couplings from venus bushings from mars

Mark J Strawcutter

Is there a common code requirement, or perhaps a generally accepted plumbing practice, which says male threaded adapters/bushings/street-ells are to be avoided and female threaded adapters/couplings preferred? Or is it the other way around?

Mark

Mike T., Swampeast MO

PLASTIC male adapters are notoriously weak. If you join copper to plastic with a plastic male and copper female the male will break with little lateral movement--done the other way, the joint seems very secure. Many common plumbing items, notably shower and tub valves, use male adapters for connection so I can't imagine any "real" prohibition. I guess that CPVC male adapters used in such don't tend to break because the weak (plastic) side of the connection is quite free to move.

(I know about that one the HARD way from my irrigation main that was allowed to be run from the meter to outside the foundation in plastic, then transition to "K" copper through the foundation. Inspector allowed this because it was in the same trench as the domestic main that was in copper--mainly for "traceability".)

Mark J Strawcutter

iron and copper

are my primary concern.

I seem to remember reading/hearing about this somewhere but can't for the life of me remember where.

Mark

Mike T., Swampeast MO

The near boiler piping in my house was converted to copper when the OLD one was removed sometime in the 1970s. It used copper male adapters installed in a black iron reducing couplings as well as copper female to black iron pipe and all seemed fine until I re-did the entire thing in black iron when "pumping away" and adding bypass a few years ago. All these joints "survived" the freezing that burst nearby black fittings.

p.s. While there [appeared] to be sign of some galvanic action, it [appeared] so slight as to be inconsequential.