Burst water pipe/insurance

[cazmick]

Quote from dextrous

Am so glad for you - and concur with your replacing with copper. So the plastic pipe blew out of the fitting? which means that it was never done up tight enough anyway so the olive didn't grip (assuming you mean that it is a compression and not a pushfit fitting) or a pipe insert was not used.

Good luck with the reinstallation.
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It appears that some plumber has installed everything in the bathroom with plastic piping and push-on fittings. This was done about two years ago when my mother had a new bathroom fitted. She has since passed away and i can-not find who the plumber was, but after two years, i guess there would be no warranty.

I will now strip all the plastic and refit the whole lot with copper, working around the shower tray and other items, so in the future, all pipes can be accessed without too much trouble.

 

[twgas]

Can't see why BG made such a fuss

If BG had just gone ahead and removed shower/flooring or whatever and done damage you would then try claiming off them as its poor workmanship or something. Did they refuse to do the job or did you refute responsibility of any damage?

 

[nickso]

Thanks for all the advice. It appears from BG, that removing the shower to access the pipework, then refitting is not covered. BG would remove it, but would not refit it, or be held responsible for any damage created by removal.
......... Can't see why BG made such a fuss.

Will also cancel the worthless BG insurance cover and look out for a better, more comprehensive cover.

classic response from a customer who hasn't read the T+C's before and is now "shocked" by the level of cover.

as twgas says the reason it wont be refitted by BG is entirely due to the moaning bastards that complain about things being put back a millimetre out of place or with the wrong colour grout.

why is it so difficult for idiots to read and understand the terms of contract before they make an appointment for repair? timewasters like this have now led me to interrogate all plumbing jobs over the phone before arrival, almost a quarter are out of t+c's and at least half of those are faulty showers.

good luck finding a more comprehensive cover, you wont.


p.s. i remembered the making good part of the contract is mainly for outside if the ground needs to be dug up and slabs etc lifted. my tsm has allowed a joiner to remove and replace door jambs for cylinder fitting before though.

 

[cazmick]

I'm now glad BG never carried out the repairs, as inspecting the complete pipework i can see the plumber made, what i consider a botch of the job, using cheap plastic pipe and plastic push on fittings, onto old copper pipes etc. Why the hell it took him 2 weeks at a cost of £2000 beats me. That's 10 days at 8 hours = £25.00 an hour. Poor old mum, another fine example of an 83 year old getting ripped off.

Yesterday i stripped out everything, no damage at all to the shower cubicle or tray. Lifted the necessary floorboards, pulled out all the shoddy pipework etc. Then refitted and re-routed all pipe's with copper and soldered joints, so easy and much neater. Now no pipes running under the shower tray and all can be accessed by lifting 3 floorboards. Also partly re-assembled the shower tray and cubicle. At same time decided to fit a new sink and pedestal.

Tomorrow will see the job done and new flooring laid. Guess the total time will be around 17-20 hours. That's less then 3 days work @ 8 hours per day, a lot less then the two weeks the plumber took and he never had to lay any flooring, or fit a new sink. RIP OFF.

 

[Agile]

I lifted the floorboards and found that one of the compression joints on the plastic piping had blown apart and created an open end. Hence all the water in the flat below.

Will also cancel the worthless BG insurance cover and look out for a better, more comprehensive cover.

Thats why I am not in favour of plastic pipework.

I see just too many failures like that.

Its usually as a result of a badly made joint but it happens so much more often on plastic than copper.

I find that in most cases water damage is actually paid for by the insurance of the flat where the damage is done rather than claiming off the third party of the flat where the leak occured.

Some leases have some strange wording too. A friend had a leak in a pipe supplying her flat. Because the leak was where the pipe passed through the flat above, the leak was repairable by the leaseholder of the flat above, even though the pipe had nothing to do with her apart from passing through her flat !

Tony