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Hudson reed valve

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plumbit
plumbit Member Posts: 21
in Radiant Heating
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does anyone have any experience with these Hudson reed valves for rads. The compression side is 16Mm. Seems pretty loose on 1/2 copper pipe. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with these and If 1/2” copper will work. Thanks

Comments

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 12,359

    Not a plumber but you should probably plug your phone in before it dies completely.

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 27,586

    what type of fitting is it? Does it have o ring seals and a crimp ring?

    I have been able to get 1/2 copper into a 15 mm fitting by sanding the tube od a bit.

    For the U.S. market Caleffi has this 437 fitting. I don’t know if it matches your valve. Recently they standardized that conical thread, across all the brands.

    IMG_0846.jpeg
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    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • plumbit
    plumbit Member Posts: 21
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1822985#Comment_1822985

    it’s just a brass sleeve. Just seems loose on 1/2” copper.will look into the #437

  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 27,586
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1822992#Comment_1822992

    a brass compression ferrule needs to be a snug fit or it may not bite into the tube. Not something you want to risk with water under pressure

    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • DIYorBust
    DIYorBust Member Posts: 94

    Probably late to the party here, but I'm planning to post for some help with my hudson reed valves and I thought I'd update here. The hudson reed valves I got appear to be BSPP(parallel) threaded compression on both sides. The box says US spec. The two compression nuts and ferrules(called olives in the UK) are slightly different, the plumbing side is bigger than the radiator side. Based on my research, I'd guess it's a 5/8th ferrule and a 5/8th compression nut, but it could be 16mm. Note that a point of confusion, UK copper tubing is specified by OD whereas US copper tubing is specified by ID. So a 15mm tube is 15mm OD, and a 5/8" ferrule is 15.875mm. It appears that this is within the tolerance of the compression joint.

    So a Probably a 5/8th is better as it is smaller, so you could try a 5/8th inch ferrule on the 1/2 inch pipe with the supplied compression nut. The nut might not be easy to replace because it appears to be BSPP threaded. Ideally use a copper ferule. The ferrules are copper, probably because the softer metal makes it easier to compress down. I have not had much trouble making a connection to half inch copper with the supplied fitting.

    A bigger problem I found is the 15mm BSPT fitting into the radiator, know in the UK as the radiator tailpiece. It appears the radiator internal threads are BSPP female, but the male thread is BSPT tapered. Apparently it is common to taper only the male side of BSP threaded joints. In theory it works, according to what I have read. However in practice, if the male threaded end is too short, it is difficult to achieve a leak free connection. Some radiator fittings come with BSPP tailpieces that seal with an O-ring, including the Hudson Reed blank and air valve. I picked up some O-ring tailpieces when I was last in the UK to deal with this problem. Another solution I've seen UK plumbers on youtube use, is a tailpiece with a longer thread. However this is not typically specified when you order online, so you'd need to go to a supplier to compare the thread length and find a better one, which is difficult on a short visit as it's hard to know where they'll be in stock. Nevertheless, the threaded connection is probably better than the o-oring which might need to be tightened up after a few years and eventually replaced. You will nevertheless have this problem on your supplied blanks and air valves, so not a big deal.

    I will probably import some more parts, so feel free to reach out if you are still having trouble, or need fittings.

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