Pipe burst problems - advice needed

You do have to learn to know when the solder has flowed. And clean things before hand. And use a decent flux. But not rocket science.

Bending copper pipe neatly gives me a great deal of satisfaction. Not that easy to learn though, if doing multiple bends on one piece of tube.

It is very satisfying and I have a couple of sections that are works of art, that I am very proud of.

As you say, getting multiple bends in the right positions and to the right angles is not easy, but very satisfying.

In message snipped-for-privacy@candehope.me.uk>, charles snipped-for-privacy@candehope.me.uk> writes

We had a long running leaking, plumber fitted, shower problem.

Only ever occurred when my daughters were visiting. Usually a few drips appearing on the ceiling below the shower tray. Tray re-grouted, tiling checked. Waste pipe renewed. etc.

Eventually I realised that not only were they showering for longer but also using a higher flow setting for the shower head. A more determined excavation to reach the mixer connections found that the plumber had only *finger tightened* the incoming H/C pipe couplings:-(

Still leaking when I showered but not enough to be noticed.

In message snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk>, "Dave Plowman (News)" snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk> writes

Didn't try. Compression elbows. Only 7 radiators anyway. Thinking back, it might have been 1/2" rather than 15mm. Solid fuel back burner! I don't remember being cold despite the 9" brick walls.

Not really the same sort of stuff as push fit feed water plumbing (is that the right word?).

Hmmm, maybe an unfortunate turn of phrase! :-)

Indeed - push fit waste is very different from pressurised PEX etc. However good support to stop it moving apart is worthwhile.

(I also use solvent weld waste, but have used push fit once in the past, and it worked ok)

and quite a bit of flow noise and water hammer...

The last bathrooms I did, I spent quite a bit of time making things flow better and quieter with swept bends where possible and not too many elbows. Before if you flushed a loo, the refill sounded like a jet taking off! After it was much quieter. Sticking a 3 bar PRV into the cold supply helped.

Talking of which, I redid BillPs pipe bending document as a wiki page:

I've used a wet/dry vacuum cleaner with a hose end fitting made from a plumbing part and gaffer tape that fitted snugly over the pipe.

Is the tip "shove a bit of white bread in the pipe" still around?

ISTR one could shove the bread in the pipe bore, pushed back form the joint. The bread would soak up any remaining dribble and "seal" long enough to solder the joint. Then flush it out.

I think better on water than heating, though.

Thomas Prufer

Hi All,

Many thanks for all of the advice and remenicenses. I hope my thread hasn't resurfaced too many traumatic events for people! The approach I have settled on:

1. Examine what I can - much of the pipework in hidden under floors so I could not get to it. BTW I can't see any damage on the fittings but given the experience of others - that the fittings should last longer than I am experiencing - I can only conclude that there is something wrong with the original installation. Probably cranking up the nuts too tight.

1. Fit a couple of 6 inchish vents in the ceiling where I know the pipes turn corners and have joints. Two reasons: a) for inspection b) route for water to drain if there is a leak rather than bringing down the ceiling.

2. Shut off valve with an on/off switch near the front door so I can turn it off when out. I'm planning on one that turns on/off fairly slowly to reduce the liklihood of a pressure pulse damaging joints. Note I decided against the common ones with a phone app to turn on/off on the grounds that remembering to get the phone out is a bit of a faf and more likely to get overlooked. BTW if anyone wants one of the £35 ones from China - put it on your ebay watch list and a few days later you will get an email offering it to you for £29.

So thanks again - I'll call the design phase complete - off to the implementation now.

Mike