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Plumbing - GB vs Fr


Delboy

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I have been trawling this excellent site for a few days now, gleaning what data I can from the veritable mine of information.

Anticipating I will need to do some plumbing work (amongst other things) after my move to 16 next year, I am confused about the practice in France of braising copper pipe joints rather than soft-soldering because of the high water pressure. I suggest this is a ploy so that you have to get in an artisan to do the work, as few DIYers will have the equipment or expertise. In the UK, we have used soft-soldered joints in all aspects of plumbing for years, including the rising main which is (sometimes very) high pressure.

Any comments/arguments?

DB
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It is not a pressure issue but more a solution for problems caused by expansion and contraction of the copper. French spec. copper pipe is a different alloy, size and wall thickness from UK pipe. Also, UK installations are prone to problems and many regulations have been tightened up in recent years to try to overcome some of the common problems in the UK. French installation techniques are not without faults but generally a lot better than the UK.

Regards

Charles
http://www.lesflamands.com/hr

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I honestly reckon that brazing copper joints in France is another "dog in the microwave" (see http://www.snopes.com - excellent site).

I have seen lots of French plumbing and, except where a plumber has created a T piece from 2 pieces of pipe ALL of it has been soft soldered.

You can buy SS equipment in all the Brico's - I have yet to see a torch that will get hot enough to braze with, etc etc.

Soldering works fine - all mine does at least & I am an engineer, not a plumber.....

Don't try to use UK plumbing fittings in France. Do a search if you wanna know why!

Nick
http://www.aplaceinfrance.com
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