I have an acetylene turbo torch in my van. Im damn good at solering. But i use my propress and im done in less than half the time. Never had a joint "pop" out. I use only Viega fittings, Ridgid press tool, and clean and properly press the pipe. Warrantied for 50 years. Ive pressed thousands of fittings and not one leak.
Im with ya. How much you want to bet that's been fixed multiple times because it froze and split. This time instead of splitting the pipe it popped the joint.
Installed hundreds if not thousands and the only leaks were purely from operator error, didn't crimp straight or wasn't fully inserted. Slip coupling are the biggest culprit
They are far better than soldering. And standard practice in large commercial applications. Same as anything poor installation will effect all pipe jointing methods.
Just like soldering, if a Propress fitting is done correctly, you will have no problems. When you showed the fitting, it looks like the gasket was missing. I've soldered pipes for 20 years; I'm done wasting time soldering. For small jobs, Propress is what I use.
Chances are that pipe was not inserted into the fitting all the way, you’re supposed to mark the depth before you crimp it, but solder is still preferred by me
You have to prep the pipe even with propress. Sand, Reem the inside, and mark the pipe so you know it’s all the way in. Also you have to check the gasket inside the fitting to make sure it’s good. I always insert the pipe then pull it out to make sure the o ring didn’t rip. Then I press from the side, top, then bottom if you have room. I use propress every day and these steps will eliminate problems with leaks.
@@SamThePlumber well I use pro press every day. My company uses Apollo fittings and I’ve had gaskets pop up because the pipe wasn’t prepped properly. You have to make sure you seat the pipe in the fitting as well. Then when you press you have to make sure the tool is level. Even when the jaw is in the groove it moves around slightly.
I use pro press all of the time. Knock on wood never had a problem!! Sure the fittings are a lot more than sweat fittings but the labor is cut in half!! I have seen plenty of sweat fittings leak over the years!!
Burnt wire tells me this isn't the first time this happened. I'm guessing it has froze repeatedly ie the burnt wire in the same location. I have seen solder joints freeze and do the same thing. Tell the bonehead to shut the valve and open the boiler drain and drain the water out.
Not taking sides, I've seen badly soldered joints blow out too! No mater what you use, everything is prone to fail. So yes your right Steve a lot of guys do need to learn how to properly solder a joint.
@@pridemechanical815 Had a smart ass helper questioning my cleaning all my pipe fittings to the ninth degree never have any leakers guy didn't even now how to use a torch !
Propress is a great system he’s acting like a dinosaur, why use a flame in a house when you don’t have to, granted it cost some money but look at his video moving things out the way, turning the torch down don’t have to worry about that with propress
Pro press I like for certain things. When we had 500 gal water heater installed at work it was a godsend. 4 inch and 2 inch copper which would have taken a lot of time to solder and shutting down fire alarm system. Been in for about 12 years now and no leaks. That wire that was burnt, I'm gonna say the last guy melted an o ring or at least distorted it. My main water shut off for house broke and guy I had out said not to touch valve unless I was ready to replace line all the way to street if line snapped. He put in a pro press ball valve just after broken valve. They have their place but I love a good solder joint. Thanks for video Steven!
@@Steve-bm2zm Police dept and 80 bed jail plus 2 large kitchens and 4 locker rooms with multi showers. I tried to get them to replace with 2 - 250 gallon tanks and separate jail from the police dept and set it up to temporarily serve other area if one went down but the higher up's who can barely tell the hot from the cold faucet denied it. So if this one goes belly up the whole dept can go with out till special order 500 gal tank. can be ordered.
Nope, i sold kitchens..The old double ovens 25 years old i told customers to keep them.. They were built like a tank.. Plus they were analog.. The temp control for the over could be adjusted at the knob just turn the temp ring to match thermostat you put into oven.. Easy piezy done...The new crap uses electronic controls,Ok got that.. They fail due to heat.. yes heat will cause electronics to fail..So an oven now has a fan to keep the electronics cool.(listen to the fan run after you turn the oven off). You cannot make this stuff up.. So a super simple older oven etc is now a super fancy piece of crap.. Just waiting for a new burnt out control board.. I sold appliances in a past life.. I used to read and also converse with repair techs.. Plus i still read about the junk made today.. Some old units looked like new built that well.... Once a kitchen is redone you will never see the older oven... Sold hundreds and hundreds of kitchens.. But I know nothing...
@@bplotts1 I absolutely love pro press and mega press. I'm still not sold on zoom lock though...It hasn't been around long enough for me to trust it over braze. The temperature fluctuations are too frequent and rapid for me to trust an oring in refrigeration crimps.
Steve, been using press for for years buddy over the pond. If it’s done right nothing wrong it. Soldering that close will have totally knackered the o ring inside
The o ring is like a back up (safety) but the copper is mechanically fused buy 5000lbs+ of pressing force ... since he keeps yapping about o ring he should of used Nu-Calgon thermo trap or some sort heat absorbing method even a wet rag over the pro press next to solder 🤔
@@johnnya4236 lol I was like wtf ! Hahah I use this product Goss heat barrier when I solder joints close to any propress/shark bite fitting even on some ball valves
@@johnnya4236 Have you seen him work on an air conditioner yet? Dude walks up as a second opinion to a possible bad compressor and just pushed the contactor in with a screw driver. Never verified winding integrity or winding insulation. He he has never worked on a three phase appliance in his life. You only push in a contactor for a three phase compressor that's grounded once in your life and you never forget it. Just because someone is better than the competition doesn't mean they are good. Wait until he realizes that Carrier 3 phase condensers only break 2 legs and he buries the contactor with a screw driver and it vaporizes before his eyes.
The water company replaced the meters in our neighborhood and shut down the water main for the entire street. When they turned the water back on the next day I had a leak coming from the valve stem on my pressure regulator. The utility company would not repair the leak. So I go out to Lowes and purchase a new pressure regulator and since I had to turn off the water I decided to install a ball valve above the original gate valve which was installed when the home was built. I told the guy in the plumbing department at Lowes that I needed some pipe fittings and a piece of 3/4 copper pipe. Well the guy walks me over to the shark bites and starts pulling the fittings I wanted. I looked at the guy and said I don't want that shit I'm going to sweat the pipe. His jaw dropped down and he said are you a contractor. I said no but I know how to sweat pipe. I paid for all my fittings for what one of those shark bite fittings would have cost. I learned how to sweat pipe watching your videos. My first couple joints were ugly as hell but I kept trying, I kept heating the joints up and pulling the fittings apart, another trick I learned from you, cleaned the joints and kept trying tell I got it right. I can now sweat pipe with the best of them thanks to your great videos. You da man Steve.
Here in Ireland have always used used old school Compression fittings, Compression Gate Valves, Fully ported Ball Valves, Slow Bends, elbows, straights and Tees, all come with Brass olives and just use a very light smear of Old School Joint paste around the compression Olive seems to work well all the time...once can even use same on some types of the newer reinforced plastic Water Pipe all's good so long as you use a proper pipe cutter and use a proper Insert into the plastic pipe to support same this allows for a proper compression onto that potable pipe ...no fancy crimpers, or Press Fitting or Tools just a couple of spanners ... with same if a pipe freezes it's usually the thawing pipe pops and splits the copper rather than fittings letting go of the pipe...
@@jackblack9830 You are very correct. That's the reason why I went to uponor instead of pro press. The O-ring might be damaged or brittle from being in storage. The tool is also proprietary I believe and very expensive once you get into bigger sizes. I'm not sure what happened here, but the plumber is lucky this happened in the basement and not somewhere where there are expensive appliances or finished wood floors.
Pro press cost more per fitting but the amount of labor to be installed in much less. Gotta know what your doing when installing pro press fittings, mark it to make sure it didn’t move. Works great 👍
Just a tip I like to use soaked wet rags to cover any electrical wires or pipes I can't move out the way to keep from burning them with the torch... love your stuff Steve your my favorite UA-cam hvac tech am a hvac tech myself!!
I'm not surprised he didn't do that. He mentioned several times how he should put a wet rag on the fitting but failed to do it. Like he was trying to "cook" the o-ring to get it to fail because of his bias against the propress system.
My mother had a general electric range. I recognize those banks of push button temperature controls for the burner coils. Lo to high. They were fairly accurate. Built in 1955ish, and installed into 57,000 levittown, pennsylvania homes. In the 1980s they started failing, and parts were available, i remember replacing two banks of switches. GE would put a mechanical lited clock in the center of the range controls. It had a flourescent bulb mounted over the cooking area, which made a great kitchen nite lite
“Live better with electric” Betty Furness Westinghouse 1950’s Difficult to believe Levitt would have that futuristic electric range in the price conscious spec built homes? Thank you for the information.
Hi Steve , just a FYI for ya, if you can find an old piece of aspestice siding somewhere, it works great for tight spaces where you need to protect wires. Just slide it into position and everythings protected.
My new boiler was all done with pro press and M rated pipe. A minor thing I don't like about it is the pipes squeezed and has crimp flats in it too, almost like the crimping tool had too much closing power. The theory about using pro press is, as labor costs increase, the time saved by using pro press will decrease the installation cost for the homeowner even though the fittings are so expensive. In reality if they finish 15 minutes sooner they will use up the 15 minutes doing something else, cleaning or whatever. There would need a ton of connections to do to save an hour or more in time. And if there was a ton of fittings, the extra cost of them would cut into the one hour or so labor time saved.
If I was him I would be more worried about the wire than the outside sillcock . I never saw a pro press done correctly pop off? I have a press tool because it is popular in this area and any repairs are difficult on existing buildings. Wait a few years until this “ZOOM” lock shit start to leak on the A/C systems. Might be ok in industrial no flame situation but I’ll stick to the old fashioned stuff. Nice fix Steve.👍
PP fittings will pop off when they're missed (poor craftsmanship) or more often, when the PP tool is low on battery and doesn't complete a cycle, in my experience.
In sweden we pretty much always pro prees. To hard to get a permit for soldering. If a propress pops off. Usually the press maching is not calibrated and malfuntioning or they used the wrong jaws or not inserted deep enough. but great video Steve! Best wishes from a Swedish plumber
Yeah, its that way here for a lot of commercial work too. Have to get a hot work permit and have someone stand on fire watch for an hour. Ridiculous. A lot of places ignore it and tell us just to do what needs to be done. But other places are militant about it. Pro Press does make sense in commercial applications like that, or in cases of huge buildings where a drain down would take a long time. But for residential work and the cost of the fittings, screw that. But I'm sure it's just a matter of time before our betters mandate the same crap in residential.
@@bullmoosepiper7732 Most likely. Here its like that for both commercial and residential. I solder like maybe twice a year. And that only when i happen to do district heating i think its called in english (In residential homes). The tempeture and preassure is too high for the propress. Here as if we solder we have to be two people and atleast one standing fire guard. So with those rules propress becomes cheaper than soldering. But i honestly feel the rules are to excessive and honestly its cooler to solder =)
Permit for soldering? Your government is out of control. Of course with the democrat/communist/NWO Biden puppet in control, we will probably need to have a permit to operate a faucet here, much less install it. You know, save the planet bullshit. Big government SUCKS!
Admittedly I love the speed of the PP device, but I'm old school and love to see the flame turn the copper the blue color and watch a perfect bead roll around the fitting. Nothing looks better than a newly-sweat joint with no tear drop on the bottom that's wiped clean.
Not equipment malfunction, installer malfunction. Those fittings were not installed properly. Those should never pop off like that . First time I have ever seen that !!! Steve lav to the rescue!!!!
Hey Steve I work in the air compressor world and all the kids use pro press I still lug around my torch and B tank but your right to tool up for pro press at the beginning must be awful expensive! They can't run to a local hardware store to get the fittings either I'm pushing 60 and on the down side of my career my torch has been good for the past 30 odd years
I use pro press and solder. Depends on the situation of the job. The more interesting question is why did it freeze? Did the homeowner not open the drain spigot in the fall? Good vids I enjoyed watching.
Pro press works if done properly. The problem is plumbers are cheap and buy the cheap fittings and the manual crimper because the hydraulic one is like 3 grand. I had your attitude about it for 4 years and would braze or solder everything. Now after 5000+ propress from 1/2" to 4" I would do it at my house and not worry.
I’ve been using pro press for a long time and let me tell you they are simply the best I guarantee that I’ve never seen pro press fittings pop off like that that’s just weird
Another thing too if you were so pissed off about the pro press why in earth would you satyr and put all the heat next to mechanical fittings when you simply could’ve just cut all that out and rebuild it and solder and hard pipe it
@@chrisballou5623 I’ve been watching his videos and he does as little as possible, he has an attitude all the time as well I’m surprised he stays in business
Sears used to sell what they called a kitchenette. It had a 2 burner stove, a kitchen sink, and a refrigerator all made in one unit. I used to think they were kinda neat. A lot of the motels here in North Carolina had them in the 1970's.
when soldering copper you know you have the fitting on enough to solder it the issue i see with pro press is the same as shark bite it needs to go on all the way and perfectly or it WILL fail
Most often if a propress pops out it’s because the pipe wasn’t pushed into the fitting before compressing. We have never had one pop out yet. We have to use propress most times because obtaining a burn permit from the fire department for a couple fittings is not feasible.
If you look closely when Steven picks up the pro press piece that he cut out you can see that the end of the copper pipe is all the way near the end of the pro press fittings therefore not giving enough space for the other side of the pipe which is why it blew off. Pro press can hold up to 500 psi if installed correctly and you mark where are you should press. Especially with slip couplings
Good video. I love sweating pipe but I also use propress alot in my heating business and knock on wood I've never had a failed fitting. My first guess is bad tool or pressed at an angle and not inserted all the way. Keep up the good work.
Who ever installed the pro press fittings may not have inserted the pipe all the way in. They are supposed to ream the inside of the pipe then slide the fitting all the way in. Mark the insertion with a black felt marker to ensure it does not pop apart before pressing. It’s a good idea to wrap the press fittings with wet rags to keep them from getting too hot if you are soldering near them.
Pro press works when done right but I still prefer good old solder. I mostly only use it when there's an issue with getting the line dry enough to solder. In that case I'll build the section I need with all solder joints then cut and pro press the ends while the water is still running out.
That's the way to go! I compare it to using an electric driver...makes life a lot easier but if you don't know WHEN to use it you strip the f out of everything.
On propress the print is just a backup. When pressed correctly the copper of the fitting and the copper in the pipe are fused together. You can do this experiment yourself by pulling out the o rings then installing one (just for demonstration purposes obviously)
Pro Press is fine. I’ve seen more leaks on bad solder joints. Those tools need to be maintained and the joints fitted correctly; chamfered, polished, fitted and marked.
User error; just like an improper solder joint. I attempted to remove a press fitting by twisting it off without success. It did eventually come off using an oscillating tool to cut the press coupling. Supposed the o-ring is just backup; the pressing action mechanically bonds the copper together-similar to a compression fitting. Don’t knock it with out giving it a chance.
Looks like one end of the fitting wasn't crimped. Yes soldering is great and so is pressing. But like anything else you have to have the proper equipment and know how. I work for a major university and we use all methods of joining pipe. I'll tell you the pro press and especially the mega press can be a real lifesaver. I use the press fittings on compressed air, heating hot water, chilled water, low pressure steam, condensate. I have pressed over 4000 joints in 10 years never had an issue with the viega brand.
Calling something inferior because you're prefer another method doesn't make it inferior. Seen lots of solder fittings pop off to. Real plumbers know how to do all methods of pipefitting including propress and don't just dismiss it because it's new lol
I have seen many of the unit kitchens, usually in teachers lounges at schools. I always use a piece of sheet metal as a heat shield when soldering close to combustibles. You got the skills, Steve.
I’ve never seen a pro press fitting pop off like that in my life. I’m guessing he did not have it on all the way before he used the pro press. I’ve been watching Steve for many years and this is a first in his videos. That just shows you how rare this is. Plus I’ve never seen it in my personal life either. User error is the reason she popped off.
Nice work Steve. GE push button electric ranges was the stuff back in 50's & 60's. Many were still in use through the late 70's early 80's. Worked on many of them. Yes, I'm old. Old but not obsolete. Never go hungry if you learn a trade. The one thing they can never take from you is knowledge.
Steve does a nice job but the only thing that bugs me is every time he goes to a customers house he's always cursing I mean you don't talk like that when you're in front of customers I mostly customers want to hear that it's just good practice that's my opinion like your don't
A friend of mine had one of those GE Kitchen Centers in his kitchen until recently. The oven was shot and he wanted to modernize and make some layout changes so he did a full kitchen remodel. The stainless countertop is now in my backyard. I was hoping to repurpose the sink/countertop but deemed it too impractical to do so for my needs; I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it now.
Not enough play in that pipe for that press joint to come apart. i've installed thousands of press joints and not a single failure outside of user install error. I've purposefully tried to pull fittings apart and it is extremely challenging. unless this guy has line pressures outside of normal, this was completely user install error and not product failure.
It looks like they did not clean the pipe before pressing, half assed job, what do they expect. Everyone teaches that you have to clean the pipe when soldering, or propress, or MR Fixit (AKA sharkbites)
Then he used a wet rag to cool down the pipes. Then he soldered in a coupling connected to a propress fitting really..that's not smart....most people don't like what they don't understand
I have measured, cut, fitted an apartment in half a day and only did flux and soldier. After polybutylene (I installed enough of that to reach the space station) I don’t trust anything with crimp fittings farther than I can throw it. Shark bites fail as well and whatever that piping is, was a bit after my time.
@corey Babcock If only I had a dollar for every time I prayed that a piece of shit galvanized water line fitting didn't crack and the pipe didn't oval while I was trying to spin it apart to replace that close nipple that finally rusted through....
Iv done buildings with pro press and yes there has been leaks and blow outs because its not installed correctly. I do now how to solder I learned how to solder years ago but a job that would take years now it’s months. That’s why we test before inspections to make sure this stuff doesn’t happen and the inspector wants to see pressure in the lines
I just finished designing a 2 psig natural gas piping system for a big new production plant. The contractor said he wanted to use MegaPress, I said not if you want me to stamp it. A 15 year warranty on gas piping? Never on my jobs. Threaded or welded that's it.
Do you have any idea how many threaded joint's I've has to fix that held a month prior on new jobs? Mega press never leaks on gas. Last job we used it on was 5 psi and the only leaks were in the THREADED joints and they held pressure 6 months prior. Get out of here with that garbage.
propress works great look at 11:18 on the video. that was a coupling with out a stop, and they pushed the other side through to much. i would be more concerned now with the orings he roached for the repair
Should you solder that close to another propress fitting? Send like it would affect the o ring in the tee to the right. Also, isn't it best product to not cool the fittings with a wet rag after soldering... Can crack the solder
I’ve seen presses without o ring and don’t leak but since he tends to yap about the o ring he should or used a heat absorbing paste or even a wet rag on the pro press near the solder 🤔
I’m sorry but they are everywhere for home and commercial. Heating systems also. Never have had one fail yet. It’s all in the prep and making sure you have it on the pipe all the way.
@@petero2693 the only weak link that caused that failure was the operator, the product and the installation tools are more than substantial enough to meet the need.
The first mistake I see was that whoever installed that press coupling didn’t mark the depth with a marker! I’ve installed thousands of press fittings ( commercial, hospitals, truck washes, etc...) I’ve never seen one pop off like that. My best guess is that it wasn’t installed to the full depth of the coupling or the jaws on the press machine were worn out! And yes I still solder on most jobs but most hospitals in my area require a 24 hour notice for a burn permit. That’s why we use press fittings in hospitals.
Hey Steve and Miss Molly, from Baltimore MD! As a property manager I do my share of plumbing work, and enjoy your videos BTW...I relocated to the Midwest two years ago and your Boston/NJ accent sometimes makes me homesick !
Steven, I was commissioning generators and switchgear on a large industrial plant construction project. The vendor for the HVAC used propress (or similar) on refrigerant lines. They ended up having to replace all of them at a cost of "no telling what" before the plant was fully commissioned. Totally poor product and bad idea. R410A lines blowing off all over the plant. They call it PRO-press but there is NOTHING professional about it. Barely better than shark-bite. Solder is the only way to go. That GE custom kitchen unit was very cool!!! I have rebuilt a wall-mounted refrigerator which was part of one of these. Very neat product. So much character for products back in the day! Thanks for sharing these videos. Good stuff!
That's not pro press, that's zoom lock. They probably also ran all their linesets in soft copper instead of ACR and all the piping was ovalled. I don't trust zoom lock either but I have never seen a properly installed zoom lock fitting leak yet. 100% operator error.
That's what plumbers said about PVC and ABS when they originally came out. I supposed installing landscape irrigation with threading metal pipe is still preferred?
When soldering you are introducing chemicals into water supply not to mention open flames in tight spaces Propress is the best. Previous guy didn’t press it properly
Nice job, I remember like a year or so you were in a crawl space with all spray foam insulation. It was like very similar job with outside faucet water line and a fitting either split from freezing. Even with all the spray foam on the underside of the crawl space you still soldered to make the repair, right there you knew Steve Lav is a professional.
The problem is that many “plumbers” don’t know how to properly solder copper pipe. Many of the homes in my neighborhood have pinhole leaks in the cold water pipes. The plumbers who installed my plumbing must have been plunging the pipes into a bucket of flux because I found flux inside the pipe and gobs of flux on the outside of the pipes. The flux problem could have been avoided if the plumbers had flushed the cold water pipes with hot water.
Or not used so much and wiped them after Pinholes could also be from no deburing them But some need to learn proper before using or doing the trades Everyone wants to go straight to the top guy without earning their way up
Soldering is a skill , no doubt. I love and appreciate a nice clean solder job with no grapes. I took great pride in my soldering , no runs , shined the hell out of each joint but I feel got to change with times and technology. Press is simply way to go nowadays. Just remember to minimize close joints , leave room for future fittings. Nothing last forever.
any fitting that relies on a rubber o ring and just a friction fit is guaranteed to fail sooner or later I stick with solder and copper pipe over all this new stuff that fails 10-20 years later like the plastic pipes
@@uspatriot9599 Copper will also leak down the line, nothing lasts forever. Propress fittings are rated to last 50 years minimum. By that time copper would also have begun corroding. A soldered connection will hold much longer than the pipe itself will. The solder would last hundreds of years but the copper itself won't last even close to that long. Copper's lifespan is only about 50-80 years. Pex's lifespan is 100+ years. Propress has been around for 30 years and I have yet to see one fail on its own and not because of user error.
ProPress fitting have a working pressure of 300PSI, and are tested to 600 PSI, if that failed it was installed wrong! The EPDM ring inside is not what makes the water tight seal, it's just a backup.
Oh steve you got a ot of nerve to solder close to these old cardboard ceiling tiles. There very flammable. But i guess you know your stuff. Keep up the good work!
in my area certain commercial sites like hospitals require only pro press . i’ve seen a lot bad press & solder connections but always user error. you can even solder press fittings by removing the ring, don’t recommend lol but it works don’t get me wrong i still use an like soldering.
Remember churches from middle ages..they kept the building the same etc structure for good reason it works and held up.. flying buttresses caused many stress failures... lesson learned.... being fixed to this day...
That was one cool kitchen! If they made stuff like that now it would sell like hot cakes! No one mentioned cpvc. I used that sometimes and it works great. It's fast, cheap and no special tools. I prefer to use copper and I always sweat the joints.
I have an acetylene turbo torch in my van. Im damn good at solering. But i use my propress and im done in less than half the time. Never had a joint "pop" out. I use only Viega fittings, Ridgid press tool, and clean and properly press the pipe. Warrantied for 50 years. Ive pressed thousands of fittings and not one leak.
Im with ya. How much you want to bet that's been fixed multiple times because it froze and split. This time instead of splitting the pipe it popped the joint.
That's the difference, a competent operator.
I've used a pro press at work for years and have never once had a fitting leak or pop off. Maybe some people just have bad luck.
@@obocecha I have seen them pop apart due to constant vibration at a power house. But other than that propress is aweasome
Never had one pop off in 12 years Steve just likes putting edgy titles lol
They work extremely well when installed correctly.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@TheGhettoLobster I've seen the results of bad soldering. Same result as not using a propress correctly.
@@TheGhettoLobster absolutely
Installed hundreds if not thousands and the only leaks were purely from operator error, didn't crimp straight or wasn't fully inserted. Slip coupling are the biggest culprit
They are far better than soldering. And standard practice in large commercial applications. Same as anything poor installation will effect all pipe jointing methods.
Wasn't installed correctly
@@ohger1 maybe (less likely) more probable that it's user error, pro press fittings don't just come apart like that.
There's no way the guy pushed it in all the way
They will pull apart every time if it’s not drained properly and freezes up
@@RichTheitalianplumber yes, so will a soldered joint, and from what we can see, this wasn't caused by freeze.
@@RichTheitalianplumber and you can tell it's been done 3 times now maybe they should teach him how to drain it
Just like soldering, if a Propress fitting is done correctly, you will have no problems. When you showed the fitting, it looks like the gasket was missing. I've soldered pipes for 20 years; I'm done wasting time soldering. For small jobs, Propress is what I use.
Chances are that pipe was not inserted into the fitting all the way, you’re supposed to mark the depth before you crimp it, but solder is still preferred by me
Chances are it was not pressed in correctly. Same could happen if you dont solder correctly.
It was the Plumber,not the tools.
how long do propress o-rings last?
Looks like not even a proper press tool.
Thing doesn't look crimped more than maybe halfway.
Looked way short and piping wasnt in fitting enough .
Biker55555 50 yrs warranty on pp fitting
Do those tags say "installed by Mikey Pipes" ??
😆😆😆😆 . This is the best comment 👌
That house is not a Taj Mahal so not Mikey's work
You have to prep the pipe even with propress. Sand, Reem the inside, and mark the pipe so you know it’s all the way in. Also you have to check the gasket inside the fitting to make sure it’s good. I always insert the pipe then pull it out to make sure the o ring didn’t rip. Then I press from the side, top, then bottom if you have room. I use propress every day and these steps will eliminate problems with leaks.
@@SamThePlumber well I use pro press every day. My company uses Apollo fittings and I’ve had gaskets pop up because the pipe wasn’t prepped properly. You have to make sure you seat the pipe in the fitting as well. Then when you press you have to make sure the tool is level. Even when the jaw is in the groove it moves around slightly.
You press every fitting three times?
You do NOT have to sand the pipe.
I use pro press all of the time.
Knock on wood never had a problem!!
Sure the fittings are a lot more than
sweat fittings but the labor is cut
in half!! I have seen plenty of sweat
fittings leak over the years!!
Burnt wire tells me this isn't the first time this happened. I'm guessing it has froze repeatedly ie the burnt wire in the same location. I have seen solder joints freeze and do the same thing. Tell the bonehead to shut the valve and open the boiler drain and drain the water out.
Not taking sides, I've seen badly soldered joints blow out too! No mater what you use, everything is prone to fail. So yes your right Steve a lot of guys do need to learn how to properly solder a joint.
That's because the guy soldering didn't know what he was doing.
@@josecanisales3491 exactly
@@pridemechanical815 Had a smart ass helper questioning my cleaning all my pipe fittings to the ninth degree never have any leakers guy didn't even now how to use a torch !
@@josecanisales3491 It's because the guy with the press tool didn't know what he was doing. Oof. Got em.
Propress is a great system he’s acting like a dinosaur, why use a flame in a house when you don’t have to, granted it cost some money but look at his video moving things out the way, turning the torch down don’t have to worry about that with propress
I bought the mega press for a job in a church where I had to run 200ft of 2" copper. Soldering all those joints would have taken me weeks.
@@alexbones5173 Couldn't agree more
Pro press I like for certain things. When we had 500 gal water heater installed at work it was a godsend. 4 inch and 2 inch copper which would have taken a lot of time to solder and shutting down fire alarm system. Been in for about 12 years now and no leaks. That wire that was burnt, I'm gonna say the last guy melted an o ring or at least distorted it. My main water shut off for house broke and guy I had out said not to touch valve unless I was ready to replace line all the way to street if line snapped. He put in a pro press ball valve just after broken valve. They have their place but I love a good solder joint. Thanks for video Steven!
500 gallons wow!
@@Steve-bm2zm Police dept and 80 bed jail plus 2 large kitchens and 4 locker rooms with multi showers. I tried to get them to replace with 2 - 250 gallon tanks and separate jail from the police dept and set it up to temporarily serve other area if one went down but the higher up's who can barely tell the hot from the cold faucet denied it. So if this one goes belly up the whole dept can go with out till special order 500 gal tank. can be ordered.
just did a 3 inch meter change out with new ball valves at a apartment complex....pro press was a lifesaver..in and out in 4 hours..
@@Steve-bm2zm I've seen bigger expansion tanks on hydronic boilers *shrugs*
@@workingshlub8861
User error (I thought maybe the pipe was too thin). That GE set up belongs in a museum.
Nope, i sold kitchens..The old double ovens 25 years old i told customers to keep them.. They were built like a tank.. Plus they were analog.. The temp control for the over could be adjusted at the knob just turn the temp ring to match thermostat you put into oven.. Easy piezy done...The new crap uses electronic controls,Ok got that.. They fail due to heat.. yes heat will cause electronics to fail..So an oven now has a fan to keep the electronics cool.(listen to the fan run after you turn the oven off). You cannot make this stuff up.. So a super simple older oven etc is now a super fancy piece of crap.. Just waiting for a new burnt out control board.. I sold appliances in a past life.. I used to read and also converse with repair techs.. Plus i still read about the junk made today.. Some old units looked like new built that well.... Once a kitchen is redone you will never see the older oven... Sold hundreds and hundreds of kitchens.. But I know nothing...
Thats exactly what it is my company use it commercially and never had any issues. And we do pro press, zoom lock and mega press
@@bplotts1 I absolutely love pro press and mega press. I'm still not sold on zoom lock though...It hasn't been around long enough for me to trust it over braze. The temperature fluctuations are too frequent and rapid for me to trust an oring in refrigeration crimps.
Steve, been using press for for years buddy over the pond. If it’s done right nothing wrong it. Soldering that close will have totally knackered the o ring inside
Yes, this is true. I use propress, haven't had a problem yet thank God.
The o ring is like a back up (safety) but the copper is mechanically fused buy 5000lbs+ of pressing force ... since he keeps yapping about o ring he should of used Nu-Calgon thermo trap or some sort heat absorbing method even a wet rag over the pro press next to solder 🤔
@@johnnya4236 right put that rag he's using over the fitting
@@johnnya4236 lol I was like wtf ! Hahah I use this product Goss heat barrier when I solder joints close to any propress/shark bite fitting even on some ball valves
@@johnnya4236 Have you seen him work on an air conditioner yet? Dude walks up as a second opinion to a possible bad compressor and just pushed the contactor in with a screw driver. Never verified winding integrity or winding insulation. He he has never worked on a three phase appliance in his life. You only push in a contactor for a three phase compressor that's grounded once in your life and you never forget it. Just because someone is better than the competition doesn't mean they are good. Wait until he realizes that Carrier 3 phase condensers only break 2 legs and he buries the contactor with a screw driver and it vaporizes before his eyes.
Check out that house! Cool kitchen! And the old boiler... It'd be cool if you can get footage of that historical artifact!
The water company replaced the meters in our neighborhood and shut down the water main for the entire street. When they turned the water back on the next day I had a leak coming from the valve stem on my pressure regulator. The utility company would not repair the leak. So I go out to Lowes and purchase a new pressure regulator and since I had to turn off the water I decided to install a ball valve above the original gate valve which was installed when the home was built. I told the guy in the plumbing department at Lowes that I needed some pipe fittings and a piece of 3/4 copper pipe. Well the guy walks me over to the shark bites and starts pulling the fittings I wanted. I looked at the guy and said I don't want that shit I'm going to sweat the pipe. His jaw dropped down and he said are you a contractor. I said no but I know how to sweat pipe. I paid for all my fittings for what one of those shark bite fittings would have cost. I learned how to sweat pipe watching your videos. My first couple joints were ugly as hell but I kept trying, I kept heating the joints up and pulling the fittings apart, another trick I learned from you, cleaned the joints and kept trying tell I got it right. I can now sweat pipe with the best of them thanks to your great videos. You da man Steve.
Here in Ireland have always used used old school Compression fittings, Compression Gate Valves, Fully ported Ball Valves, Slow Bends, elbows, straights and Tees, all come with Brass olives and just use a very light smear of Old School Joint paste around the compression Olive seems to work well all the time...once can even use same on some types of the newer reinforced plastic Water Pipe all's good so long as you use a proper pipe cutter and use a proper Insert into the plastic pipe to support same this allows for a proper compression onto that potable pipe ...no fancy crimpers, or Press Fitting or Tools just a couple of spanners ... with same if a pipe freezes it's usually the thawing pipe pops and splits the copper rather than fittings letting go of the pipe...
I'm using the uponor system. 0 failures since 3 years that I've switched from copper. I'm surprised propress failed.
I use pex a in bad areas that they steal the copper
It works well but it's a mechanical connection not dependant on an O ring
@@jackblack9830 You are very correct. That's the reason why I went to uponor instead of pro press. The O-ring might be damaged or brittle from being in storage. The tool is also proprietary I believe and very expensive once you get into bigger sizes. I'm not sure what happened here, but the plumber is lucky this happened in the basement and not somewhere where there are expensive appliances or finished wood floors.
@@Jesse-gv9tf It's literally the same gun for all sizes at least to 4 inch....
Cool old GE setup at the end
Pro press cost more per fitting but the amount of labor to be installed in much less. Gotta know what your doing when installing pro press fittings, mark it to make sure it didn’t move. Works great 👍
machine has to be calibrated
Lmao Steve's comment after 10:25. Good ol Steve rummaging through their cabinets and everything. Love it
Just a tip I like to use soaked wet rags to cover any electrical wires or pipes I can't move out the way to keep from burning them with the torch... love your stuff Steve your my favorite UA-cam hvac tech am a hvac tech myself!!
I'm not surprised he didn't do that. He mentioned several times how he should put a wet rag on the fitting but failed to do it. Like he was trying to "cook" the o-ring to get it to fail because of his bias against the propress system.
My mother had a general electric range. I recognize those banks of push button temperature controls for the burner coils. Lo to high. They were fairly accurate. Built in 1955ish, and installed into 57,000 levittown, pennsylvania homes. In the 1980s they started failing, and parts were available, i remember replacing two banks of switches. GE would put a mechanical lited clock in the center of the range controls. It had a flourescent bulb mounted over the cooking area, which made a great kitchen nite lite
“Live better with electric” Betty Furness Westinghouse 1950’s
Difficult to believe Levitt would have
that futuristic electric range in the
price conscious spec built homes?
Thank you for the information.
Hi Steve , just a FYI for ya, if you can find an old piece of aspestice siding somewhere, it works great for tight spaces where you need to protect wires. Just slide it into position and everythings protected.
lol. aspestice.
They sell fireproof fabric... I have both shingles and fabric.. plumbing dept will have it..
@@petero2693 Your correct, but the shingle is cheaper if not free.
My new boiler was all done with pro press and M rated pipe. A minor thing I don't like about it is the pipes squeezed and has crimp flats in it too, almost like the crimping tool had too much closing power. The theory about using pro press is, as labor costs increase, the time saved by using pro press will decrease the installation cost for the homeowner even though the fittings are so expensive. In reality if they finish 15 minutes sooner they will use up the 15 minutes doing something else, cleaning or whatever. There would need a ton of connections to do to save an hour or more in time. And if there was a ton of fittings, the extra cost of them would cut into the one hour or so labor time saved.
If I was him I would be more worried about the wire than the outside sillcock . I never saw a pro press done correctly pop off? I have a press tool because it is popular in this area and any repairs are difficult on existing buildings. Wait a few years until this “ZOOM” lock shit start to leak on the A/C systems. Might be ok in industrial no flame situation but I’ll stick to the old fashioned stuff. Nice fix Steve.👍
PP fittings will pop off when they're missed (poor craftsmanship) or more often, when the PP tool is low on battery and doesn't complete a cycle, in my experience.
In sweden we pretty much always pro prees. To hard to get a permit for soldering. If a propress pops off. Usually the press maching is not calibrated and malfuntioning or they used the wrong jaws or not inserted deep enough. but great video Steve! Best wishes from a Swedish plumber
Just waiting for the government to get involved here in the USA also. They wanna stick their nose everywhere these days
Yeah, its that way here for a lot of commercial work too. Have to get a hot work permit and have someone stand on fire watch for an hour. Ridiculous. A lot of places ignore it and tell us just to do what needs to be done. But other places are militant about it. Pro Press does make sense in commercial applications like that, or in cases of huge buildings where a drain down would take a long time. But for residential work and the cost of the fittings, screw that. But I'm sure it's just a matter of time before our betters mandate the same crap in residential.
WOW, a permit for hot work, how stupid.
@@bullmoosepiper7732 Most likely. Here its like that for both commercial and residential. I solder like maybe twice a year. And that only when i happen to do district heating i think its called in english (In residential homes). The tempeture and preassure is too high for the propress. Here as if we solder we have to be two people and atleast one standing fire guard. So with those rules propress becomes cheaper than soldering. But i honestly feel the rules are to excessive and honestly its cooler to solder =)
Permit for soldering? Your government is out of control. Of course with the democrat/communist/NWO Biden puppet in control, we will probably need to have a permit to operate a faucet here, much less install it. You know, save the planet bullshit. Big government SUCKS!
Admittedly I love the speed of the PP device, but I'm old school and love to see the flame turn the copper the blue color and watch a perfect bead roll around the fitting. Nothing looks better than a newly-sweat joint with no tear drop on the bottom that's wiped clean.
Not equipment malfunction, installer malfunction. Those fittings were not installed properly. Those should never pop off like that . First time I have ever seen that !!! Steve lav to the rescue!!!!
Reminds me of my grandparents basement back in the day. Every single pipe, BX cable and conduit was painted white.
Dude Steve is a gem of a person. You gotta admit he’s a real OG
Hey Steve I work in the air compressor world and all the kids use pro press I still lug around my torch and B tank but your right to tool up for pro press at the beginning must be awful expensive! They can't run to a local hardware store to get the fittings either I'm pushing 60 and on the down side of my career my torch has been good for the past 30 odd years
I bet that line froze up. I had that happen on a similar situation. The exterior faucet was not winterized and pushed apart.
I use pro press and solder. Depends on the situation of the job. The more interesting question is why did it freeze? Did the homeowner not open the drain spigot in the fall? Good vids I enjoyed watching.
My dad always had his asbestos cloth in his solder box. Worked great the only PP fitting that every failed is the one i forgot to crimp
Did the hanging service tags say "INSTALLED BY MIKEY PIPES"?
the best part of the vid was the kitchen. that was bad ass.. thanks for sharing
I use a small piece of 5/16" thick piece of hardi plank. works great as an insulator when soldering in cabinets and ceilings
I use a piece of old asbestos house siding ....
"good enough for this neighborhood" this guy gets me every time 🤣🤣
Pro press works if done properly. The problem is plumbers are cheap and buy the cheap fittings and the manual crimper because the hydraulic one is like 3 grand. I had your attitude about it for 4 years and would braze or solder everything. Now after 5000+ propress from 1/2" to 4" I would do it at my house and not worry.
This is the correct modern take. Pro press is extremely reliable if done correctly.
I’ve been using pro press for a long time and let me tell you they are simply the best I guarantee that I’ve never seen pro press fittings pop off like that that’s just weird
Another thing too if you were so pissed off about the pro press why in earth would you satyr and put all the heat next to mechanical fittings when you simply could’ve just cut all that out and rebuild it and solder and hard pipe it
@@chrisballou5623 I’ve been watching his videos and he does as little as possible, he has an attitude all the time as well I’m surprised he stays in business
Sears used to sell what they called a kitchenette. It had a 2 burner stove, a kitchen sink, and a refrigerator all made in one unit. I used to think they were kinda neat. A lot of the motels here in North Carolina had them in the 1970's.
Sears also used to sell revolvers for 25 dollars way back in the day. I have an old sears book. Very interesting.
when soldering copper you know you have the fitting on enough to solder it the issue i see with pro press is the same as shark bite it needs to go on all the way and perfectly or it WILL fail
Most often if a propress pops out it’s because the pipe wasn’t pushed into the fitting before compressing. We have never had one pop out yet. We have to use propress most times because obtaining a burn permit from the fire department for a couple fittings is not feasible.
If you look closely when Steven picks up the pro press piece that he cut out you can see that the end of the copper pipe is all the way near the end of the pro press fittings therefore not giving enough space for the other side of the pipe which is why it blew off. Pro press can hold up to 500 psi if installed correctly and you mark where are you should press. Especially with slip couplings
Good video. I love sweating pipe but I also use propress alot in my heating business and knock on wood I've never had a failed fitting. My first guess is bad tool or pressed at an angle and not inserted all the way. Keep up the good work.
Super tech next level stuff! “ solder it like a super tech” mama!
Who ever installed the pro press fittings may not have inserted the pipe all the way in. They are supposed to ream the inside of the pipe then slide the fitting all the way in. Mark the insertion with a black felt marker to ensure it does not pop apart before pressing. It’s a good idea to wrap the press fittings with wet rags to keep them from getting too hot if you are soldering near them.
Not supposed to weld less than 3 pipe diameters away, that was less than one.. eek...
Pro press works when done right but I still prefer good old solder. I mostly only use it when there's an issue with getting the line dry enough to solder. In that case I'll build the section I need with all solder joints then cut and pro press the ends while the water is still running out.
That's the way to go! I compare it to using an electric driver...makes life a lot easier but if you don't know WHEN to use it you strip the f out of everything.
Exactly. Pro press as few connections as possible, solder the rest.
On propress the print is just a backup. When pressed correctly the copper of the fitting and the copper in the pipe are fused together. You can do this experiment yourself by pulling out the o rings then installing one (just for demonstration purposes obviously)
Pro Press is fine. I’ve seen more leaks on bad solder joints.
Those tools need to be maintained and the joints fitted correctly; chamfered, polished, fitted and marked.
Couldn't agree more!
User error; just like an improper solder joint. I attempted to remove a press fitting by twisting it off without success. It did eventually come off using an oscillating tool to cut the press coupling. Supposed the o-ring is just backup; the pressing action mechanically bonds the copper together-similar to a compression fitting. Don’t knock it with out giving it a chance.
Looks like one end of the fitting wasn't crimped. Yes soldering is great and so is pressing. But like anything else you have to have the proper equipment and know how. I work for a major university and we use all methods of joining pipe. I'll tell you the pro press and especially the mega press can be a real lifesaver. I use the press fittings on compressed air, heating hot water, chilled water, low pressure steam, condensate. I have pressed over 4000 joints in 10 years never had an issue with the viega brand.
And, there is also MEGA-Press for gas piping. In about 10-er so years we'll see some apartments on the news. Watch. ( ;
Calling something inferior because you're prefer another method doesn't make it inferior. Seen lots of solder fittings pop off to. Real plumbers know how to do all methods of pipefitting including propress and don't just dismiss it because it's new lol
Amen Jacob 👏
I have seen many of the unit kitchens, usually in teachers lounges at schools. I always use a piece of sheet metal as a heat shield when soldering close to combustibles. You got the skills, Steve.
I’ve never seen a pro press fitting pop off like that in my life. I’m guessing he did not have it on all the way before he used the pro press. I’ve been watching Steve for many years and this is a first in his videos. That just shows you how rare this is. Plus I’ve never seen it in my personal life either. User error is the reason she popped off.
Did you also notice pipe not cleaned, can you confirm for me, but I was trained to clean the pipe before pressing. Maybe that is also why it failed?
Listen this guy had multiple failures.. go back replay...
Maybe the guy who did the pro-press sanded it. I think cleaning is OK, but sanding maybe not
@@User-pb8pd maybe? He definitely for sure did not install it correctly.
@@michaelmcneffii1912maybe he only wanted it to work long enough to get paid. Yup, Def not right!
Nice work Steve. GE push button electric ranges was the stuff back in 50's & 60's. Many were still in use through the late 70's early 80's. Worked on many of them. Yes, I'm old. Old but not obsolete. Never go hungry if you learn a trade. The one thing they can never take from you is knowledge.
The free-standing GE Range had a fluorescent lamp under a hood over the controls....sell lamps forever!
Steve does a nice job but the only thing that bugs me is every time he goes to a customers house he's always cursing I mean you don't talk like that when you're in front of customers I mostly customers want to hear that it's just good practice that's my opinion like your don't
@@billb6959 Didn't know he was like that. Using bad language is very unprofessional even for someone that works on toilets. Cheers!
I probably shouldn't say this, but your buddy Mikey Pips is a huge progress fan.
@@darrylhaynes9208 are you an Expert??
Not surprising. I would expect nothing less.
@@darrylhaynes9208 soldered pipes leak too
A friend of mine had one of those GE Kitchen Centers in his kitchen until recently. The oven was shot and he wanted to modernize and make some layout changes so he did a full kitchen remodel. The stainless countertop is now in my backyard. I was hoping to repurpose the sink/countertop but deemed it too impractical to do so for my needs; I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it now.
Not enough play in that pipe for that press joint to come apart. i've installed thousands of press joints and not a single failure outside of user install error. I've purposefully tried to pull fittings apart and it is extremely challenging. unless this guy has line pressures outside of normal, this was completely user install error and not product failure.
You should've wrapped the other pro press fittings with a cold rag if they are close to the torch heat.
There's also heat-absorbing pastes called "Bloc-It" and "Cool Blue" that will prevent damage to the O-rings while soldering. Works surprisingly well.
Steve, don't hold back about the Pro Press--tell us how you really feel!
❤😂👍
It looks like they did not clean the pipe before pressing, half assed job, what do they expect. Everyone teaches that you have to clean the pipe when soldering, or propress, or MR Fixit (AKA sharkbites)
Most ads are lies... reality is best...
Then he used a wet rag to cool down the pipes. Then he soldered in a coupling connected to a propress fitting really..that's not smart....most people don't like what they don't understand
In summary - propress - not good enough for any neighborhood!
I have measured, cut, fitted an apartment in half a day and only did flux and soldier. After polybutylene (I installed enough of that to reach the space station) I don’t trust anything with crimp fittings farther than I can throw it. Shark bites fail as well and whatever that piping is, was a bit after my time.
Midwest = Shark Bite.
New England = Shock Bite.
Professionals don't use shark bites
They used to sell 1/2” X 4 “ copper sweat slip couplings that could be cut to custom length. Have you seen these lately?
Those propress connections look like Miss Molly used them as a chew toys!
Silver Cymbal commenting on a Steve Lav video. Can this Sunday get any better??
@@nick_the_greek77 This made me laugh so much. You are very kind to both of us!
@corey Babcock If only I had a dollar for every time I prayed that a piece of shit galvanized water line fitting didn't crack and the pipe didn't oval while I was trying to spin it apart to replace that close nipple that finally rusted through....
Iv done buildings with pro press and yes there has been leaks and blow outs because its not installed correctly. I do now how to solder I learned how to solder years ago but a job that would take years now it’s months. That’s why we test before inspections to make sure this stuff doesn’t happen and the inspector wants to see pressure in the lines
I just finished designing a 2 psig natural gas piping system for a big new production plant. The contractor said he wanted to use MegaPress, I said not if you want me to stamp it. A 15 year warranty on gas piping? Never on my jobs. Threaded or welded that's it.
Do you have any idea how many threaded joint's I've has to fix that held a month prior on new jobs? Mega press never leaks on gas. Last job we used it on was 5 psi and the only leaks were in the THREADED joints and they held pressure 6 months prior. Get out of here with that garbage.
propress works great look at 11:18 on the video. that was a coupling with out a stop, and they pushed the other side through to much. i would be more concerned now with the orings he roached for the repair
Good morning Steve and “Miss Molly “! Called you in to fix somebody else’s fuck up ! Boca Raton, Florida
Should you solder that close to another propress fitting? Send like it would affect the o ring in the tee to the right.
Also, isn't it best product to not cool the fittings with a wet rag after soldering... Can crack the solder
They work fantastic, it just wasn't installed right. Also you probably melted that o-ring in the valve so that could be a fun call back
I’ve seen presses without o ring and don’t leak but since he tends to yap about the o ring he should or used a heat absorbing paste or even a wet rag on the pro press near the solder 🤔
Cool gel works awesome.
I’m sorry but they are everywhere for home and commercial. Heating systems also. Never have had one fail yet. It’s all in the prep and making sure you have it on the pipe all the way.
Yessir 👌🏼👌🏼
Steve is always blaming material and not install
It's a package deal..knowledge.. experience..product... if its soo touchy nope not for me
@@petero2693 very true
@@petero2693 the only weak link that caused that failure was the operator, the product and the installation tools are more than substantial enough to meet the need.
The first mistake I see was that whoever installed that press coupling didn’t mark the depth with a marker! I’ve installed thousands of press fittings ( commercial, hospitals, truck washes, etc...) I’ve never seen one pop off like that. My best guess is that it wasn’t installed to the full depth of the coupling or the jaws on the press machine were worn out! And yes I still solder on most jobs but most hospitals in my area require a 24 hour notice for a burn permit. That’s why we use press fittings in hospitals.
Never had a problem with Pro Press at all.
I have never seen anyone complain about pro press fittings before until you
the art of asking questions and not listening to the answers
Hey Steve and Miss Molly, from Baltimore MD! As a property manager I do my share of plumbing work, and enjoy your videos BTW...I relocated to the Midwest two years ago and your Boston/NJ accent sometimes makes me homesick !
Got to be solder all the way for me, thankfully I’m 65, so can carry on using the old ways ‘ till the end.😎😎👍
Steven, I was commissioning generators and switchgear on a large industrial plant construction project. The vendor for the HVAC used propress (or similar) on refrigerant lines. They ended up having to replace all of them at a cost of "no telling what" before the plant was fully commissioned. Totally poor product and bad idea. R410A lines blowing off all over the plant. They call it PRO-press but there is NOTHING professional about it. Barely better than shark-bite. Solder is the only way to go.
That GE custom kitchen unit was very cool!!! I have rebuilt a wall-mounted refrigerator which was part of one of these. Very neat product. So much character for products back in the day!
Thanks for sharing these videos. Good stuff!
That's not pro press, that's zoom lock. They probably also ran all their linesets in soft copper instead of ACR and all the piping was ovalled. I don't trust zoom lock either but I have never seen a properly installed zoom lock fitting leak yet. 100% operator error.
Pro Press has its place, but soldering is a skill that should never be forgotten.
That's what plumbers said about PVC and ABS when they originally came out. I supposed installing landscape irrigation with threading metal pipe is still preferred?
Yep, and it really isn't that difficult to do. Solder first if possible.
@@scott5654 You show your ignorance in your product knowledge (or lack of) Your statement Would’ve been stronger if you said cpvc And polybutylene
@@scott5654 Yeah, we should still be using galvanized pipe in 400ft wells....said no one ever. This video is a joke hahaha
@@thankmelater295 PVC and ABS are not CPVC. CPVC came AFTER PVC and ABS. Your lack of knowledge is showing.
Tell it how it is Steve. Your the man, you know your stuff. Great vid and stay safe.
The pro-press fittings are made to be used with the proper pro-press tool, can't use any old tool !
that countertop was frickin rad lol the 50s was the real future
Steve got a " Good enough for this neighborhood` in lol love it :)
When soldering you are introducing chemicals into water supply not to mention open flames in tight spaces
Propress is the best.
Previous guy didn’t press it properly
Nice job, I remember like a year or so you were in a crawl space with all spray foam insulation. It was like very similar job with outside faucet water line and a fitting either split from freezing. Even with all the spray foam on the underside of the crawl space you still soldered to make the repair, right there you knew Steve Lav is a professional.
That sink oven thing was super cool
The problem is that many “plumbers” don’t know how to properly solder copper pipe. Many of the homes in my neighborhood have pinhole leaks in the cold water pipes. The plumbers who installed my plumbing must have been plunging the pipes into a bucket of flux because I found flux inside the pipe and gobs of flux on the outside of the pipes. The flux problem could have been avoided if the plumbers had flushed the cold water pipes with hot water.
Or not used so much and wiped them after
Pinholes could also be from no deburing them
But some need to learn proper before using or doing the trades
Everyone wants to go straight to the top guy without earning their way up
plumber who taught me always said dont go crazy with the flux....little goes along way.
Pinhole leaks are generally caused by not deburring the inside after cut...
If I were that homeowner I would go back through and “re-press” those fittings. It seems like the original installers tool wasn’t working correctly.
Soldering is a skill , no doubt. I love and appreciate a nice clean solder job with no grapes. I took great pride in my soldering , no runs , shined the hell out of each joint but I feel got to change with times and technology. Press is simply way to go nowadays. Just remember to minimize close joints , leave room for future fittings. Nothing last forever.
Nothing last forever, it’s what I told clients.
any fitting that relies on a rubber o ring and just a friction fit is guaranteed to fail sooner or later I stick with solder and copper pipe over all this new stuff that fails 10-20 years later like the plastic pipes
Going to be interesting to see what the heat does to those rubber gaskets
do a little research rubber seal is not what seals the water but the actual press copper to copper, so it should not affect at all.
@@uspatriot9599 he's always doing band-aid fixes. 🤦♂️ To each their own I guess
@@gelipeone The rubber makes the seal dude... You think pressing copper together creates a seal? Lmfao
@@uspatriot9599 Copper will also leak down the line, nothing lasts forever. Propress fittings are rated to last 50 years minimum. By that time copper would also have begun corroding. A soldered connection will hold much longer than the pipe itself will. The solder would last hundreds of years but the copper itself won't last even close to that long. Copper's lifespan is only about 50-80 years. Pex's lifespan is 100+ years.
Propress has been around for 30 years and I have yet to see one fail on its own and not because of user error.
@@losferwords100 Pex's lifespan is much less if you have mice. They chew right through it.
ProPress fitting have a working pressure of 300PSI, and are tested to 600 PSI, if that failed it was installed wrong! The EPDM ring inside is not what makes the water tight seal, it's just a backup.
Oh steve you got a ot of nerve to solder close to these old cardboard ceiling tiles. There very flammable. But i guess you know your stuff. Keep up the good work!
They ceiling probably has asbestos.
@@n9wox Its not old enough to be asbestos, those tiles look to be from the 70s , 80s
in my area certain commercial sites like hospitals require only pro press .
i’ve seen a lot bad press & solder connections but always user error.
you can even solder press fittings by removing the ring, don’t recommend lol but it works
don’t get me wrong i still use an like soldering.
Steve doesnt believe in anything new lol. He still uses lead and oakum instead of glue. Too new and high tech for this super tech
Remember churches from middle ages..they kept the building the same etc structure for good reason it works and held up.. flying buttresses caused many stress failures... lesson learned.... being fixed to this day...
I am worried the torch will melt the gasket in the Pro Press fittings
That was one cool kitchen! If they made stuff like that now it would sell like hot cakes!
No one mentioned cpvc. I used that sometimes and it works great. It's fast, cheap and no special tools. I prefer to use copper and I always sweat the joints.