Needed to drain a system today. Only drain cock in lounge over lovely beige carpet. Plastic down, old towel down, hose attached, open nut- nothing coming out. Tap tap. Bang bang. Nothing. Undo nut some more, then some more, then right out. Have just the nut, pin and plunger still in there. (Was it broken or do some come in two bits)? Anyway, tried to ease the pin a bit when- it hit the wall as did copioius amounts of black water and cak. At this point I'm holding a finger over the spout and a thumb over the thread looking at the two bits of the plug which are out of reach- oh dearie dearie me! Thank heavens for the practical and understanding lady customer. But if I'd been alone- ugh.
Have a laugh on me!
- Thread starter kaboom
- Start date
K
keego
Oh yes, I have that particular T shirt. Only trouble was when it happened to me the system had only just been turned off & was bl**dy hot, it's suprising just how much pain the human body can cope with. 
went to remove an old olympic
drain tap on bottom return
tap was not even open when the return under the boiler decides to fall apart
fun was not the word never seen an apprentice move so fast
drain tap on bottom return
tap was not even open when the return under the boiler decides to fall apart
fun was not the word never seen an apprentice move so fast
Went to an office to check out a reported leak on a cylinder (250 litres).
Seem to be from the 42mm cold feed, so gets hose pipe out to fit on the drain tap and the connection to the cylinder, em fell off.
250 ltrs plus as much again from the storage tank straight through the floors, down the stairs, instant flood and loads of very wet staff
Seem to be from the 42mm cold feed, so gets hose pipe out to fit on the drain tap and the connection to the cylinder, em fell off.
250 ltrs plus as much again from the storage tank straight through the floors, down the stairs, instant flood and loads of very wet staff
mine wasn't that bad managed to get a plastic sheet under and ran it in to the sink 
It's happened to all of us!
I had a recent call to change a zone valve on a cylinder. Part-drained the primary, undid the nuts, GENTLY parted the joints, new ZV in , tighten everything up, turn F&E back on,.. - hang on, whats all this water under the cylinder!
The cylinder wall around the top coil boss was BLACK for several cms in all directions and the copper was wafer-thin. The other problem was that it was completely out-of-sight round the back of the cylinder! Disturbing it by slightly flexing the coil boss was enough to start a major leak. Fortunately, I had a camera with me and the indurance company that was paying for the ZV was also happy to cover the new cylinder!
I never did discover exactly what had caused the (electrolytic) corrosion that thinned-out the cylinder.
I had a recent call to change a zone valve on a cylinder. Part-drained the primary, undid the nuts, GENTLY parted the joints, new ZV in , tighten everything up, turn F&E back on,.. - hang on, whats all this water under the cylinder!
The cylinder wall around the top coil boss was BLACK for several cms in all directions and the copper was wafer-thin. The other problem was that it was completely out-of-sight round the back of the cylinder! Disturbing it by slightly flexing the coil boss was enough to start a major leak. Fortunately, I had a camera with me and the indurance company that was paying for the ZV was also happy to cover the new cylinder!
I never did discover exactly what had caused the (electrolytic) corrosion that thinned-out the cylinder.
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As always doing the "right thing" as part of the boiler repalcement yestereday, I needed to fit a thermostatic valve on the bedroom radiator, undid twin entry valve, slid in large allen key to remove tail, gentle turn and bloody radiator fell off the wall, good job rad was near enoUgh empty, screws holding the brackets were only into the dry lineing not through to the brickwork, TWWAATTSS.
Leaking spindle on a radiator. So I set about undoing the gland nut when the top nearly came off. Hot hot water spilling out as the boiler was on. Managed to put the gland nut back not before the mits were red from hot water.
Builder called me and asked to relocate rad as the wall was being knocked out in a flat.
Take the flow and return as high as poss and run it across at ceiling height he says, better if you cut the pipes there and go to the rad.
I drained system and cut pipe as requested.
Strange , I thought when water came gushing out as I thought the system was empty.
After a few mins of gushing I realised I had cut into the rising main to the other flats
I learned a valuable lesson there
DP
I,ve seen that one as well
Take the flow and return as high as poss and run it across at ceiling height he says, better if you cut the pipes there and go to the rad.
I drained system and cut pipe as requested.
Strange , I thought when water came gushing out as I thought the system was empty.
After a few mins of gushing I realised I had cut into the rising main to the other flats
I learned a valuable lesson there
DP
I,ve seen that one as well
ever done a snatch job on heating pipes ? ive done it loads of times .easy . all except for one job .checked rad was cold. yep. heating must be off.ball-a-fix ready.cut pipe.oh ****,never checked heating mains. hot,hot,hot,****,****,****.one flooded kitchen. just so happens it was my own flippin house.
croydon'
"I never did discover exactly what had caused the (electrolytic) corrosion that thinned-out the cylinder."
A corroded immersion heater and a current to earth, the tank, will do it. The tank becomes a sacrificial anode, even though it is an AC current!
A 240 V Mains trip should have .... tripped.
"I never did discover exactly what had caused the (electrolytic) corrosion that thinned-out the cylinder."
A corroded immersion heater and a current to earth, the tank, will do it. The tank becomes a sacrificial anode, even though it is an AC current!
A 240 V Mains trip should have .... tripped.
We've all had cold water coming back up an open ended hot pipe when some mixer was used with H and C open, but I NEARLY did a lot worse than that.
Replaced a conventional cylinder with a Megaflo. Masses of pipes everywhere, so much uncertainty. Up in the loft, connected the cistern mains supply to the output pipes. Lots of pipes there too so I turned off the outlet gate valves just to stop dribbles while working.
Next morning, I found I'd turned off the supply to the Megaflo the night before - no idea why, so turned it on.
Half an hour later "why's there water at the front of the house?".
I'd forgotten to cap the original vent pipe to the CW cistern .
So water went up the vent, filled the 3 x 50 gallon cisterns and came out of the overflow, but was still rising faster than the overflow could cope with.
A) we got there in time
B) the 3 gate valves weren't letting by (!!!!! !!!!! !!!!!) and
C) the overflow connection didn't leak (!!!!!!)
I'd have had a fag, if I smoked.
Replaced a conventional cylinder with a Megaflo. Masses of pipes everywhere, so much uncertainty. Up in the loft, connected the cistern mains supply to the output pipes. Lots of pipes there too so I turned off the outlet gate valves just to stop dribbles while working.
Next morning, I found I'd turned off the supply to the Megaflo the night before - no idea why, so turned it on.
Half an hour later "why's there water at the front of the house?".
I'd forgotten to cap the original vent pipe to the CW cistern .
So water went up the vent, filled the 3 x 50 gallon cisterns and came out of the overflow, but was still rising faster than the overflow could cope with.
A) we got there in time
B) the 3 gate valves weren't letting by (!!!!! !!!!! !!!!!) and
C) the overflow connection didn't leak (!!!!!!)
I'd have had a fag, if I smoked.
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