Plumbing Introducing Boshart's Stainless Steel Push Fittings

In 2019 we innovated with our Stainless Steel Crimp PEX Fittings.

In 2023, we pushed the envelope further and expanded the lineup to include Stainless Steel Cold Expansion PEX Fittings.

Now, we’re excited to announce our newest innovative product launch: Stainless Steel Push Fittings.

Why is this such a fantastic product?

There are 8 key reasons you’re going to want to use our Stainless Steel Push Fittings. Whether you’re a contractor who does repair and remodelling work or a homeowner who is looking for a simple and cost-effective solution on a one-off fix, our Fittings can help you get the job done.˙

8 Key Features of Boshart's Stainless Steel Push Fittings

Here are the 8 key reasons you’d wanna use Stainless Steel Push Fittings:

First and foremost, let’s be really clear: Stainless Steel Push Fittings are entirely stainless steel. They aren’t a brass fitting with a stainless ring. We’re not saying there’s anything inherently wrong with that, but at least be aware (or beware) of what you’re buying.

We’re also not here to disparage brass push fittings (if you’re unaware: we sell them, and will continue to alongside our new Push Fittings). Brass has its place in the market.

But Stainless Steel is unmatched in a few key areas:

• CORROSION RESISTANCE

If you’ve worked regularly with brass fittings, you’ll know that the zinc content is notorious for issues. Dezincification can be a problem when the zinc content of a brass alloy makes up more than 15% of the alloy’s composition. Even no-lead brass fittings made from DZR (dezincification “resistant”) brass alloys that contain far more zinc content than you’d think. Some of the most popular options on the market can contain up to 36% zinc which can spell disaster for homeowners who are unaware of the risk they are taking.

But what is dezincification? Dezincification is when the zinc content of brass is lost and copper is left behind. At times, dezincification may only be an aesthetic change (like a different colour brass), but serious dezincification is much more serious as it weakens the brass significantly. Before you know it, you’ve got pin holes and thin walls in your brass fittings, which will inevitably lead to leaks, which no one wants in their plumbing system.

Stainless Steel doesn’t contain any zinc, so it’s not even at a minimized risk of dezincification: it is actually impossible. If you don’t know what your water quality is going to be like, or if you know you’ve got stuff in your water that’s hard on brass fittings, Stainless Steel is the way to go.

• OVERALL STRENGTH

Stainless Steel is a considerably stronger metal than brass. Where brass can be more soft and bend more easily, a stainless steel fitting is going to require a lot more force before it compromises its shape.

Does that really matter in a residential potable water system? We’d say so, but that’s really up to you to decide. If you want the best of the best, there’s no denying that stainless steel is exactly that.

A lot of engineering went into making this feature standard in our lineup. This design choice in our Stainless Steel PEX lineup (both in crimp & cold expansion) was something we were certain we had to bring over to our new fittings.

A sweep elbow significantly reduces turbulence in your water system. In a typical water system, where you have a hard 90º turn with traditional fittings, that force of pressurized water hitting the same part of your fitting over and over and over can cause erosion corrosion. This is similar to when a river gradually wears away at a sharp corner to soften it. Except, in the case of fittings with hard 90º elbows, it wears on the fitting, creating thinner walls which effectively weaken the fitting.

It is these thinner walls that can eventually lead to other issues such as cracks after a prolonged period of wear.

Instead, a sweep design helps alleviate that pressure by creating a more gradual path for the water to take around a corner. This increased radius of the fitting means better flow in your system, which is something that everyone wants.

Yes, our Stainless Steel Push Fittings do it all.

Whether you’re making repairs to PEX, CPVC, Copper, PE-RT Pipe, or more, our Fittings can bridge the gap (literally) between those pipes.

But that’s not all: In case it wasn’t clear, you can transition from one type of material to another without any extra fuss. No special variation of the fittings, no special extra tools, just push and go.

4. BALL VALVES IN STAINLESS STEEL PUSH FIT

Our 304 Stainless Steel PEX Ball Valves have been a best-seller for us ever since their inception in 2019.

We’ve brought that same level of contractor-grade quality and strength to our Fitting ball valves.

Including sizes 1/2”, 3/4”, and 1”, we have you covered if you need a stainless steel ball valve in a push fitting.

5. STIFFENER INCLUDED (INSTALLED)

Is an inner stiffener required for using push fittings on PEX? Some contractors and a minority of manufacturers say no, but others—including Boshart Industries—swear it is a necessary insurance.

Rather than make you decide at the point of purchase, we’ve included a stiffener as standard on all of our Push Fittings.

We recognize there’s a general perception that push fittings tend to leak more than your traditional pipe connection. The biggest reason for this is due to not using a stiffener to ensure the PEX pipe maintains a round profile. The failure to use a stiffener can leave the PEX slightly oval in shape and unable to make a perfect seal with the O-ring around the pipe.

How do you increase your chances of creating a great seal with push fittings (which contain O-rings)? You use a stiffener so that your PEX pipe isn’t oblong. Boshart includes ours as standard.

If you do not need stiffeners for your particular application (Copper or CPVC pipe), no problem. It’s easy to remove it prior to installation.

Not only does Boshart include the stiffener, we have it installed in the fitting prior to you getting it (as opposed to being loose in the packaging). Especially with fittings like our Reducing Tees which have multiple sizes of stiffeners for the multiple sizes of ports, it is an insurance to you that you use the right one on each port (because they are pre-installed). No chance of opening the package, dropping and losing the stiffener, and installing the fitting without it anyways.

6. 360º LOCKING COLLAR

Say you’re a manufacturer of push fittings, and your locking feature (to complete a push fit connection) involves 4 little tabs.

We’re not saying that those tabs could fail with any ease, but we are saying that, hypothetically, a 360º mechanically pressed locking collar is fail proof and provides the average person a little more peace of mind than a couple of snap lock tabs.

The inherent design of Boshart’s Stainless Steel Push Fittings has a 360º lock all the way around the fitting. We don’t rely on a couple of tabs to keep your fitting together; we make use of the whole collar.

Beyond that, the collar we utilize is actually mechanically formed around the fitting during manufacturing, meaning it is near-impossible to ever remove—even if you are trying to. Next to utilizing the entire circumference of the fitting to finalize a connection, this extra manufacturing provides our product with an unbelievably strong lock.

Again, in a real-world scenario, is that going to matter? You be the judge. But we know we’d take the comfort of a reinforced connection (and we’re betting most people would as well).

7. NO SPECIAL TOOLS REQUIRED

Especially attractive if you’re a homeowner without all the proper tools required to make a PEX / CPVC / Copper / PERT connection, push fittings require no special tools to make the connection.

A push fitting is easily the fastest secure connection you can make, and it requires no special tools to do so.

Additionally, you can undo that connection with the special removal tool (which costs a few bucks, as opposed to a professional’s connection tools). With certain other connections, you’re having to cut the pipe and throw out the fitting if you ever need to replace it. Stainless Steel Push Fittings don’t require the same waste.

8. RATED TO 300PSI (AND TESTED TO WELL OVER 900PSI)

From the very beginning, we’ve made a name for ourselves by ensuring the name “Boshart” is synonymous with “Quality.” We want you to know that if our name is on it, you can trust it.

Every Boshart product (and every batch of Boshart product that is manufactured) is rigorously tested with countless different methods to ensure everything that goes out the door meets and far exceeds specifications. We’re not saying we’re a perfect company (no one is), but we are beyond proud of how hard we work to ensure you’re getting the best of the best.

Specifically with our Stainless Steel Push Fittings, we’ve rated them at 300psi (which is higher than the average push fitting on the market). Beyond that, we test our products to withstand, at minimum, 3x the advertised rated pressure, and often we see much more before failure.

In our testing, we’ve had Fittings hold on until 1200psi or more. Of course, that is not an endorsement or promise in any way, but we share that so you know how seriously we take our Quality Assurance.

Let’s also be clear about one thing: you should never knowingly exceed manufacturer’s rated limits on any measurement. Ratings exist for a very good reason. What we are trying to illustrate here is how seriously we take our quality control so that, within the rating we provide, you can have the utmost reassurance your Boshart product is going to perform under pressure. (Literally.)

In Conclusion

We’re more proud than ever to be launching this product to the market. We think there are countless reasons you’d be thrilled with this product over many of the other options out there.

If you’re using our Stainless Steel Push Fittings on your next job, tag us on social media & use the hashtags #PushFIt and #KingOfTheWater for a chance to get a few Boshart stickers in the mail.

Explore our website and social media channels if you’d like to learn more.

If you’d like to know where you can buy our Stainless Steel Push Fittings, reach out and we can find the closest distributor to you.

Have further questions about this subject?

Head over to Boshart's Knowledge Base: technical product information, guidelines, and more.