Product quality

[AliGage]

On a kitchen fit at the moment. Old 1950s house so all plumbing is old 3/4" pipework. I've had to fix a very old seized stop **** in the first week and re-joined the pipework using compression fittings with 3/4 olives.

Got woken this morning by a call at half past 5. Customer telling me there kitchen has water peeing out everywhere. Came rushing out here to find that the nut on one of the fittings has split. This is the second one I've had on this job and the second one I've had ever. I've never known this to happen before. The pipes are in clips up the wall every 18" they run straight and upon looking at the join the olives are good. Compressed evenly and all is tickty boo.
I managed to lever the broken nut off with a screw driver. When it then snapped in half again the other side. So its now in two pieces.
Something about the nut just doesn't feel right. Its very light and almost has a plastic type feel to it. Its all stamped with the EN Numbers and that.
Anyone had any problems like this before? Is this a case of poor import stuff like the taps and brassware we were getting addy years ago?

 

[ian158]

Where are you buying your fittings from..wickes...screwfix or a decent plumbers...maybe you don't know your own strength..as i've never had that happen to me...never over tighten...just need an extra nip..do you use any joint paste at all..to me thats made in China.

 

[AliGage]

This came from either a local merchant (branch brothers in deeping) or PTS. Trying to get to the bottom of it now.
Its not through over tightening. Id expect the threads to go first if that was the case. Compared to another nut i have you can tell its cheap tosh

 

[ian158]

Either way its not on.. as this could have been upstairs and flooded the ceiling and your liability would have had a claim on it.. !...Tell them to get it tested for quality but keep one half back as proof.

See what happens when we destroy our MNF industry..1 step forward..4 back !

 

[AliGage]

Narrowed down the supplier. It came from PTS of all places!

 

[ian158]

Mmm don't use them.. I use a local sole trader plumbing merchant in Huntingdon...with big companies they bulk buy...and so it seems from China !

 

[padtheplumber]

I had 2 like this on full bore chrome iso valves on my last job - they'll be going straight back to the merchants with a couple of harsh words tomorrow, the potential damage this could cause worries me no end!

 

[AliGage]

Agreed. This burst open in a stud wall I've recently built as part of a kitchen fit. Luckily when it went the customer was up and none of the kitchen was damaged. Could of been disaster though.

 

[BoldreChris]

I had one do just the same a couple of weeks ago - came from our local plumbers' merchant. It too had all the right EN numbers stamped on it. Very annoying but luckily it was downstairs, like yours, and in my own house ! It certainly wasn't over-tightened and I had wrapped a couple of turns of PTFE tape round the copper olive, as per my usual style.