Push-fit fittings for plumbing and heating growing in use and acceptance

With new housing construction starts in most of the nation stuck in neutral, plumbing contractors are finding work in rehab jobs and in doing repairs and re-piping upgrades to existing housing stock and commercial buildings. A lot of that work is in piping transitions for domestic and potable water. While pick-up work at this level is a less-than-ideal employment situation for many contractors, who less than a decade ago had more work than they could get to, it comes with a silver lining for the manufacturers of PEX tubing and push-fit fittings, who are seeing greater awareness and acceptance for their products in such an environment. The growing lead-free movement, which will transition in just a few years to national reach with federal legislation kicking in, is also a boon. Push-fit fittings, which were introduced in the mid-1980s in America and today represent a $100 million market, are poised to go big-time in the years ahead.

Plastic push-fit fittings and tubing are green

A recent study linking use of plastic fittings and tubing to green building technologies* shows that they can play an important role in proper functioning, safety and environmental performance in residential and light commercial applications. Such fittings are preferred over alternatives for their strength and durability, corrosion resistance and biological inertness, material flexibility and lighter weight, transportation and ease of maintenance, and even for their ease of color coding and markings. Plastic piping systems, the study found, are increasingly selected for use in green buildings to take advantage of state and local governments’ tax credits incentives, utility subsidies and fast-track building permit approvals.

John Guest USA: A major player in the push-fit market

John Guest Ltd. of Great Britain is one of the leading suppliers of push-fit fittings to a number of worldwide markets — automotive and marine, water treatment/filtration and plumbing and heating. The company maintains an active research and development effort in its labs in Great Britain, using the newest resins available for demanding applications. Around the world, John Guest fittings are widely used for residential plumbing and heating under the Speedfit® brand name. Here in the States, as with all the players in the push-fit arena, its American-based operation, John Guest USA, has had to work hard to convince contractors to give its engineered plastic resin products a try as an alternative to traditional copper and CPVC joinery. The company has even donated product to jobsites with the simple intent of getting contractors to use the product and provide feedback.

The push-fit business has lots of players. John Guest, which to date is the only push-fit manufacturer to offer a fitting which employs PEX, has to contend with a number of competitors offering metallic push-fit connections or engineered resin ones, as well as with the inescapable curse of cheaper knock-offs of inferior quality entering the market. With the greater use of PEX and the reopening of major markets like California to PEX use, engineered resin push-fit fittings, which work with PEX tubing as well as copper and CPVC, are gaining headway with builders and contractors who are looking for a faster, labor saving alternative when working in tight spaces and behind-the-wall.

Engineered plastic push-fit advantages

Feedback from John Guest USA’s regional sales reps portrays a positive picture for use of push-fit fittings in general and engineered plastic ones in particular. Use of donated products demonstrate that, when contractors use the fittings and experience how easy and quick they are to install (no tools needed, not even a crimping tool), they like what they see and endorse their use, even for whole-house work. Contractors, in particular, note the time and labor savings to be had. In a busier environment, those time savings would be even more valuable in getting on to the next waiting job.

Clifford Allen, John Guest’s Eastern regional sales manager, says that most contractors have encountered push-fit fittings by now and that they’re using them mostly for transition work from copper. Use with PEX is also increasing. Theft of copper at construction sites in urban areas is an issue that also drives more use of PEX and plastic.

The new federal lead-free legislation, which will go into effect at the start of 2014, is not much of an immediate issue, Allen reports, but it will be in due time. Push-fit manufacturers of largely brass components will have the most to deal with when it comes to the transition from brass to lead-free components. They now have to supply dual inventories between lead-free and non-lead-free states. Converting their inventory will be costly, and their new lead-free products will generally be more expensive (estimates range from 28% to 40%). Stocking contractors will have to be mindful of their leaded inventory as the January 1, 2014, deadline nears. For others, the feeling, even today, is, “Why wait, the future is now.”

The contractors and builders that Allen has worked with in recent years like engineered push-fit fittings once they’ve used them. He reports that there have no issues stemming from their use. Smaller (and hungrier) wholesalers like Speedfit products too, for their profit margins.

Making the case for push-fit fittings

Quality and durability issues are concerns that push-fit sales reps deal with all the time, especially in a conservative-minded industry which is wed to its ways and conservative by nature, especially with the dreaded prospect of callbacks killing profitability. Jeff Nehring, John Guest’s Midwestern regional sales manager, deals with the, “It’s plastic so it’s not going to hold up” objection by emphasizing that John Guest’s push-fit fittings include cross-linked polyethylene, or PEX, which, after all, is a form of engineered plastic that is widely trusted and used in the land of Uponor.

Speedfit fittings come with the same pressure ratings and national certifications and warranty as brass fittings. Significantly, the body of a Speedfit fitting, where the pressure concentrates, is made of cross-linked polyethylene. Nehring is seeing less use of copper these days and greater use of PEX and, by extension, more use of engineered plastic push-fit fittings. The two make a nice combination that contractors appreciate for the convenience and cost/time savings to be had. “Once a contractor uses Speedfit, they will use it again,” says Nehring. (John Guest estimates contractors can save up to 40% on installation time using Speedfit.)

Tommy Avery, John Guest’s West Coast regional sales manager, reports that use of PEX in California is growing. That, in turn, helps win acceptance for engineered plastic fittings. Younger contractors, he notes, are generally more open to PEX and push-fit. To counter the “plastics” issue held by some contractors, he informs them that John Guest fittings are used in trusted products they’ve been purchasing for years, such as GM and Ford cars and trucks (in critical braking and fuel systems) and in GE household appliances. Considering the high level of testing and compliance required to become a preferred vendor to the auto industry, he asks why they wouldn’t trust similar fittings used in a house.

Not all push-fit fittings are the same

Not all push-fit fittings are the same, of course. That can be a challenge in the marketplace, especially with cheaper and inferior imports flooding in, some of which look exactly the same as the Speedfit original. Avery and the rest of John Guest’s U.S. sales force stress that the integral features of Speedfit fittings, especially their EPDM O-ring and patented nylon collet, should not be substituted for a less expensive knock-off that may cause trouble. Speedfit’s special twist and lock feature, which has been likened to a Chinese finger trap, provides extra security, employing the collet (with its stainless steel teeth) to grip pipe and provide a permanent leak-proof seal.

Proper use and handling of any push-fit fitting are important considerations and a large part of the training sales reps in the field provide to contractors, especially those using the product type for the first time. Simple but critical things such as keeping the products in their plastic bags prior to use are stressed, along with how to push the pipe into the fitting one-half inch or more and then twist and lock the fitting one turn to make the secure connection. When joining copper pipe or CPVC to fittings avoiding pipe burrs and making clean cuts are important.

The future is now

Here in the U.S., despite old habits wedded to copper and brass, the occasional problems caused by knock-off overseas products and the moribund housing construction market of late, push-fit fittings, especially engineered plastic ones such as John Guest’s Speedfit line, will continue to gain converts and advocates among builders and plumbing professionals who want to work smarter and faster, plus use an environmentally friendly and sustainable “green” product.

* Green Building Technologies that Use Plastic Pipe and Tubing to Function published by the Plastic Pipe and Fittings Association, www.plasticpiping.org.

Information provided by John Guest USA, Fairfield, N.J., www.johnguestusa.com.