 Roger Bisby meets the new Boss.
Boss White Universal Pipe Jointing Compound is a new formulation to bring the famous brand up to modern plumbing requirements. The much loved old Boss White was every plumber’s favourite pipe jointing compound back in the days before they discovered that Boss White and hemp supported bacteria. Boss White ceased to be approved for potable water and we got the vastly inferior Boss Blue, which, to my mind at least, is difficult to apply.
The new formulation Boss White Universal still doesn’t have the old runny linseed oil consistency and it certainly doesn’t have that telltale smell, which meant that a plumber could never hide in the wardrobe if the old man came home unexpectedly. The chemistry of this new magic compound is more like Plumber’s Mate in consistency, but is now suitable for potable water and gas. Is this the holy grail of pipe jointing compounds? I couldn’t wait to try it out. The instructions say that there is no need to use fibre and you should never use it with PTFE tape. The idea is that you can smear it on any make of tapered thread and it will seal even if you back the thread off. If by chance the thread is over-cut and loose, then a few turns of fibre will pack it out but, in normal circumstances, with a good machine cut tapered thread you simply smear the jointing compound on the thread and away you go. You can also use this new Universal compound on steam, and heating oil, but not on oxygen or CPVC and ABS threads. They make a big deal of not using it on oxygen so perhaps something unpleasant happens.
The sales message would be (if a shampoo manufacturer had not coined it first) that there is now no need to take two jointing compounds into the shower since this one will do all that the other two did and more.
Naturally, the product has been tested thoroughly by the men in white coats but I wanted to give it my own extreme trials, since the tub, perhaps wisely, fails to state an upper pressure treatment. The most demanding and commonly troublesome connection that most of us undertake on a regular basis is the threaded tail on a radiator connection. Normally I scratch the thread with a hacksaw blade and then wrap copious quantities of PTFE tape around the thread. I find this usually works well but I have been to many call outs where the rads leaked on this connection, so perhaps they aren’t getting it completely right.
To be honest, most of this product will be used to smear around the face of olives on compression joints so I did a bit of that as well. It worked well enough for this but, then again, the joint probably doesn’t really need it in the first place. Still, we plumbers are belt and braces kind of guys (non gender type guys) and anything that gives us just a little more reassurance is always a good thing. The fact that you can use it on gas is also going to win it a lot of friends. I am now a friend of the Boss – always handy.
For further information on the Boss White Universal Pipe Jointing Compound see:
www.bssuk.co.uk
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