Bellway new house disaster:Hep2O (is part faulty or genuine mistake)

[John Barnie]

Dear All

Good Morning. We moved to a new house and it was 23rd January, late afternoon and we found lots of water in ground floor. Leak was from Hep2O 15mm Corner Elbow, I had not isolated the outside tape thinking it was not severe weather yet (North East, within 3 miles of Newcastle). Bellway refusing to entertain so currently reaching out to Insurance Company. Bellway emergency engineer (Plumber) visited our house and after visual inspection gave the below report despite telling us that Bellway need to send somebody to investigate whether part is faulty or incorrectly fitted.
"
I have spoken to our engineer who attended and he has advised that the leak was caused due to the outside tap not being isolated the pipework has frozen and caused the elbow to burst causing the leak."
Insurance Company plumber wrote this in Description of work:
"Replace Straightfit Connector + Elbow 15mm plastic small section 15mm copper pipe 6". Burst Fittings to outside Tap"

We are trying to ascertain what is the issue? Bellway refusing to investigate further and they stated even Insurer work description clearly states burst fitting.

I also spotted that pipe attached inside to wall was not properly insulated. I could feel the cold air. I tried asking Insurance Company plumber if he did anything with insulation and he didn't reply. Asked Bellway to investigate that if cold air still coming inside under the Kitchen basin has created this issue, they refusing to do that. From outside this Hep2O part looks allright. I sent the video to insurer plumber but he didn't respond anything. I have sent the video of part to Bellway and awaiting their response. I am simply looking for an honest investigation. Reaching out to community for help. Do I need to reach out to Hep2O and if yes how do I reach out to them to ascertain if it's faulty part but why they will accept the blame? So if I reach out to neutral party who will it be?

Will really appreciate your help.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Do you know what the outside temperature was that night?
Plastic pipe has a bit of give in it so usually survives a freeze, plastic fittings are rigid so unless there's somewhere else for the water to expand into (long length of plastic, for instance) then something has to give.
Don't think the manufacturers will be interested- looking at their specs the pipe will recover from freezing but the fittings only appear to be rated between 10 and 110 deg C.
The pipework would have been less likely to fail with a longer length of tube, insulation on its own will delay but not necessarily prevent freezing.
Was the elbow outside or inside- if outside then get a copy of the Hep2o Technical Handbook (Google it), read it thoroughly in case my skim has missed a bit but you might be able to land Bellway with the blame for using the fitting outside its operating parameters.

 

[John Barnie]

Hi Mate

thanks for replying with such an handy message. This must have happened in afternoon sometime. We discovered around 4:30pm. Outside temperature around that time may have been about 0 degree. Leak has happened inside and from your specification it sounds like the bad insulation may be the problem. I can definitely feel cold air when I place my hand near where pipe is crossing the internal wall.

I will try to dig the Hep2o technical handbook.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

If the internal pipe failed and wasn't insulated then pretty certain you can land that on Bellway- have a look at building regs approved docs, think there's a requirement to insulate all pipes in void spaces.
If there's a defect in the fitting it is up to Bellway to chase Hepworth, you have no contractual arrangement with Hepworth.
EDIT Do check the tech manual for any mention of minimum length of pipe sections required to mitigate risk of freezing causing pipe burst

 

[John Barnie]

very helpful comment, have fired an email to Bellway with Technical Handbook.