StillSmart

Help me out here please guys, I've done plenty of DIY domestic plumbing, but almost entirely in 15mm and I've never ventured into wide bore.

I'm thinking about making a T500 pot head, so my shopping list is:

1.5" BSP back nut
54mm coupler
54mm tubing
54mm elbow

Looking at JTM's website they have Reducing Couplings and Fitting Reducers.

A reducing coupling would go from say 54mm internal to 35mm internal.

Am I right in thinking that a Fitting Reducer would go from 54mm External to 35mm internal? In other words, that would fit inside the elbow.

So that would be a 54 to 35 Fitting Reducer
35 to 15mm Fitting Reducer
15mm pipe
Possibly a 15mm compression coupling
15mm elbow
2 x 28-15-15 Unequal Tees
Crimped 15mm tube down the middle of a 28mm jacket
2 x 15 to 8mm fitting reducers (water in and out)
15 to 8mm reducing coupling (spirit out).

Does that sound about right?

Reducing couplings state the internal diameter as their sizing & fitting reducers state the outer diameter, so yes you're right!
A 54x28 coupling will fit 54mm pipe inside one end and 28mm pipe in the other for example

Great another one joins the pothead clan...

Actually be careful because one of these is male/female with the male being the large end to go inside a female fitting. The other is both both ends female.

Reducing coupling are female/female. Fitting reducer are male/female

Have you considered getting the SD 2" triclamp adaptor to go onto the lid? Might be a bit more expensive but convenient.

Myles wrote:Have you considered getting the SD 2" triclamp adaptor to go onto the lid?

Any chance of a link?

Thanks to all for the previous comments.

This might be my project for the weekend after next, because I've just heard that our neighbour's shed roof is now through our greenhouse, so this coming weekend is probably scuppered.

Myles wrote:The male being the large end to go inside a female fitting.

Not in my bedroom it isn't... lol

S4BB

Spirits4BB wrote:

Myles wrote:The male being the large end to go inside a female fitting.

Not in my bedroom it isn't... lol S4BB

Love it..love it..that's what happens when it get cold up north..

https://www.stilldragon.eu/en/adapters/ ... tting.html

There you go bud, only problem is getting your hands on the 2" copper ferrule, to connect
the collumn. If your confident enough you could try soldering the s/s ferrule to collumn,
i'm not, thats what holding me back for the moment.

cheers B_D

Thanks Duck, that's very pretty, but I've got a lathe and turning a brass backnut down to fit inside a coupler is the easy bit for me.

Big bore soldering might be a different matter, my late father had a decent propane torch which must be somewhere inside my shed, I just haven't found it yet.


Daughter's text was exaggerated, no significant structural damage to greenhouse. Certainly, a 6ft by 8ft section of felted roofing has blown into our garden, but a dead pear tree trunk (clothes line post) has borne the brunt and we've only lost 4 panes of glass. Found some polycarbonate sheeting and fixed it already.

Hold on a minute. I haven't used a T500 but am I correct in thinking that you wish to use a 1.5" BSP male fitting that is part of the origional lid?

Why not just use a 1.5" BSP female to 42mm MALE end feed adaptor? Add a 42/54 coupling and you can connect your 54 mm tube.

When you decide to throw away the T500 you can desolder and reuse the copper fittings

You can solder 54 mm with a handheld torch from a DIY store. I use propane hoses now but still use the bernzomatic torches for some stuff.

You can even use a 54 mm to 2" BSP adaptor with a 2" to 1.5" BSP bush.

With any of these combinations you can get to 2" triclamp if you wish, as once you have got to 54 mm tube you will find that the SD brass 2" triclamp ferrule is a perfect fit on 54 mm copper tube.

Not sure about the copper ferrules as I have not used them.

Myles wrote:Hold on a minute. I haven't used a T500 but am I correct in thinking that you wish to use a 1.5" BSP male fitting that is part of the original lid?

Yes, the reflux column is attached to a 1.5" male thread coming up through the lid. Column has a flange at the base holding an O-ring to make the seal. With the screwed endfeed adaptor I'm not sure if there would be enough of a flange either side of the lid to form an effective seal.

I was just going by VT's guide to fitting a column, it seems like quite an easy option.

There are actually several ways that you can approach this depending on your ultimate intentions.

One possibility - and it is just a possibility - is to use a 1.5" BSP backing nut to secure the column connector into the lid. With a bit of luck this will leave enough of a threaded portion sticking out for you to screw onto.

Whatever you screw onto that threaded portion can be sealed with PTFE thread tape. Be interesting to see what you finally come up with as there are a few choices for you to think about.