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Landscape irrigation isn't that common in a domestic setting here. We get plenty of rain normally, but in the (increasingly common) periods of drought, most pe

Landscape irrigation isn't that common in a domestic setting here. We get plenty of rain normally, but in the (increasingly common) periods of drought, most people just let their lawns dry out and manually water the flowers. Domestic fire sprinklers are also, sadly, quite uncommon. They've started to become more common in flats, particularly since Grenfell, but still, I've never had cause to touch the pipework for one. Fire safety in the UK is pretty poor compared to the USA. Copper has has been the dominant form of indoor plumbing for ages here, so every plumber knows how to work with it. It's still seen as the preferred option, and most people, myself included, consider PEX as a cheap alternative. As far as joints go, compression fit seems to maybe be more popular now than soldering for domestic plumbers due to speed of installation, but I personally prefer soldering as I've had bad luck with compression fittings developing weeps after years. Push fit has been making some inroads - but I wouldn't trust it myself!

laurencerowe 3y ago
> Fire safety in the UK is pretty poor compared to the USA. The tighter fire regulations in the US are a result of building everything from far more combustible materials. Even so, the fire death rate in the US is more than double that of the UK, 11/million vs 5/million annually. Living in California it's probably a good thing my home is made of wood rather than bricks if there is ever an earthquake, but coming from the UK it all seems a bit flimsy!
amluto 3y ago
John Guest has been making what seem to be very nice push-to-connect fittings in the UK for a long time. I’ve only used the US versions, and I’ve never seen one fail. If you avoid putting bending stress on them, they seem quite secure. John Guest also has some very nice “ProLock” build-your-own-manifold fittings. For what it’s worth, there are a couple of applications for which plastic or stainless steel are the only credible choices. Carbonated water is dangerous when in contact with copper or brass, and boiler condensate (which is basically carbonated water) will rapidly destroy copper or brass. So your boiler condensate drainage system generally ought to be made entirely of plastic. I’ve personally had some rather impressive failures of copper pipe due, I think, to aggressive water at excessive velocity. Copper’s ability to resist corrosion is finicky.

laurencerowe 3y ago

> Fire safety in the UK is pretty poor compared to the USA. The tighter fire regulations in the US are a result of building everything from far more combustible materials. Even so, the fire death rate in the US is more than double that of the UK, 11/million vs 5/million annually. Living in California it's probably a good thing my home is made of wood rather than bricks if there is ever an earthquake, but coming from the UK it all seems a bit flimsy!

amluto 3y ago

John Guest has been making what seem to be very nice push-to-connect fittings in the UK for a long time. I’ve only used the US versions, and I’ve never seen one fail. If you avoid putting bending stress on them, they seem quite secure. John Guest also has some very nice “ProLock” build-your-own-manifold fittings. For what it’s worth, there are a couple of applications for which plastic or stainless steel are the only credible choices. Carbonated water is dangerous when in contact with copper or brass, and boiler condensate (which is basically carbonated water) will rapidly destroy copper or brass. So your boiler condensate drainage system generally ought to be made entirely of plastic. I’ve personally had some rather impressive failures of copper pipe due, I think, to aggressive water at excessive velocity. Copper’s ability to resist corrosion is finicky.