Avoiding disruption with the Aladdin EasyFit Isolator
I have used EasyFit Isolation valves since about 2018 when I first discovered them in a trade magazine, I use them as my go to in situations I usually found myself in older buildings around London.
Typical situations being blocks of flats or commercial buildings where a stopcock cannot be located, or has seized / passing, or when a weeks’ notice must be issued in writing to all the occupiers and building management team, charges also tend to be an exorbitant to shut off the water supply or complete a drain down.
I do have a freezing machine but find the Easyfit faster and more reliable, subsequently avoiding the adrenalin rush you get when cutting into a pipe with an ice plug or snatching a pipe live.
Freezing is not possible on hot water pipes, and snatching 22mm or 28mm isn’t a safe option, with Easyfit you save time not having to lug a heavy freezing machine to the working location, especially difficult when parking quite a distance from the property, all the permit only areas, newer Low traffic areas and pedestrian zones also make transporting equipment very difficult.
Freezing equipment takes about fifteen minutes to set up and a further twenty to 30 minutes to get the pipes frozen enough to risk starting work. An Easyfit will fit in your tool bag, as I have fitted many over the years, I can install the Easyfit isolator comfortably in minutes.
I have included pictures of a recent project in a block of flats in London along the Thames, the existing hot supply shut off valve had been butchered prior to my visit and the water needed to be shut off to change a set of bath taps. Freezing was not an option as it was hot water, also the line was too close to the main feed to other flats and the building manager wanted a lengthy notice plus several hundred pounds to shut off and drain down.
I fitted a 22mm Easyfit Isolator, the installation took 10 minutes.
I would recommend Easyfit to all plumbers and engineers for its ease of use and ability to save you time, I price projects the same as pipe freezing, this makes commercial sense for me and the customer in the reduction of down time.
George Stavrou – Speedy Jet Plumbers