mains pipe

A black plastic 1/2" mains pipe in a 30 year old house. There is no stop c*ck in the street and the water company said they don't fit them now. They said that I need to freeze the pipe to replace the house c*ck or clamp it. Clamping the pipe. Where are the clamps bought from?

TIA

Reply to
timegoesby
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Two bits of wood, and any old clamp.

Reply to
Ian Stirling

snipped-for-privacy@my-deja.com brought next idea :

Anything will do, which does not damage the pipe. Two short bits of angle iron with two G clamps to squeeze them on the pipe.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

Harry Bloomfield was thinking very hard :

Or even drill holes at the ends and use a couple of nuts & bolts.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

You can buy pipe freezing kits for DIY use such as here:

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think the sheds sell them as well. Google will find suppliers for you. If you are going to clamp the pipe, I would use round section against the pipe to prevent a sharp edge damaging it.

John

Reply to
John

Is that possible, not damaging the pipe? Evidently the 'clamped' region will end up upstream of the new stopcock: isn't that asking for trouble?

David

Reply to
Lobster

Really? Was this the company, or a call centre employee?

You wouldn't get me doing that to an old bit of pipe.

What happens if the pipe's chopped off, by some accident, before it gets to your water meter?

Reply to
Chris Bacon

In message , Chris Bacon writes

If there is a water meter can you not turn the water off there?

Reply to
Bill

The person on the phone. They will install a little grid thing to access the stop c*ck, however a charge comes.

No meter. There is about 6 inches of black plastic pipe that is 3/4" outside and 1/2" inside (LPD or something) . I am fearful of damaging the pipe using a home made clamp.

Reply to
timegoesby

freeze a water mains pipe and hold back water at around 3 bar?

Reply to
timegoesby

|A black plastic 1/2" mains pipe in a 30 year old house. There is no |stop c*ck in the street and the water company said they don't fit them |now. They said that I need to freeze the pipe to replace the house c*ck |or clamp it. Clamping the pipe. Where are the clamps bought from? =20

Remember to prepare everything very well and prepare for every = eventuality. I put a new stop c*ck in, before freezer sprays, with the water live. = It was spectacular!!!!! =20

--=20 Dave Fawthrop

17,000 free e-books at Project Gutenberg!
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Yorkshire Dialect go to
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Reply to
Dave Fawthrop

Be careful with Pipe Freezing. On a smooth bore straight pipe the mains pressure will just push the plug of ice along the pipe. It is OK if you freeze at a fitting, bend, elbow etc because there are natural 'hang up points'.

Reply to
Merryterry

Oh yes; I have watched with some trepidation as a plumber did it in inside my house - so the only obstruction between 95 billion gallons of water in the mains and my kitchen was a plug of ice. Worked fine, but I wouldn't have the cojones to try that myself.

David

Reply to
Lobster

You wouldn't have liked my stopcock replacement then. We didn't even have ice. Just chop off the old pipe, undo the compression nut, stick on new valve. Close valve. Hardly got wet at all, really!

Alternatively, the water company has to cut off your water on request for you to replace your valves. You may have to wait a couple of weeks, as they must inform other people on your street who will also be affected by the stoppage.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

Are you sure about that?

I'm facing a similar problem (loose jumper in our stoptap) and, given there is no street stopcock for our property (only the whole road), our water company (Wessex Water) said they're unable to help... unless we've got a leak... which of course we bloody well will have if I just lob the old tap off!!

Mathew

Reply to
Mathew Newton

Wezzex Water told me this is indeed the policy... but only for house built before 1945 so it doesn't quite tally with the above...

Mathew

Reply to
Mathew Newton

I'd be very careful about clamping a plastic pipe myself. The clamped bit will remain and could suffer all sorts of damage if clamped enough to stop the flow.

Pipe freezer kits do work a treat, certainly on copper if you follow the instructions carefully. Last one I used (B&Q jobby) held a 15mm main for over 20 mins - and we hadn't filled the kettle up, so we had to wait for our cuppa!

You can hire a gas powered pipe freezer which will work on steel pipe up to

50mm for around £35 a day + gas.
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its outside, even if the freezer doesn't work 100% you might get wet, but you could still do the job.

Dave

Reply to
david lang

Yip seen this done, by a plumber who couldn't find a street/garden stopcock at my mates next door. I only came round as I had been chatting to plumber and offered to watch/help with cloths. I think basically the plumber wanted someone competant there in case it went pear shaped. Problem was stopcock turned and water didn't go off (broken shank ?) so he couldn't replumb the house without turning the water off first.

Anyway he filled kitchen cupboard, where the blue plastic main came up, with polythene and cotton sheeting and wore a waterproof coat. He checked replacement valve was easy to fit, tighten up etc on length of pipe so wouldn't find it didn't fit after he cut the plastic rising main. Put a long length of blue pipe on valve leading to outside, cut the rising main with a big pair of cutters, bunged new valve on, most of the water now shooting outside, tighted up the nuts, job done, a very disappointing small amount water was spilt/sprayed around the kitchen. (I was expecting a flood).

I would not have attempted it as I know my luck, once committed having cut the pipe, new valve wouldn't fit, new valve would turn off, get thumb caught trying to block pipe, get electrocuted, flood garden with other end of temporary pipe etc etc.

Reply to
Ian_m

Yes, in my case, the stopcock would turn off a little (but not much!), which helped. The amount of water spilt was little more than a cup full and we didn't have a hose to the outside. But then how much water would you expect to lose, given that you get the valve on in little more than a couple of seconds...

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

But if you create a constriction in the pipe by gently clamping it that will be enough to hold the plug, and much less likely to damage the pie than if you clamp it hard.

Reply to
Rob Morley

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