Pro-press for gas and air

[Jackfre]

I was just in Atlanta for the SE Propane show and asked an old friend and customer what was new in the world. He showed me a new Ridgid pro press set up for copper and black iron. The Pro-Press copper fittings for gas have a certified o-ring, yellow in color. The fittings for black iron are beefy.

This isn't something a hobbyist would purchase. Tool with jaws is around $1,800. The alternate set of jaws is another $500 or a bit less. It was pretty cool though assembling a couple of joints so simply.

...and yes, I know I should have taken pictures!

 

[wssix99]

The system is made by Viega: http://www.viega.us/

Rigid just makes the tools for them. The fittings and tools are really expensive, but less than a plumber, if you want to use them in a large do-it-yourself application.

I've met a lot of commercial operations that use the system. The benefits for them are usually: reduced downtime of the facility due to maintenance, faster construction/build-out, less problems at commissioning.

 

[jerryd68]

and no "hot work" this is a big thing in industrial settings!

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I love having a ProPress setup. BTW, a well rounded set is closer to $3K, not $1800.00...

Tommy

 

[ctfjr]

I work for a large wholesaler here in Connecticut. We are distributors for Ridgid and Viega. Our copper sweat fittings sales are now considerably less than they used to be due to Propress. All you need is one underground water line, say 2", with a leak in it. good luck draining that out so you can sweat it

One of my sons is the ultimate diyer. He found a used Press machine on Ebay.

There are press fittings for copper, pex & iron - you can spend a ton on different jaw sizes. And then there are the tools themselves. . . battery or 115 volt?

The fittings are a LOT more than sweat but the time spent is tiny compared to soldering.

 

[malibu101]

As was said, this is the new rage in copper piping. And like said it has many upsides.

I personally don't like the fact that sealing is performed by 1 O-ring. Yeah soldered joints can go bad I guess but I trust that more than an O-ring.

 

[SALIV8]

been around for years. I have used the pro press on a 2.5" domestic line before and it was awesome..

just rent the equipment. its usually pretty cheap for a day or 2.

 

[SEV22XS]

Here is what seems like a smoking deal on a propress.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ridgid-CT-4...ultDomain_0&hash=item3aa770f2aa#ht_282wt_1362

 

[wssix99]

This isn't something a hobbyist would purchase. Tool with jaws is around $1,800.

You can get reasonably priced non-powered crimpers for under $100. http://www.icrimptools.com/#!us-press-tools/mainPage

Viega doesn't bless this kind of thing (their Rigid tools are well calibrated and metered for rebuilds to ensure quality) for copper, although I'm sure it would be fine for a residential application where you are only doing 1/2" or 3/4" pipe.

 

[brett5150]

I'm a consulting engineer on the plumbing/hvac side of things and we are seeing more and more contractors wanting to use pro-press due to the savings on labor. It has been around for a while, but we first started seeing it in the early 2000's from our Viega reps. The term "pro-press" is becoming some what of a trade name.... many manufactures are making a similar "press" joint fittings (Viega, Nibco, Elkhart etc). Some issues we initially ran into was improper use of the tool/machine (actually crushing the fittings) and therefore resulting in a leaky fitting....... only way to fix is cut out and splice in new pipe (making more joints that could potentially fail). The tool is still big, making it hard to use in tight spots.

All fittings will have failures... at least solder joints are easier to repair.

The Viega system for carbon steel fittings/black iron pipe is actually called "Megapress".... "propress" refers to their copper piping system.

 

[shamrock12]

Just curious, why not use brass compression fittings? A pair of wrenches would be a lot cheaper than buying the ProPress crimper!

 

[csp]

Just curious, why not use brass compression fittings? A pair of wrenches would be a lot cheaper than buying the ProPress crimper!

Install speed in any setting where the cost of the tools is quickly returned in job completion time.