Hep20 fittings.

[WHPES]

I NEVER use plastic on heating circuits or any pipework under floors or in lofts. To be honest the reason is mainly that most of the leaks I have had to deal with have been caused by mice and rats, and they don't touch copper.

The main failure of Hep2O pipe have come across is through frozen pipework. Some fail at the grab ring and I have had others fail at the thread on the covers.

Personally it's the grey Polyplumb due to the strong all stainless grab rings.

I think the old Hepworth HPB fittings had a solid stainless grab ring too? Why on earth did they downgrade it?

 

[unguided1]

All you can do is contact Wavin Hep20 and ask them what they think the problem is.
If no one tells them, they aint gonna do anything. might be time for a product recall, can you imagine that.

 

[MaintenanceMan]

Already spoken to them. All I got was 'it can only be contamination from fitting'
Trading Standards say the contract is with the supplier (City Plumbing) not Wavin/Hepworth
I agree though does look like a problem for them and us

 

[unguided1]

I have spoke to a Wavin rep about this a year ago and his response was that certain types of flux, used in other parts of the system could affect the fittings, if the system wasnt flushed properly.

I cant remeber which flux but I know it wasnt La Co flux, as that is what i use.

As for the response from Trading Standards, typical British bureacracy, the fault cant be with the supplier as they didnt make the fittings, Phone Wavin and insist that they get a rep out to you pronto at least for an explanation as to what could be contaminating your fittings, ask them to test the water in your system. before the rest of the pipework falls apart.

 

[MaintenanceMan]

The fault is not with the supplier, but the contract is. I'm sure Wavin don't care about me as an individual but they should take more notice of a major reseller.
I am going to pursue this further just sounding out for others with similar problem.
The fittings failing isn't really the issue it the work/cost involved in gaining access under oak floors and in stud partitions etc.
The quality of the water in the system shouldn't be much of an issue since it is the green grab ring that is failing and that is isolated from the water by the 'O' ring

 

[biofish]

I know its said that the cold pipework had the same problem, but could excessive tempetures on the heating circuit be causing some of the breakdown of the plastics? Normally heat will cause plastic to become brittle over time?

I still agree with the rest that its a bad batch of fittings, only ever seen fittings fail when there not pushing onto the pipework fully (but then again thats not fitting failure thats installer failure).

I have to be honest I've never seen one disintegrate like that.

 

[oldplumber]

Pulled out some older hep20 recently and 2 of the grab rings had brocken down and were still holding until i undid the screwed end. Bit worrying now that ive spent several years using hepworth kit as i understood it was the best, polyplumb rules nowadays

 

[WHPES]

Only use PolyPlumb now since this thread started!

 

[msw109]

As each one fails replace it with JG Speedfit and Speedfit inserts.

 

[oldplumber]

As each one fails replace it with JG Speedfit and Speedfit inserts.

polyplumb is cheaper than speedfit down my way and i gotta say a nice steel grab ring feels better than plastic ones omho

 

[unguided1]

Travis perkins are now changeing from supplying Speedfit to Hep 20, Not that I buy much from Travis as its always double the price of anywhere else

 

[andy 1]

hi had a 22mm hep couplin fail on me one week after installing 20/9/2010 lucky enough my son heard the water running down the wall and landing on the floor, after stripping down the fitting had noticed green grab ring had fractured and given way only leaving two grippers in place .have spoke to wavin [hep] and they are going to check fitting but apparently any grease on hands or spit used to lubricate fitting can cause failure .SO NOT IDEAL FOR USING ON SITE ONLY IN A NICE CLEAN LAB .I used hep lube on my fittings by shear luck, it was the only lube i had in my van so cant wait to hear result .no doubt it will be an installation fault .andy

 

[thomas donovan]

these fittings are an absolute liability, i have personally had them go after 6 months ruining a nice cream carpet (i was chasing the builder for my retention) again it was the flimsy plastic grab ring that had given way. i know other plumbers who've had the same problems but its been more expensive than a carpet. didnt get my retention! thanks hepworth

 

[thomas donovan]

toolstation do a white polypipe fitting with the same grabring as polyplumb no problems so far

 

[Haddock]

We had a Hep20 22mm Union fail last night, it was sealing onto plastic pipe. The problem is the same as Dryerman's pic on post 7 - although there were no metal clips to be found (presumably these will be downstream somewhere).

I've contacted Hepworth and just waiting for a response - has anyone had any luck going down this route?

House was built in 2004, and is nearly all Hep20 - must admit Im now very concerned after finding this thread.

The pipe came completely out of the union - mains pressure into the loft for approx 30mins, so as you can imagine things are a bit of a mess!