Question for you knowledgeable plumbing folks. I am overseeing a heating system install in a town hall where I am a very small-time elected official (so in other words, I am not a plumber and have no particular expertise, yet I need to sign-off on the work and workmanship before we pay vendors).
We are having about 20 radson radiators installed, as far as I can tell they are nice units. However the manual calls for BST fittings to be used to plumb up the radiators, but the plumber has used standard tapered fittings on all of them. A friend of mine (who is a plumber) suggested that while they may not leak right away, the damage has been done and we should force the vendor to take out all the radiators and replace them with none-damaged ones so we don't have a series of failures in the future.
Since if we go this route, it will likely result in a legal battle (plumber is not going to want to eat $10K worth of products), I am trying to get other opinions on whether or no this is a legitimate concern, i.e. that by having forced tapered fittings into a BST fitting, the connection will never be right, and simply switching the fittings at this point will not solve the problem...
Here is the manual I found on line:
(broken link removed to http://www.hydronicalternatives.com/RAD_TECHN_08_mv.pdf)
Page 11, "Step 4", it says:
…Please note that all connections on our radiators are BSP or parallel thread. Consult the Radiator Accessory price sheet to select the appropriate BSP to North American thread connections. Transition fittings are available for ½” copper, ½” female iron pipe and ⅜”,
½” and ⅝” PE RT or Pex pipe ….
Anyone?
We are having about 20 radson radiators installed, as far as I can tell they are nice units. However the manual calls for BST fittings to be used to plumb up the radiators, but the plumber has used standard tapered fittings on all of them. A friend of mine (who is a plumber) suggested that while they may not leak right away, the damage has been done and we should force the vendor to take out all the radiators and replace them with none-damaged ones so we don't have a series of failures in the future.
Since if we go this route, it will likely result in a legal battle (plumber is not going to want to eat $10K worth of products), I am trying to get other opinions on whether or no this is a legitimate concern, i.e. that by having forced tapered fittings into a BST fitting, the connection will never be right, and simply switching the fittings at this point will not solve the problem...
Here is the manual I found on line:
(broken link removed to http://www.hydronicalternatives.com/RAD_TECHN_08_mv.pdf)
Page 11, "Step 4", it says:
…Please note that all connections on our radiators are BSP or parallel thread. Consult the Radiator Accessory price sheet to select the appropriate BSP to North American thread connections. Transition fittings are available for ½” copper, ½” female iron pipe and ⅜”,
½” and ⅝” PE RT or Pex pipe ….
Anyone?
