Barbed fittings are a neat and low cost method of putting fittings into low pressure irrigation systems such as border drip lines.
Provided the components are of a good quality and the pipe has been warmed prior to being pushed onto the barbs, the fittings will stand 4 bar pressure without blowing off. Generally speaking there is no need to add jubilee type clips to the outside of the barbed fitting. The disadvantage of using a jubilee clip is that the fitting becomes bulky and ugly and also if the clip is tightened up too much, the barbed fitting can be cracked – causing the very problem the jubilee clip was meant to prevent! For this reason, we do not recommend the use of jubilee type clips on barbed fittings.
If you do have a situation where it is vitally important that the fittings do not come off – for example drip lines under a sudum blanked on a green roof – then we recommend our Pozilock range of fittings.
The Pozilock fitting consists of an inner fitting with a barb and an outer compression ring. The pipe is pushed over the barb (no warming of the pipe is necessary) then the grip ring is tightened over the top of the barb. As there is only a single inner barb, the fitting is quicker to make up than a traditional barbed fitting but is much more secure. The fitting also looks much neater than a barbed fitting and jubilee clip.
