TRV issue, now discovered broken pipes in concrete floor
- Thread starter TheKeymeister
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Yes, it could have been many years ago that the pipe froze and split. The wall of the expanding pipe would have been pressed into the grain of the concrete making a water tight seal and hence no leak.
I hate converting a system with pipes in concrete to sealed pressurised system for this very reason. "It was alright 'til you changed it" could be a hard argument to win with some customers.
The plumber said he would even refuse to powerflush systems round here with pipes in concrete for the same reason!
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Was the house built mid 70's ? there was a copper shortage and some god awful stuff was being shipped in from abroad - thin wall hard tempered - couldn't bend it, had to use fittings 
Wouldn't be surprised if that is what's on the whole estate.
Wouldn't be surprised if that is what's on the whole estate.NOt what you want to hear, but had a neighbour who's central heating header tank emptied into a hole in the concrete in about 5 mins. RAds never got hot as boiler unable to cope with amount of cold water being introduced to system. HE only spotted the problem when the water supply was cut off for a few hours, and the boiler fired up when empty! YOu can guess the rest.
JohnG
JohnG
Houses were all built 1996-1997, supposedly top end houses as they're all either 4 bed detached or bungalows, but the spec seems to be pretty ****. Theres only one power socket in each room for a start...
Just caught up with the plumber in the pub (drowning my sorrows) and he says he's showed the piece I pictured above to a few other plumbers and none of them have seen anything that bad before. One of them commented on how thin the copper was, but that could be through cheap materials or corrosion. It was bendable pipe as the bit leading up to the radiator had a 90 degree bend put in it.
Current thinking now is converting to drops, and ripping all the ceilings down to do it, which allows me to get rid of the artex - I thought that had gone out by the late 90s but obviously not, even my cupboard under the stairs is artexed on the ceiling! I could then add extra sockets to the bedrooms as well, as one socket per room is nowhere near sufficient nowadays.
Just caught up with the plumber in the pub (drowning my sorrows) and he says he's showed the piece I pictured above to a few other plumbers and none of them have seen anything that bad before. One of them commented on how thin the copper was, but that could be through cheap materials or corrosion. It was bendable pipe as the bit leading up to the radiator had a 90 degree bend put in it.
Current thinking now is converting to drops, and ripping all the ceilings down to do it, which allows me to get rid of the artex - I thought that had gone out by the late 90s but obviously not, even my cupboard under the stairs is artexed on the ceiling! I could then add extra sockets to the bedrooms as well, as one socket per room is nowhere near sufficient nowadays.
Plasterers have a circle of hell reserved for them right next to kitchen fitters and x factor commissioning staff.
Plasterers and tilers are my most hated at the minute, as I was originally an electrician I have a built in hate for plasterers.
Insurance Co are sending a loss adjuster out next Thursday so will report back with what happens after that. If they won't cover it and I'm paying out myself, it'll definitely be drops via the ceiling
Insurance Co are sending a loss adjuster out next Thursday so will report back with what happens after that. If they won't cover it and I'm paying out myself, it'll definitely be drops via the ceiling
Have you checked your insurance excess?
Insurance usually pays for consequential damage from a leak but not repairing the leak itself.
Most plumbing work is relatively cheap.
Its the plasterers that charge a lot !
Insurance usually pays for consequential damage from a leak but not repairing the leak itself.
Most plumbing work is relatively cheap.
Its the plasterers that charge a lot !
Friend had a leak in his 8 ( I think) mm microbore under a concrete floor. Other neighbours had had similar leaks. He had his converted to drops from above in 15mm . Insurers made a contribution. No more worrying about buried pipes and his heating works better.
Well the insurance bloke told me I haven't got a claim, I wasn't surprised but the plumber was.
I've decided to have a crack at doing this myself, I've got 2 weeks holiday to use by the end of the year so thought why not at least have a go. I've mapped out where all the heating pipes are in both floors, and calculated where I may need to change to 22mm if it isn't already.
Fortunately Ive got a full roll of 22mm speedfit pipe and a big bag of fittings left over from my last house, so other than buying a load of copper for the drops and a bit of 15mm speedfit, if it goes well it won't cost all that much in the end. Watch this space...
I've decided to have a crack at doing this myself, I've got 2 weeks holiday to use by the end of the year so thought why not at least have a go. I've mapped out where all the heating pipes are in both floors, and calculated where I may need to change to 22mm if it isn't already.
Fortunately Ive got a full roll of 22mm speedfit pipe and a big bag of fittings left over from my last house, so other than buying a load of copper for the drops and a bit of 15mm speedfit, if it goes well it won't cost all that much in the end. Watch this space...
Forgot to add, if youre wondering how I traced all the pipes, Ive got a cat and Genny for work, I clipped the Genny on to the two pipes either side of the radiator that's been removed in the utility room, and went round with the cat and marked the route with electrical tape. Worked perfectly!
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