# Watts Floodsafe ~ Not so flood safe ~ HIT'S AGAIN!



## jwardjr (Jan 3, 2011)

Redwood, Not to steal your photo but, guess what? Same thing happened as well. It snapped right at the retaining ring collar neck. Sad part is that the customer had just signed off on having the _*last*_ flood damage repaired two weeks ago. 
The plumber installed the floodsafe hoses and it broke and flooded the entirely repaired area once more. New hardwood, new drywall, new paint, new everything only to complete the work once again. 

I bet their stuff is made in China :furious: put together by a ten year old on his 19th hour of work, and on a Monday at that. What a bunch of junk!


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## Ishmael (Dec 9, 2009)

I guarantee the Watts legal department will blame the installer for over-tightening the connection...


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## user2090 (Sep 26, 2009)

It is a shame that a piece of junk like that can even be on the market, and then blame the installer for over tightening it. :furious:

Anytime I work with something that has a small retainer holding it together I get real nervous. 

I've always told guys if you don't make a face or grunt when you tighten it up, then you are not getting it tight enough. Now cause of carp like this I am supposed to take it easy. That goes against my very nature. :glare:


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Why aren't plumbers hard-piping fixtures??? I put copper supplies on lavs, w/c's and sinks. Using a tubing benders the supply lines look professional. The only time I'll use flex is if it is attached to the faucet or comes with the faucet. If the plumber in post #1 had hard piped the connection, the HO wouldn't be in this pickle. :whistling2:


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Indie said:


> Anytime I work with something that has a small retainer holding it together I get real nervous.


Yea Indie there isn't that much there for sure.

I had originally posted about those a couple of years ago when I had a call where a customer had installed one and it broke flooding his house.

After that he was ready to pay the plumber to ensure he wan't going to get flooded again. I've never installed one myself but removed quite a few. 

I had posted about seeing the failed one on Terry Loves and before long I was contacted via PM by someone who gave me those pictures to use.

The small brass colored wire fitting under a small lip is all that keeps these from blowing apart...


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## Pipe Rat (Apr 5, 2009)

Indie said:


> It is a shame that a piece of junk like that can even be on the market, and then blame the installer for over tightening it. :furious:
> 
> Anytime I work with something that has a small retainer holding it together I get real nervous.
> 
> *I've always told guys if you don't make a face or grunt when you tighten it up, then you are not getting it tight enough.* Now cause of carp like this I am supposed to take it easy. That goes against my very nature. :glare:


Off topic for a sec........... Indie your above statement is most likely the root of your trouble with brass nipples. Brass is a very soft metal. A proper joint should be snug and not cranked down to the max.


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

As you can see in the picture I posted above tightening has nothing to do with the failures. The failure is at the swivel joint.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*not since 1993*



Tommy plumber said:


> Why aren't plumbers hard-piping fixtures??? I put copper supplies on lavs, w/c's and sinks. Using a tubing benders the supply lines look professional. The only time I'll use flex is if it is attached to the faucet or comes with the faucet. If the plumber in post #1 had hard piped the connection, the HO wouldn't be in this pickle. :whistling2:


they are not cost effective anymore.... that is why...

we used to hard pipe everything to the fixtures, but at one point sometime back around 1993 I had to go with the flexible SS braided supply lines....

because I could not get the idiots that worked for me to install the hard copper lines and make them look good.
they would take an hour just to hook up a supply line to a toilet .. :laughing::yes:

I finally had to try the brass craft supply lines and we have never looked back.....

as long as they have the brass shank in them they work great... and have lasted decades so far....



.these watts flood safe things are the exception to the rule... they look like they were
never tested to well before they went on teh makret


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## Pipe Rat (Apr 5, 2009)

Red I know this product failure was not from over tightening thats why I said off topic. The only thing that needs to be tightened so tight in this business that you have to grunt or make a face is your azz these days. :laughing: Too many guys crank the hell outta things and wonder why they have problems. Nice and easy does the trick. :yes:


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

Pipe Rat said:


> Red I know this product failure was not from over tightening thats why I said off topic. The only thing that needs to be tightened so tight in this business that you have to grunt or make a face is your azz these days. :laughing: Too many guys crank the hell outta things and wonder why they have problems. Nice and easy does the trick. :yes:


I knew that Pipe Rat!
My reply was to Ishmael's comment about Watt's legal department blaming over-tightening.

You are absolutely correct about over-tightening brass connections though...
Just the other day I was turning a brass nipple into a brass coupling by hand and the coupling split. I'd like to think I was strong but it just might have been that foreign crap the supply house sold me....

Why do we buy plumbing parts from countries where most of their citizens don't have indoor plumbing? :whistling2:


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