Update. Finally took the plunge yesterday morning and cut the hot water pipe, and fitted the compression stop end. This morning, still no drips or weeping :-) Tempted, of course, to nip it up a fraction 'just in case', but will leave well alone.
The pipe slicer is a wizard tool.
Basin, shower and WC all out, the only remaining job being properly blocking the wastes to prevent smells wafting in. Currently sealed with plastic bags and rubber bands.
Thanks, all.
I once worked in a building where a toilet block was no longer used and had just been piled high with "useful junk" and the door locked. After a while people started noticing a unpleasant smell which despite looking for deceased rodents etc. got worse over a period of weeks. The smell was eventually traced to the disused toilet block. The water in the toilet bowls S bends had evaporated. The near instant short term cure for the smell was to turn on the water again and flush the loos.
In message , alan_m writes
We had exactly the same problem in the bathroom I have just removed. Has never been used in the 16 years we have been here, but had to top up the water in the bends to maintain the seal - the smell would remind me, when I forgot!
I have an old "household tips" book somewhere that recommended filling the bend with mineral oil if they were to be unused for a longer period. Frostproof, and won't evaporate. Clever!
(They also had tips on how to use the naphthalene mothball vaporizer attachment on the vacuum cleaner, used to recirculate the stuff in a sealed closet, at the rate of pounds of mothballs. Flammable fumes fanned around a sealed space, by a sparking brush motor -- what could go wrong? And the smell must have been powerful. But the book probably has a section on the virtues of asbestos as well...)
Thomas Prufer
When I was at school, we found an old engineering book in the science building library. We turned to the section on making a radio transmitter, and it started by describing how to build and set up the spark gap. Needless to say, we didn't try it for ourselves.
One of our student-era valve TV sets did just that, though. It died in my room in a spectacular exhibition of sparks and smoke, and all the neighbours reported strong interference on their pictures at the same time. Pure coincidence, I'm sure...
That's similar to what we found when first looking for a house. It had been empty and on the market for some considerable time and the water in u-bend had eveporated. "Nul points" to the estate agent
a quick check for leaks is to wipe the area with a piece of kitchen roll. Wet will show up easily
Is this where the joke comes in about, just took the toilet out but cannot find the new one. police have nothing to go on? Brian
It's probably not that great a risk in a domestic setting, but in industrial and commercial premises, they go to great lengths to ensure that there are no dead-legs in the hot plumbing as they can be a breeding ground for legionella.
SteveW
In message , Steve Walker writes
That is a cheerful thought, thank you :-)
Having said that, the pipe I cut was feeding a tap that has not been used for at least 16 years, so nothing has changed except the tap being replaced by a stop end.
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