Careless screwing

[stargazer]

Yesterday morning I was putting down the wooden framework for a built in wardrobe.

I managed to drive a 3 inch screw right into the middle of the feed pipe of our bedroom radiator

It was me who laid the pipework for that radiator so I have no excuse

Mrs S and myself were having a nice lunch in the lounge below when we started to hear drip, drip, drip…

You can guess the rest. What should have been a relaxing afternoon was replaced by a frantic drain down of the CH system, pulling up floorboards, and cutting out and replacing a one foot section of 22mm copper pipe

My first mistake was to forget to invoke my normal practice of clearing marking the pipe runs on the floorboards with black permanent marker, otherwise this would not have happened. My second mistake was a blatant failure to stop and think!

I am normally much more careful…

My first major mistake after 20 years of DIYing, so not too bad I suppose
But why did it have to be such a fundamental one

So my lesson of the day is stop before you screw.
Do you really know what you're getting in to

 

[Johnmelad]

cutting out and replacing a one foot section of 22mm copper pipe

22mm ???

 

[seco services]

cutting out and replacing a one foot section of 22mm copper pipe

22mm ???

thats what we useally use for flow/return pipework

 

[neds]

Ooof unlucky mate. Hot and cold pipes are not such an issue for me if things go wrong. Its the heating pipes that I really be careful with as its causes so much mess and draining down is a royal pain in the icicles!

 

[scones]

Hiya. The same thing happened to a mate of mine while we were doing a house up for rent. We'd taken out all the old carpets and were suring up the creaky floorboards just by firing screws in. I was a little more patient than him, checking for pipes etc. He went straight through the middle of a central heating pipe. We managed to get around the problem by fitting a small section of pipe connected to the existing pipe work with push-fit connectors. It would have saved us time if he'd been a bit slower (and more careful) in the first place.

 

[stargazer]

cutting out and replacing a one foot section of 22mm copper pipe

22mm ???

thats what we useally use for flow/return pipework

Yep. I used 22mm reduced to 15mm tails at the rad valves.

 

[stargazer]

It would have saved us time if he'd been a bit slower (and more careful) in the first place.

I wish I had been both on Sunday

We were lucky in that we caught the leak early, not longer after Stupid drilled the pipe. The ceiling has dried out now so no damage done (apart from my pride ).

We did have an invite to the nephew’s BBQ which thankfully we turned down, otherwise we would have left the house at lunchtime, leaving the CH system to happily disgorge its contents for several hours!

I suppose, as they say, it could have been worse

 

[astarquitefrankly]

im a plumber and was fitting a disabled bathroom, last day of the job and final task, fit the grab rail.

customer had watched for a full week which drives me insane and when i was marking out my fixing he asked me to move it a bit, it was friday, 4pm and i just wanted away so just did as he asked.

drilled 8 fixings, went to turn the electric shower on to wash away the dust, nothing. instant realisation, the grab rail was right inline with where the electric feed and 15mm cold feed to the shower that i had run.

removed tiles (still with customer who was getting all of this for free watching and tutting) 2 holes through wire and 1 through pipe, 2 fixed ends inside a tiled wall and because there were 2 different holes in the wire a junction box could not be used. had to get my electrician out on a friday afternoon as he was meant to be finishing, renew section of pipework and re-tile area.

and im supposed to be the professional

 

[wotan]

Stargazer wrote...

So my lesson of the day is stop before you screw.
Do you really know what you're getting in to?


This has been the life long question, since archimedes invented the screw and mankind started screwing around.

Wotan

 

[dreadnoughtheating]

As a plumber I do get called to the occasional 'Screw thro' pipe" call......

But, given that a screw thread only works in a solid material and not thin air, why would one use a screw/nail longer than the depth of the 'solid' material?

PS, before now (in order to stop the movement of water prior to freezing either side of the hole), a brass screw with a few turns of PTFE acting as self-tapper can hold a surprising amount of water back - strictly as a temporary fix, and ONLY IF the hole is through one side of the pipe.

DH