Not exactly, but it would seem that knocking over a bottle of toilet cleaner (key ingredient: 9% hydrochloric acid) at the back of your under-sink cupboard without realising you've done it is a bit of a disaster for any central heating pipes that might have been running along the wall at the bottom.
It's not along a massive length of the pipe, but it has totally wrecked where it has hit it. I can't immediately post a photo, but imagine lots of blue-green gunk covering the two pipes (along a length of about three inches), and great gaping holes (about an inch) in each pipe in the middle of that gunk, as if the pipe has been eaten away with only about a third of the circumference still intact.
This actually happened a week or two ago so I have no idea how much water came out as there's nothing there now, but unsurprisingly, my boiler is at zero pressure and flashes red when I turn it on at the wall.
My DIY skills stop at replacing lightbulbs, and I don't have any plumber recommendations so I'm more or less going to have to get somebody out of the phone book. I am hoping you nice people on here might help me understand what to expect, in terms of work required and how long it might take, so that I don't end up having someone take advantage of my ignorance.
Specifically:
1. There was no heating on at the time (the boiler was turned off at the wall) so nothing should have been circulating around the pipes. Does this mean the chemical damage is confined to more or less what I can see i.e. about a three-inch length of pipe, and not the rest of the system, the rads or the boiler?
2. Is it possible to replace literally just a short length of pipe by cutting it and welding in a new section, or does the whole length need to come out as far as wherever the nearest existing join or bend is on each side?
3. I assume "draining the system" has already happened via the holes in the pipes... might this have caused damage to the rest of the pipes and the radiators, since presumably that's all full of air now? Is it going to need power flushes and suchlike, or does it just get filled back up at the end of the repair work and the system carries on happily as before?
4. There are three other copper pipes running under there (hot water to the bathroom, and hot and cold water to the washing machine). Luckily they were not directly under the spillage and while they have a bit of blue/green stuff on them in the same place - so they did get splashed a bit - they are not leaking. If these are OK now, does this mean they are OK full stop or would I need to replace them just in case it's still busy eating its way through and it'll get there in the end?
Pending me finding a plumber etc, should I attempt to clean this stuff off the non-leaking pipes, or just leave them be?
Thanks so much if you've read this far!
It's not along a massive length of the pipe, but it has totally wrecked where it has hit it. I can't immediately post a photo, but imagine lots of blue-green gunk covering the two pipes (along a length of about three inches), and great gaping holes (about an inch) in each pipe in the middle of that gunk, as if the pipe has been eaten away with only about a third of the circumference still intact.
This actually happened a week or two ago so I have no idea how much water came out as there's nothing there now, but unsurprisingly, my boiler is at zero pressure and flashes red when I turn it on at the wall.
My DIY skills stop at replacing lightbulbs, and I don't have any plumber recommendations so I'm more or less going to have to get somebody out of the phone book. I am hoping you nice people on here might help me understand what to expect, in terms of work required and how long it might take, so that I don't end up having someone take advantage of my ignorance.
Specifically:
1. There was no heating on at the time (the boiler was turned off at the wall) so nothing should have been circulating around the pipes. Does this mean the chemical damage is confined to more or less what I can see i.e. about a three-inch length of pipe, and not the rest of the system, the rads or the boiler?
2. Is it possible to replace literally just a short length of pipe by cutting it and welding in a new section, or does the whole length need to come out as far as wherever the nearest existing join or bend is on each side?
3. I assume "draining the system" has already happened via the holes in the pipes... might this have caused damage to the rest of the pipes and the radiators, since presumably that's all full of air now? Is it going to need power flushes and suchlike, or does it just get filled back up at the end of the repair work and the system carries on happily as before?
4. There are three other copper pipes running under there (hot water to the bathroom, and hot and cold water to the washing machine). Luckily they were not directly under the spillage and while they have a bit of blue/green stuff on them in the same place - so they did get splashed a bit - they are not leaking. If these are OK now, does this mean they are OK full stop or would I need to replace them just in case it's still busy eating its way through and it'll get there in the end?
Pending me finding a plumber etc, should I attempt to clean this stuff off the non-leaking pipes, or just leave them be?
Thanks so much if you've read this far!