Yep there's definitely no evidence of any solder in there. I reckon whoever did it simply forgot that part of the joint. The other two sides seem fine. I'm thinking flux and leakage over many years have corroded the pipe but I'm going to check other parts of the system very carefully in case it's all going.
Ok.
Oooerr.
I wonder if it had been fluxed and left for a bit (preventing a leak) and being an elbow, under some slight load, helping it stay in place?
It's amazing they you can get away with such things and then find a (compression) joint that was tightened but just not enough, or a joint that was actually soldered, fails.
Cheers, T i m
I'd guess, having your own supply, the pressure isn't that high?
Is a pressure test a viable option? Fill everything with water, isolate combi, WCs, and pump up manually to 11 bar, or more? (Why 11? Well, the German regs say test metal pipework at 1.1 times maximum design pressure, which is 10 bar...)
This might show any leaks, unsoldered joints, corroded bits -- but might also provoke a later failures.
Thomas Prufer
The pressure vessel on the well pump is inflated to 30 psi. The pump kicks in at anything less than this and switches off again at 40 psi from memory so that's the most the pipework would ever see.
I have no equipment to perform a pressure test with but I'll certainly be checking the soldered and compression joints that I can get to. Most of it is actually under the floor of the house and I've already found another bad leak down there that was flooding the sump. Hey ho.
Around here (Germany), they are rentable -- 12 to 25 EUR/day. 1/2" thread, and a "precision pressure gauge", whatever that may be...
Thomas Prufer
Oddly enough, I'm on a chat site now talking German tech. If the German's say it's precision, it is.
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