I'm afraid water pipe joint may leak

[Timothy Murphy]

I have a join in a water pipe under the floor-boards, made by a plumber replacing a damaged section of pipe. The join was leaking slightly but has stopped after I pressed the pipe into the joint.

Now I have to replace the floorboards, as carpet is to be put down. I'm just wondering if it is reasonable for the joint to leak until the pipe is pushed in (not very hard). I'm a little worried that it might start leaking after the carpet is put down.

I'm thinking of binding a little duct-tape around the joint to hold the pipe in place. Does anyone have a better idea?

[John]

You need to tell us what type of pipe (copper or plastic) - what type of joint - one with a spanner type of fitting or a soldered one. Or a Push fit fitting.

Is the pipe clipped to the joists?

Adding stuff to the outside is not usually a good idea if the internal seal is not working.

[Lobster]

Presumably this is a water supply pipe, not waste?

What's the pipe made of, and what sort of joint are we talking about?

David

[John]

Regardless of the type of pipe/joint get the plumber back ASAP as he hasn't fixed the leak to your satisfaction.

HTH

John

[Steve Firth]

(a) No it's not reasonable for it to leak. (b) Call the plumber, tell him that his "repair" is leaking. Get him to fix it properly.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You got one leak replaced by another?

Get him back to do the job properly.

[Timothy Murphy]

The pipe is indeed a water supply pipe, added some years ago to connect a washing machine in a utility room.

Both the old pipe, and the added insertion, are plastic.

I'm not sure what the joint is called. Here is a picture of it, and of the insertion: , .

As I understand it, the old pipe was of an unusual diameter, and the insertion had therefore to use unusual joints.

Incidentally, I caused the damage to the old pipe, by drilling a hole in it when trying to fix a floorboard, in preparation for a carpet to be laid. This caused a big fountain, even though the hole was very small. The plumber's insertion replaced a flood by a tiny drip, which stopped as I mentioned when I pushed one end of the old pipe into one of the joints.