With advances in technology come new products and materials that are easier and cheaper to produce, as well as more consumer-friendly. Plastic plumbing fittings fall into this category. Now the standard in commercial and residential construction projects, plastic plumbing fittings are easy to install and can be picked up in just about any home improvement store. You can find them in prepacked kits for toilets, sinks and other areas of the home and office.
Nonthreaded fittings are still the standard for PVC plumbing in the United States. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from basic connectors to S-bends, P-traps, U-joints, L-joints and caps and reducers. They are manufactured right alongside the PVC pipe to fit any number of pipes in any number of settings, regardless of whether you are talking about 8-inch drain pipes or 2-inch sink fittings. The must be glued to PVC pipe to work.
The more modern versions of the standard PVC fitting are threaded fittings. Rather than rely upon primer and glue, threaded fittings are meant to be used as stand-alone caps and reducers and joints. And although you can use plumber’s tape to cover the threads of the fittings, they are designed to be water-tight once they have been screwed together. Like threaded fittings for metal pipes, they have male and female ends that you can together.
Primer and Glue
You must still use primer and glue to fit nonthreaded plastic plumbing fittings together. Once you have cut your pipe down to size and dry-fit everything together to ensure that your lengths are correct, you must first clean the pipe with an old rag to remove dirt and debris. Then you prime the outside of the male fitting and the inside of the female fitting with the primer, which is usually purple. Next, apply the pipe cement and connect all of the pieces and wait for the glue to set.
A number of flexible fittings have replaced devices such as P-traps underneath sinks and toilet tank inlet connectors. They have gaskets and threaded fittings on each end and are made out of a flexible plastic or a combination of wires and plastic for support. These flexible fittings have replaced many of the more difficult-to-use fittings and allow for quick and easy remodels for things like sink drains, washer and dryer hookups and tub plumbing.
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