I have a radiator sitting on a concrete floor in my bathroom. I'm connecting it up to the central heating with chrome pipes and chrome compression fittings – the piping is all visible above floor due to concrete so I wanted it chrome.
I'm having problems with the compression fittings, they tend to leak. I've been tightening them up gradually over the weeks and despite being really careful just managed to crimp a pipe.
I've not had problems with compression joints before this, both copper and plastic work fine. I think it's the chrome plating. Are there any tips for improving the fittings?
Looking on the web, I see that if you are soldering chrome fittings you have to sand off the chrome at the ends – do you think this would help with compression fitting too?
Best Answer
When I was installing radiators we used brass olives that had a one sided chamfer instead of a chamfer on both sides as per normal olives.
Also using nylon olives with a boiler is usually a bad idea as they might not be able to take the heat.