Leaky Pipe - Update

Are you nuts? Just remake the joint! Nothing else will make for a permanent repair.

On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 23:16:35 +0000, Grunff strung together this:

Hmm, how do you remake a lead joint effectively then?

Cut back the lead pipe, insert suitable copper pipe into lead pipe, solder up. (from OP's earlier post, this is a lead-copper joint, so the object is to get a nice bit of copper onto which to connect)

Congratulations. You've just proved that bodges never work. A dedicated bodger will find another to try. A sensible person will find a way of replacing the joint properly. Even if it means replacing the pipe run.

or stick a ledlok connector on it...

Nuts well yes maybe...

but as I have said there is no access, not without either removing the kitchen worksurfaces and 3 cupboards and this is not an option since I'm due to move out very soon.

On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 23:37:06 +0000, John Rumm strung together this:

That'd be my preference.

Never used one - My experience of working with lead pipe is limited to precisely 1 repair, which soldered up just fine.

Out of interest, how's the seal made with a ledlok?

On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 00:00:57 +0000, Grunff strung together this:

AFAICR it's loosely based on a compression fitting

Can you get to the mains stopcock easily? Is there any space behind these units to run a poly pipe behind them?

You say you're moving out of the house and are going to leave the leak for someone else to fix, so why not leave it leaking and say nowt about it like you didn't notice? Or go out and buy the bit you need to do the job properly, or pay a plumber to do it, and leave the house to the new owner with your conscience clean.

They can work, sometimes remarkably well, but they have to be _good_ bodges.

Heh heh. Not a bodge, then?

Trouble is if a joint is so inaccessible to make it impossible to re-do, it's likely to be equally inaccessible for cleaning properly before applying any form of sealant.

What about a Fernox LS-X -steeped "bandage" wound around the joint a couple of times (access possible?)

No idea what this stuff is like on lead, but for other leaking joints it can be very effective. If you can turn off the water and release some of the pressure within it might help.

Not sure if it is still called the same (or even available), but ISTR there was a putty impregnated cloth tape called "syglass" or something like that.

Messy stuff to use, but was quite good for patching lead etc since you could use it without needing to clean the pipe, and also under pressure if required. You wrapped some tape round it (in parts in needed) and then rubbed it all over until the putty merged and self amalgamated.

The other trick with lead, if you have a pinhole leak, is to just tap the leak site (slightly obliquely) with a hammer.

I've always taken bodging to mean the application of rustic technology, adequate but not necessarily elegant, as opposed to botching, which is making a mess of it. However my dictionary doesn't make the distinction, so maybe I need to find a new word.

I've now made some access... (cut the back out of the cupboard and will repair that in due course.

Access is still very limited as the pipe is pushed up against a wall and so cannot really get to the back of the pipe without moving it + I don't want to disturb it too much. I'm currently awaiting the syglas to set...!

I personally cannot leave it for the next bloke, esp as it is on a shared wall with my neighbour who said his cupboard was smelling damp in that corner.

However nor will I pay for a plumber to come out - rip out all my cupboards to gain access and fit a leadlock joint - which is held on o rings and so probably no better anyway!

The joint is in a real sod of a place, halfway between 2 walls (under the wall if that makes sense) and is hard flat to the ground too. It is a complete sod, if it wasn't then I would try and do the proper thing (what ever that maybe as someone in the trade suggested syglas to me)

Scott

Rob Morley wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net:

You were right

However my dictionary doesn't make the

No, find a new dictionary......

Bodger

This term was once common around the furniture-making town of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, between London and Oxford (so much so that the local football team, Wycombe Wanderers, is nicknamed The Bodgers). Bodgers were highly skilled itinerant wood-turners, who worked in the beech woods on the chalk hills of the Chilterns. They cut timber and converted it into chair legs by turning it on a pole lathe, an ancient and very simple tool that uses the spring of a bent sapling to help run it.

Courtesy World Wide Words

mike

They used a tool called a bodger to roughly turn the wood to an almost round before moving on to the really fine working tools. A bodger look just like a scoop chisel and was made of cheap iron because they were always used just for the roughing. Hence Bodging = rough looking job.

You may have a long wait... IIRC it does not set as such (at least not quickly), but once it is amalgamated round the leak it should be water tight even if still soft.