Rigid ProPress fittings

[PoorRod]

Does anyone have any experience with the Rigid ProPress crimp pipe fittings?

http://www.propresssystem.com/

A contractor is submitting it as an alternative to soldered copper for a chilled water hydronic system. I'm leaning towards approving it, but thought I'd ask if anyone has worked with this system before. The biggest disadvantages I can see is that joint could be overlooked and not crimped. That's a workmanship/inspection issue, but is it possible that a fitting that was not crimped cold still hold during a pressure test?

(A search has shown that TBP has used these fittings before, but I'm not sure if it's possible to contact him directly through this forum.)

 

[TBP]

PoorRod - I may have worded a posting poorly - the vast majority of my work is with steam & compressed air systems, so I don't actually use the ProPress system. However, I am in regular contact with any number of outfits that DO use it, and at least 95% of the plumbing & HVAC contractors I know who have used the ProPress system swear by it. I don't think that there is any more chance of forgetting to crimp a joint, then forgetting to solder one.

The biggest concerns are the cost of the fittings, the selection of fittings available from the manufacturer, and the wholesalers stocking levels in some areas.

The biggest advantages are speed (the huge labour savings more than offsets the cost of the fittings), you can make a joint even when faced with a trickle of water that would prevent soldering (this can be a real problem when repairing or modifying a system in which the valves don't hold), and there's no flame or heat involved.

 

[PoorRod]

Thanks.

I think I'm going to approve them, provided that they can show that they will have enough fittings on hand to complete the job.

 

[TBP]

I believe that both the selection of fittings (things like reducing tees, etc) and the stocking levels will increase as this system becomes more accepted. This should also work to drop the unit-cost per fitting.

The guys that have complaints tend to be sticklers for appearance of their work (not the wrong attitude, by any means), and in the larger sizes, the crimping tool can torque the fittings slightly, and the resulting assembly sometimes isn't as "pretty" as they are used to acheiving with soldered joints.

The tool has an internal mechanism that counts the number of crimps, and after so many, alerts the user that it must be re-calibrated within so many more crimps. If it's not taken in for the calibration check after the magic number is reached, it'll just shut itself down.

 

[PoorRod]

Thanks, I was unaware about the calibration issue. Is the calibration something that can be done locally (or in the field) or does the tool have to be shipped to a calibration facility?

 

[TBP]

You should verify this for yourself, but I haven't heard any sad tales of these units having to be gone for a week while they're getting checked. I don't think Ridgid could sell very many, if that were the case. Even if something strange did happen, the Ridgid rep locally has a demonstrator unit that he loans contractors who want to test before they buy, and I'll bet rental outfits are starting to carry these as well.

You could always stipulate that if there's a problem, the contractor has to keep things moving forward, even if he has to pull-in 2 or 3 times the bodies with B-tanks to stay on schedule.

 

[TBP]

poorRod - I was flipping through an HVAC trade magazine yesterday, and came across an ad for Apollo valves (up to 2") that come factory ready to be used with the ProPress system. Contractors no long need to solder stubs of copper pipe into check and ball valves, before installing them in ProPress assemblies. I strongly suspect that soldering copper pipe joints will become another "lost art" over the next few years.