdpe pipes which are metric and not imperial.

Bass Reeves · 12-03-2026 12:19PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124303346#Comment_124303346

I was talking aboutthe liner inserts. We always use with new philmac fittings. You definitely need them.on the ordinary black pipe.

Water joiners

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