Got a hot water pipe question .

[masterblaster]

G'day guys.
Couple of questions .
Wondering if l can run a hotwater pipe up the wall from outside, along the ceilings over to the sink, shower, basin and down to the taps , instead of under the house and then upto the taps ?
Doing an old dairy into a cabin but it's got a slab under then Bessa walls so l can't see any other way to run the hotwater other than across ceiling.

2nd thing was are there doit yourself copper pipe fittings you cn buy or would l need a plumber to do all the intersections and joins ?
My place had heaps of new copper pipe stored in a shed when l bought it so l can run it all and put in right places ready but figured l'd have to pay plumber to do all the joins , unless !

Thanks for that
Cheers. MB

[Barry_White]

If it is a mains pressure hot water system it would work fine. If it gravity fed it might be pushing it a bit depending on how high the hotwater tank is. The best way is to buy presoldered capillary fittings if you can still get them and makes sure the pipe ends are cleaned with hydrocholric acid and then a good flux and then heat it with a gas torch and you will see the solder flow and seal the fitting.

I would use the insulated copper pipe to help keep the water hot in its travel.

I also think you can buy pressure fittings that you don't need to solder.

As far as getting a plumber to do it depends on the council requirements in your area. Seeing its an old dairy why would they worry.

[Pulpo]

What Barry said is pretty much spot on.

I would also add.

The pre-soldered fittings are expensive and hard to get.

Normal fittings will be fine and buy some soft solder, BUT make sure the ends are clean and shinny.

You could also use silver solder with a propane torch [mapp gas yellow cylinder] but this is more difficult; I have done this on many occasions, although Oxy better.

Once again the copper pipe must be clean and shinny and a good flux used.

I was told that soft solder is not recommended for hot water, I have my doubts?

You could also use compression fittings that require no special tools but are not cheap. I just prefer flared fittings.

Flared fittings are also not cheap and you also require a flaring tool.

Cheap flaring tools are not advisable.

Look on ebay for something around $110 should receive a reasonable set, which should include a pipe cutter [very handy].

Very easy to use once you play around with a few fittings and some copper pipe before installing.

Much cheaper and more reliable than a plumber.

If you are connected to town water supply then a qualified plumber is required, hmm.

Is this difficult no; could you DIY? In my mind no problems but I have met a few so-called "handy" persons and have my reservations as to how "handy".

Give it a bash, if you stuff up then call in an expert.

Copper pipe size is important depending on runs and volume required, but don’t get too stressed on this.

Good Luck

Pulpo

[Markw]

Barry
Most of those pre-soldered joints and fittings seemed to have been removed from the market (at least at Bunnies) as they were supplied with lead based solder.

These days we're supposed to use lead free solder especially where its for drinking water. I suppose that means all joints need to be lead free to stop the lead leaching into other pipes. I tried some of this recently when I had to move a pipe due to a room extension and the solder wasn't too bad to work with. It wasn't as good as the old stuff but certainly better than I expected. Comes in a small kit with solder and special resin - not cheap though.

BTW I used a MAPP gas torch to heat the work rather than an iron. Note that the lead free solder is based on a tin/silver content pretty much like silver solder and just like silver solder the melting temps are a little higher. This would make using an iron more difficult.

[Barry_White]

Barry
Most of those pre-soldered joints and fittings seemed to have been removed from the market (at least at Bunnies) as they were supplied with lead based solder.

These days we're supposed to use lead free solder especially where its for drinking water. I suppose that means all joints need to be lead free to stop the lead leaching into other pipes. I tried some of this recently when I had to move a pipe due to a room extension and the solder wasn't too bad to work with. It wasn't as good as the old stuff but certainly better than I expected. Comes in a small kit with solder and special resin - not cheap though.

BTW I used a MAPP gas torch to heat the work rather than an iron. Note that the lead free solder is based on a tin/silver content pretty much like silver solder and just like silver solder the melting temps are a little higher. This would make using an iron more difficult.

Hi Mark

Yes I realised that the presoldered capilliary fittings came with lead solder and they had removed them from the market. Damn bureaucrats, people have been drinking water out of lead soldered water tanks and lead soldered capillary fittings for a 100 years me included and I have never heard of anyone dying from lead poisoning yet from them.

I never mentioned a soldering iron and realise that it would take the heat of a gas torch to melt the solder including lead solder.

[masterblaster]

Thanks very much guys , great stuff .
Sounds like l could shop around and work something out . lt's just the budget - well we don't have a budget anymore because we're broke now so anywhere l can save is a real blessing seens l have all this brand new pipe . My smaller sized pipe looks like the same as the pipe used on the house unit , 12 ml l'd guess .
No mains pressure though - tank water , might try fitting a preasure pump to the cold tap though because there's a spare one in the shed to if it works , that'll be fun .
Haven't got the hot water unit yet but l was just gonna find some little elec' cheapy second hand so if it helps l could sit it up higher .
Bazza youknow speaking of lead poisoning , wifey bought this book yesterday about all the crap in our everyday food . Youknow in OZ , peanut butter has this stuff in it banned all over the world because it's proven to cause all sorts of cancers bigtime. But in OZ they still load it into the peanut butter legally , we feed our kids and ourselves everyday , my daughter [4 ] and me eat it by the bucket . With all their BS and rules these days you'd reckon they could put a stamp on crap in peanut butter wouldn't ya but carry on about lead on a hot water pipe we don't even drink from .
Crazy bloody world ain't it .
Thanks again guys.
Cheers. MB

[coedcae]

It has been mentioned to use flared fittings. You need to be awear that to do flared ends on the pipe it rearly needs to be soft pipe.
Copper comes in 3 states of anneal: soft, half hard and hard.
In OZ lenghts of Cu are hard or the Cu in the 20mt coil is soft, I don't believe that in OZ that you use half hard, unless things have changed since I was in the game when I lived in OZ.
Good luck

Peter

[Master Splinter]

Its not the peanuts themselves that make the peanuts carcinogenic, its a naturally occuing fungus from the Aspergillus family (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aflatoxin). The fungus produces aflatoxins and these toxins are the culprits. You'll also find the fungus in wheat, rice, corn, spices and in other nuts, not just peanuts.

Peanut butter consumption has had no noticable effect on liver cancer rates in US school children, and despite what the health food quackery...err industry would like you to beleive, agricultural producers take considerable action (http://www.cropscience.org.au/icsc2004/poster/1/4/921_rachaputi.htm) to control aspergillus.

I'd look at the contents of your wife's book with a skeptical eye...