WADE fittings defunct?

[jdc]

WADE, who for many years have been the highest quality supplier of plumbing, gas and fuel fittings have closed down. See Wade Fittings. Suppliers like BES just say 'soon to be discontinued' without suggesting alternative products.

Does anyone know the back story, and where are we going to obtain such fittings in future? I suspect that the different and incompatible American sizes will be obtainable from America (at high cost), and metric ones from various Chinese suppliers (with no expectation of quality), but I fear it's a poor outlook for those of us who cared about good engineering and good quality.

 

[TC Tuckton]

This is bad news. I found them really helpful when I was plumbing in a Taylor's paraffin cooker.

 

[Neeves]

WADE, who for many years have been the highest quality supplier of plumbing, gas and fuel fittings have closed down. See Wade Fittings. Suppliers like BES just say 'soon to be discontinued' without suggesting alternative products.

Does anyone know the back story, and where are we going to obtain such fittings in future? I suspect that the different and incompatible American sizes will be obtainable from America (at high cost), and metric ones from various Chinese suppliers (with no expectation of quality), but I fear it's a poor outlook for those of us who cared about good engineering and good quality.

The Chinese have excellent engineering and product - you just need to pay for it. If you pay pennies - expect penny quality.

Jonathan

 

[bluerm166]

Not sure that Wade Fittings,with a differing logo and not much to say,is the eminent manfr.,WADE INTERNATIONAL,based at Halstead.One would expect substantial trade coverage of such a closure,although plastics have made major inroads.
Could be a trademark issue causing a distributor to close.

 

[DownWest]

Dunno about Wade, but continental fittings are usually BSP, just with metric designation.

 

[jdc]

The Chinese have excellent engineering and product - you just need to pay for it. If you pay pennies - expect penny quality.

Jonathan

Absolutely, but that's not quite the issue here. We consumers only order small quantities and so get our bits from a retailer, usually online. We are thus beholden to the purchasing/stocking decisions of that retailer, pretty much none of whom do any QA at all as far as I can tell, and certainly never share it. Examples of this abound, for instance chandlers and shackles (you have no idea of their quality, or WLL) and fasteners (you will never find out on purchase is it's A2 or A4 if buying over the counter). Nor will any of these retailers provide a spec. sheet, let alone a dimensioned drawing. They probably have paid only pennies, despite charging us pounds.

So the advantage of Wade was that by specifying that manufacturer, or at least by choosing only the online retailer who stated that the parts were made by Wade, we were assured of uniformly good quality. Pessimistically perhaps, I now expect to be offered unbranded stuff, and even if it turns out to be good quality, when I reorder in 12 months time I can have no expectation that what I receive will be the same thing: minor dimensions, or threads, or sizes of olive can not be assumed the same, nor the quality as good...