solder gas pipe

[chris 159]

I just done an oops! screwing a floorboard down (using existing nail holes) i heard water hissing so i switched off (heating system), drained it, removed screw and lifted board to find the screw had gone straight through a water pipe and into a 22mm gas pipe. I thought i could get away with putting a blob of solder over the hole in the gas pipe but my concern is quite obvious really. The hole is about 1.5mm so does the pipe need evacuating of gas first ? if so how would i do that ? The two main factors here are:-

1) i'm totally skint until my incapacity benefit goes in the bank so buying a repair piece is out of the question right now. 2) ive got a pizza in the fridge that i was hoping to have for tea tonight (gas oven)

TIA

Chris

[Andy Hall]

The third main factor, which pre-empts the other two is correcting the problem safely.

Dropping in blobs of solder is a bodge.

The section of pipe should be cut out and replaced using a new section and two couplers. One can be a slip coupler if you like.

I really don't believe that you can't find about £3 for the fittings to do the job properly.

[chris 159]

i guessed that with the hole being so small there would be no detrimental effect

If *you* had had surgery bodge your knees up which put you out of work then several months later the DWP say you're not entitled to benefits which means you have to live on a reduced rate of income support to the sum of £43 per week then *you* would know that its very difficult to find a few quid when you need it. Thankfully i won an appeal so i am now waiting to have my benefit reinstated

Chris

[Staffbull]

2) light gas leak from hole

Posiible outcomes

3) eat cooked pizza or 4) blow house up and claim higher rate of incapacity benefit

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Find a piece of 22mm,about an 1" long,cut it in half,slightly widen one half get the burrs off the cuts,clean the inner side and tin the piece with solder,clean the pipe thats damaged again tin this pipe with solder,clamp the piece over the pipe and solder. ;-)

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

And on incapacity benefit as well.

[Andy Hall]

Well... it's up to you. If you bodge it with drops of solder, you are potentially risking your life, property and perhaps more importantly the lives of others.

I appreciate your position, but it isn't a reason to compromise safety.

Presumably, you would have to buy a blow torch, solder and flux anyway.

[Andy Hall]

Doesn't matter.

This is not a reason to bodge the job unsafely.

[Andy Hall]

Absolutely not.

This is not the proper way to effect the repair.

[chris 159]

Nope. Got that lot already

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Gas pipe no,but this is a water pipe

[chris 159]

the 22mm is a gas pipe

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Then a coupler is the only way.

How did you manage to go through a water pipe and into a gas pipe?

[chris 159]

No idea at all. There was an existing nail hole so i bunged a 40mm x6 screw in there. It must have gone in at an angle i suppose :-(

[VisionSet]

A perfectly acceptable job can be done by just buying a single 22mm coupler.

Cut the pipe exactly where the hole is Remove burrs Join with coupler

A coupler from a plumbers merchant - find a small independent PM and explain your predicament. They'll probably give it you or it'll cost less than 25p Some endfeed fittings are a bit pricey but couplers aren't.

Obviously make everything spotless and don't go overboard on the flux.

[Mr Fuxit]

Surely a coat of PVA would solve the problem?

[The Grim Reaper]

Well if you're going to go down that road, may I suggest sellotape??

[Andrew Gabriel]

Hum. Not that I would, but I've seen two different CORGI's fix this type of accident that way.

[Guy King]

The message from Andy Hall contains these words:

Drops of solder is probably not a good idea, but neatly applied solder onto nice clean fluxed copper isn't a bad way of fixing a small hole. Failing that, cut a patch out of a bit of scrap. It'd be no less secure than any soldered joint on a gas pipe.

I once a dart bounce out of the board onto a heating pipe at school. I nicked a self-tapper from a desk and screwed it in, then wound it round neatly with insulation tape (I was the sort who always had screwdrivers and tape and things in my pockets) and toddled off to tell the maintenance bod.

He blew his stack but didn't actually tell me what I should have done instead. I went back about ten years later for an open day - and the fix was still there!

[Matt]

If you are on your hands and knees screwing floorboards down then couldn't you just get a job and pay for a professional plumber?

Maybe you're from Liverpool, in which case can't you get your neighbour on incapacity to sort it out :)