Okay, we are going to look at how we install one of these little chaps. This is an isolation valve
commonly called a ball fix valve and as you will see from the close up they're called a ball fix valve
because when we turn this slot it operates a thread which operates a little ball inside
with two flat sides and that opens up and closes the valve so you can see that as I speak
but what we're going to do is install that in this run of pipe and that will allow us to isolate
whatever it is at the end of this pipe whether it's a cold or a hot water tap a toilet
system a bath water whatever it is at the end we'll be able to isolate the water to
that particular tap without going back to the kitchen and turning the mains off
so that's what an isolation valve does and the first thing that we're going to do is
we're going to undo the nap at the nut at either end and make absolutely sure
there's an olive in the fitting. Yes there is, so we've got two nuts and we've got two olives
That leaves us with the valve itself. The next thing that we're going to do
before we measure for cutting the pipe, we're going to give the pipe a good clean with some wire wool
Even with compression fittings, just as importantly as with soldered fittings, we need to make absolutely sure that the pipe itself is clean because one tiny little bit of grit in between the olive and the fitting will stop the compression fitting working properly If you want
to see how compression fittings work, go and have a look at our video on
compression fittings. So we have an isolation valve and now what we're going to
do is take a tape measure and I'm going to start on the hundred so that you can
see it more clearly and we're going to measure between the threads. And as you can
see on this particular valve that's 20 millimeters. So that tells us how much we have to cut out of the pipe
to allow this to be in position. And as you can see if I can get the camera to do the close up here
you'll see that the pipe sits into the isolation valve by a few millimeters, meaning that we have to cut at one end
The other thing to note, of course, is that on the isolation valve itself
and this requires another close-up, you will see an arrow on the side
and that will tell you the direction of flow. In this case, the arrow is going upwards
So we will pretend that the water is going along this pipe
away from the camera, so that's how we're going to fit the isolation valve in there
So we know we measured 20 millimeters, so 20 millimeters is going to come out of the pipe
So we go to our clean section of pipe and we mark off 20 millimeters
So that's the 20 millimeters we're going to cut out. Using a pipe slice, again this is another video if you want to see how to use one of these
Using a pipe slice we can now cut that pipe We might find that the clips that the pipes are secured to the wall with or the floor or the joists or whatever
aren't quite deep enough for a pipe slice. So we can release the two nearest clips
and that gives us a little bit of play on a pipe. All copper pipework's got a little bit of play
As long as you don't start wrenching it from the wall, it will give you a little bit of play
and now we can push the pipe slice into the pipe and make sure it clips into position
and make our first cut. So as we turn the pipe slice
we can be absolutely sure that we will cut that pipe. Okay, so having cut
our 20 millimeters, We need then double check that the arrow is going in the right direction
and we need to insert our isolation valve. Now very often we will not have the play that we need
to be able to get this isolation valve in that small opening
So we're going to have to disconnect the pipe, undo the clips, disconnect the pipe at one end
so it will allow us, as you can see here, I've already done that
it will allow us to move the pipe back a little bit to drop the isolation valve in
But before we can connect that, we'll push our nuts on, and then the olive
then the nuts, then the olive. Double-check the arrow again. Push that end home first
and then slide our pipe back into position, making absolutely sure we've got it
all the way So we pushed into and that will allow our fitting then to sit as it should in the
centre of the hole that we created, the gap that we created
Push the olives into position again if you watch our compression joint video you'll see how that works
and then tighten up on the compression nuts. Now always with any compression joint, it's a good idea to hold the fitting steady while we tighten the nut
And isolation valves have two flattened sides to allow us to do just that
So we can hold that in position as we tighten the nut
And once we finish doing that, we will have. an isolation valve
it is before you start tightening the nut really worth thinking about
how we're going to access our on-off slot when this is in position
so it might be in this case this is pointing directly upwards but it might be that we
need to have it so that the slot is pointing towards me or whatever so that
we know that we can get a screwdriver in at the very least one of the short
stumpy screwdrivers, but position the isolation valve so you can always get at this slot
because if you can't, it's a complete waste of time. So that's how we fit an isolation valve
Now we've fitted it, we can turn the water on, connect the fitting at the other end, back to the tap
and simply turn the valve on. So that's how we fit an isolation valve. Good luck with your plumbing